Wontons

With Edward home and the guys with him, I'm feeling a little homesick. To battle this homesickness I made some wontons, which I remember helping my mommy with one New Years Eve when I was young. But first, I have to tell you about our walk. It was so warm today! We just had to get out. Emmy and I went for a nice long walk to the Field House (the hockey arena) and then around the track four times. We were in the biggest lane, I think it was lane 8, but I'm not sure. I'd like to think that four laps in that lane is more than a mile, but according to my friend, the internet, it all depends on the size of the track. So we'll say that going up and back as well as the lane 8 walk was about 2 miles. My rearend sure was feeling it. I was actually sore from the walk I went on yesterday with my friend, but it was just too nice to not take Emmy on another long walk. We usually just go around the football feild track six times (1.5 miles), but I figured the incline on the way up to the Field House would be a nice change. I wonder if Emmy ever gets sore? I hope so. Then I wouldn't feel so bad about my butt hurting after long walks.

With no further ado, here are my wontons. I eliminated taking picture of my food on the stove because the steam covers it all and seems pointless.

Step ...1 This is the finished pork and shrimp filling. I have about half of this mixture left over. I thought about freezing it, but I think I will make myself a nice pork and shrimp fried rice later on in the week.




Step 1.5 This is the finished vegetable filling that I concocted out of the stuff that I had in my fridge. It seems that all of my orginal recipes come from what I have hanging around.


Step 2 Fill only a little bit of mixture in the wonton skin. If you put too much then they won't close properly, break the skin, or the filling will come out when you cook it.



Step 3 If you are going to freeze these for future use like I am, put them on a cookie sheet. Make sure that they aren't touching. My Mommy's recipe doesn't call for precooked pork or shrimp, but I am doing it this way because my shrimp and pork had been previously frozen and I didn't want to refreeze raw stuff. Usually I use all raw stuff and eat my wontons the day I make them. The little twisty wontons are the pork and shrimp and the pot sticker looking ones are the vegetable. I wanted to make sure that I made them easy to differentiate because I plan to use these in the future and don't want to get them mixed up. Our friend Nadeem doesn't eat pork and he comes here to eat often so I defintely didn't want to get them mixed up. Plus, our other friend, Rolando, doesn't really like veggies and I wanted to make these to prove that vegetables can taste really good...especially mushrooms. Rolando, if you're reading this, this is me saying "Yes, I will convert you to a veggie lover." Hahah I'm practicing my future mom skills, although I have feeling that my kids won't have a problem with vegetables since I like to eat them.


Step 4 This is still coming. I wasn't hungry after I finished making them because I had some leftovers after my yoga work out so I am waiting until a little later tonight to pan fry. You can put these in wontons in soup, pan fry them, or deep fry. You can probably do other things with them, but I'm not sure how to do that. You could probably bake them too, but I've never done it.

I will post pictures of the finished product when I am done.

Mommy's Wontons

3 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 lb ground pork
1 lb uncooked shrimp, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 package wonton skins

Heat EVOO and add garlic. Cook ground pork most of the way and then add the shrimp. Cook all the way through. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and let cool to fill wonton skins.

Fill wonton skins with small amounts of mixture. Fill a small rice bowl with water. Dip fingertips into the water and go around the edges of the wonton skins to close them up. The flour from the skin will form a glue so that you can keep the wontons closed. Close however you desire.

I don't know where my Mommy got this recipe, but it always reminds me of home whether I'm in Riverside, NY or Georgia. (These were a hit with the late Uncle Walter.)

Allison's Vegetable Wontons
4 tbsp EVOO
1 zucchini, finely chopped
3 small carrots, minced
1 small box of mushrooms, minced
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 package wonton skins

Clean vegetables accordingly. Heat EVOO in wok or large, deep pan. Add zucchini, carrots, garlic and onion powder. Toss until semi soft. Add mushrooms and pepper. Once everything is all cooked add salt and toss a few times. Remove from heat and set aside until cool.

Fill each wonton skin with a small amount of mixture. Fill a small rice bowl with water. Dip fingertips into the water and go around the edges of the wonton skins to close them up. The flour from the skin will form a glue so that you can keep the wontons closed. Close however you desire.

This past week my coworker Dave has been raving about the salami deli-style sandwiches that he's been having for lunch. I told him about when Edward and I were in Sevilla, Spain and were trying to save money by buying ham, cheese, and rolls. We would eat them in our little hostel room and then take a siesta before roaming the city. Now whenever I think about deli sandwiches I automatically think of our trip and it brings back good memories. So at the grocery store I bought little sub rolls, ham, provolone, and lettuce. I plan to bring sandwiches with me to work all week. Though these will be way better than our pauper sandwiches in terms of quality, they will still make me think of Edward everyday.