Lettuce Wraps with Creamy Sesame Sauce

We got some amazing boston lettuce at my CSA pick-up this week. Whenever I see good, buttery, boston lettuce, I immediately think: lettuce wraps!

So today at lunch, I decided to keep it simple and stuff this lettuce with some basics that I had on hand: mainly, brown rice and a homemade creamy sesame sauce.

I made the creamy sesame sauce based on a recipe that I acquired from my CSA this week. I doubled it so that I’d have enough for marinades, salads, and stir-fries.

Creamy Sesame Sauce

1/4 cup sesame seeds (toasted dry on a skillet)
2 TBS dijon mustard
1 TBS honey
2 TBS sesame oil
1 TBS olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 TBS fresh, grated ginger (I keep mine in the freezer: it keeps longer & it’s easier to grate)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

In a food processor or blender, blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Store in the fridge for up to 2 months (recipe can be doubled or tripled).

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Then I mixed some sauce with leftover brown rice I had in the fridge. My 15mo loved the rice and sauce, but my 2.5yo claimed it was too spicy (sometimes she’s into spicy, today was not one of those days).

So when I wrapped the rice in the lettuce wraps, I gave her plain rice, but mine was doused in the sauce (I could have eaten just that for lunch…). She was happy as a clam, though.

Zora is really into “tacos” right now – and by that, she means anything wrapped in a tortilla. So as I was eating my lettuce wraps, it suddenly dawned on me that maybe she’d be into wrapping her rice in lettuce and calling it a taco. Well, just using that word worked wonders. She was thrilled about her “salad taco” and ate happily away.

Until I pulled out the camera, of course. I felt like I got a lot of patronizing grins at that point. Then suddenly, just as quickly as she embraced the lettuce wraps, she was announced “Mommy, I don’t want the salad.”

So be it.

But the lettuce wraps themselves were a big hit, and I’m going to re-introduce them again – heck, you can wrap anything in lettuce. And the sesame dressing – well, that is just heaven in a bowl, that’s what that is. It turned rice and lettuce into a delicious meal that felt complete. I love having extra dressing in the fridge for a quick addition to another meal.