Valerie Bertinelli, the newest member of the Drew Crew, has already The Drew Barrymore Show— and we love it: The first recipe she shared on this season of the talk show is actually an appetizer that’s always served when Bertinelli’s family comes to visit.
“These are shrimp and lettuce cups,” Bertinelli said at the beginning of a demonstration in a recent episode. “You know those chicken cups that they serve at fun restaurants? These are shrimp. My daughter-in-law, Andrea, loves shrimp, so whenever they come over for dinner, I always try to make a shrimp dish, whatever it is.”
The recipe for these shrimp and veggie cups appears in the actor and chef’s latest cookbook. enjoyWe’ll show you how to make it, plus we’ll show you your own version that will turn this app into a main course.
First, Bertinelli sautes shrimp in coconut oil until pink, then adds fresh snap peas, scallions, water chestnuts, and pineapple to a separate skillet. Hot in Cleveland Star also recommends adding jicama or sunchokes to the mix.
To make the sauce, mix ginger and minced garlic with chili crisp, sesame oil, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, and tamari. Bertinelli notes that mincing the garlic allows the flavors to shine through without getting in the way of chunks. He usually adds cornstarch to thicken the sauce, though he admits he forgot this key ingredient during his demonstration.
The sauce is then poured over the vegetable mix and mixed before adding the shrimp. The final step is plating: placing the shrimp and sautéed vegetables on butter lettuce leaves, along with coriander, carrots and Thai basil for “a nice crunch.”
“It’s so easy and so fresh,” Bertinelli says, and the rest of the Drew Crew devoured the dish in no time.
“It’s so flavorful and so textured — it’s low carb but still has all the crunch you want in a taco,” raved co-host Ross Matthews. Barrymore herself was so excited to try the dish that she took an extra bite, but managed to say “I love it” between mouthfuls.
We love that this recipe has lots of veggies in it, and it’s packed with fibrous ingredients and protein from shrimp, making it a satisfying light lunch or dinner main with a side salad. Bertinelli’s dish is very similar to our Shrimp Lettuce Wraps, which are a 30-minute diabetic-friendly version that’s highly rated for a reason.
