Wrapping Up the Love!

Before I share what's been cookin' in Croissant kitchen this week, I need to post a retraction from my first What's Cookin' Wednesday post which can be seen here. When I referred to my mother's cooking as simple and tasty I believed I was paying her a compliment. However, it seems that compliment was misconstrued to mean she was not much of cook.

I have to tell you that is the farthest thing from the truth! My mother was, and still is a wonderful cook! I'm quite certain my brother Ryan and I never ate rice-a-roni, boxed mac & cheese, or chicken fingers as children. We were blessed with the most amazing mother who prepared our meals from scratch and with love! It has also recently come to my attention that my parents had a life before Ryan and I came along! Who knew!? Without screaming children pulling at her apron strings it seems Lynn (her name before she became Mom) was whipping up fancy dishes any Michelin star chef would be proud to call their own. So I hope that clears the air. My mother is an excellent cook.

I guess the point I was really hoping to make in my first post had more to do with how her meals brought us together as a family. No need to wait until Christmas day for beef tenderloin & twice baked potatoes in order to have a proper meal in the dining room. We ate in the dining room every night; candles lit, cloth napkins folded in our laps, and a beautifully prepared meal on our plates. My mother made meal time family time, and that connection I have with food is a huge influence on my love of cooking. I hope I will be able to do the same for my own family someday. It's not simply a love of food, rather it is food is love, and my mother showed me that.

Moving on now to the cooking portion of this post. I tried to wrap some of that love last night in a cute little package, otherwise known as a wonton! Normally I would head over to Trader Joes and grab a package of my favorite little frozen dumplings to accompany my stir fry, but as you may have guessed, no Trader Joes here in Ireland. I suppose I could have found something at Marks & Spencer, which has a great selection of prepared foods, but I had some time on my hands and thought it might be fun to make my own!

So here are my shrimp and scallion wontons, with a spicy Asian dipping sauce. I served these as a starter to my beef & bok choi stir fry. Everything came out well, and I was even able to wrap up about half of the wontons and stick them in the freezer to be used on a day I'm feeling less than enthusiastic about being in the kitchen.

Wrappers are filled with a simple combo of chopped shrimp, which I cooked and peeled before hand, diced scallions, minced fresh ginger and garlic, and a splash of soy sauce! Wrap a heaping teaspoon up and lightly pan fry and you have a delicious treat!