Sun, books, and spicy food are three of my favorite things
Happy February, friends! Between my last newsletter and now, I turned in my book (Party of Two, out this summer, preorder now!), went on a perfect vacation, came home, and dove into revisions for my book (that same one!). Before I get to vacation and some of the delightful books I read, there are a few giveaways in the lead up to Valentine's Day I want to make sure you know about! First: a bunch of Berkley romance authors are doing Instagram giveaways for recent and upcoming books -- it all starts here on my Instagram, so follow along! On one of the days there will be a giveaway for an (as yet nonexistent but at some point will be) advance copy of Party of Two! Second: a group of other romance writers and I are doing a giveaway of all of our books on our Facebook pages; click here for details!
I read a ton of great books on vacation; and here are details about two of them (one of which came out this week, and one that comes out next week). You Never Forget Your First, by Alexis Coe is a George Washington biography, and a completely fascinating one, and I never thought I'd say that about George Washington biography. It's funny, accessible, super interesting, and incredibly well researched. She dispels a lot of the myths around Washington, contradicts what a lot of previous biographers have said about them (she refers to them as The Thigh Men of Dad History, because they were all weirdly obsessed with Washington's thighs and how powerful they were), and tells us a lot about Washington's relationship to slavery and the people he enslaved. I enjoyed it a whole lot. I also really loved House Rules, by Ruby Lang; the final book in her Uptown Collection. It's about a long ago divorced couple who end up sharing an apartment. I always love how mature Ruby's characters are, and how their relationships -- romantic, family, friendships all -- feel so real, even (especially!) when they're complicated and messy. This one comes out next week, but the series is only loosely connected, so you don't have to read the others before this one (even though you should, because I recommend them all!).
Do you ever get obsessed with a recipe and make it over and over for weeks and then suddenly forget about it, and then a few years later rediscover it and wonder why you stopped making it? That happens to me all the time, and the most recent recipe that happened to me with was the chicken lettuce wraps from Cravings, Chrissy Teigen's first cookbook. I made them a bunch when I first got the cookbook and loved it, and then somehow forgot about it until someone recently mentioned the cookbook to me and I remembered that recipe. So I made it again this week and was mad at myself for forgetting about it. The ingredient list is really long, but it's mostly for the sauce and is a matter of pouring stuff into a bowl and just a few things you have to chop, so it comes together pretty quickly. It's very messy to eat, so have a lot of napkins around -- you can also just put the chicken over rice or noodles if you want instead of doing it in the lettuce cups, just fyi. I make it a lot spicier than the recipe calls for, so I'll note how to increase/reduce the spice below!
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
Sauce:
3 Tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons Sriracha (increase or reduce depending on spice tolerance)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons minced garlic (I used 5 cloves)
1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno or serrano pepper (optional)
Filling:
1 pound ground chicken
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
8 green onions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept separate
2 tablespoons minced garlic (I used 5 more cloves)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 pound white mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced
1 can finely diced water chestnuts (she calls for 1/2 a cup, I just used the whole little can and did not pay attention to measurements)
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped (she calls for a red bell pepper, I wanted more heat so I used a hot pepper)
2 heads butter lettuce, leaves washed and separated
Directions:
In a bowl, combine all of the sauce ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix two tablespoons of the sauce into the ground chicken (this most recent time I did this, I didn't want to dirty up another bowl, so I just mixed the sauce into the chicken as soon as I tossed the chicken in the skillet and it was fine). In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat. When simmering hot, add the chicken and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until the chicken is browned but not cooked all the way. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and set aside (see why I didn't want to dirty up another bowl? You already have to use a lot of bowls for this!). Turn down the heat to medium, and add the remaining one tablespoon of oil to the skillet. Then add the white parts of the green onions, garlic, ginger, chopped serrano pepper (if you're using it), and cook for about a minute. Add the mushrooms, and cook for about five minutes, until they shrink down and brown a little. Then pour the ground chicken back into the pan with the water chestnuts, red bell pepper (if you're using it), and the rest of the sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until everything has cooked through and the sauce has thickened some, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the green parts of the green onions. Heap a big scoop onto each lettuce leaf, and eat like a very fragile and messy taco.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jasmine
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Buy The Wedding Date, The Proposal, The Wedding Party and Royal Holiday, and preorder Party of Two!