I found LEMONGRASS!!!!!!

I know, I know. Sounds silly to get excited over, right? Well, not in this house! With Asian cuisine being the main hit in the Kearsley household diet, we need this staple ingredient used in a lot of our favorite Thai recipes. During one of our nearly every weekend trip to downtown Naples (is not as easy said than done, mind you!) I found our beloved ingredient for sale at the Asian market! After asking, "quanta costa?" and finding out it was only 50 cent Euro per KILO (WOW) I cleaned them out and bought all they had! My husband nearly jumped out of his seat when I showed him what I found and we were both so excited to enjoy our lemongrass chicken, tom yum soup and one of my most favorites of all time...LARB! Which brings me to the following recipe...my beloved Larb (thai salad). It doesn't sound that appealing, but it is SO DELICIOUS! Not only is it extremely healthy and light, but full of rich flavor and spice. First of all, pick your meat of choice. Usually I do pork or chicken, but it's delicious with turkey or beef as well.

First off, assemble your dressing. Whisk together the following and chill.

Juice of 5 limes (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
Juice of 1 lemon (about a 1/4 cup)
2 1/2 TBSP honey
2 1/2 TBSP fish sauce

Larb:

Saute' the white parts of 2 stalks of lemongrass, 1 chopped red onion, 3 thinly sliced shallots, 2 cloves minced garlic, 4 inch piece of grated ginger, 2 finely chopped green chilies and salt and pepper to taste. Add your minced meat of choice (so if using chicken, I bake the breast, then finely mince up), add some sambal oolek (I use a nice rounded TBSP), the dressing and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste one last time. Arrange a bed of whole lettuce leaves on a serving plate.
In a separate saucepan, quickly fry a 1/4 cup of minced garlic. Spoon meat mixture onto lettuce bed, and top with a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped peanuts, diced cucumbers, the crisp fried garlic, red onion and mint. Enjoy! I know this is pretty much a weekly meal in our house, and what a wonderful guilt-free meal to sit down and devour :)