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Alton Brown is a genius.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  Nobody else makes me want to try new things in the kitchen.  So when he featured wonton wrappers on his show a few weeks ago, I was like, “Hmmmmmm….. these look fun.  Surely I can make something fun with these.”

I bought a pack at the store, stashed them in my fridge, and then promptly forgot about them until yesterday.

Yesterday I was having a serious ghetto-Chinese craving.  Foods like crab rangoon and sweet and sour chicken.  I remembered I had wonton wrappers in the fridge (that were about to expire!) and I even had fake crab chunks and cream cheese bought in preparation of crab rangoon-making.  Whoa.  I just didn’t have a deep fryer.

Nevertheless, cravings persevered, and I made my first ever crab rangoon…. healthfully.  I didn’t think to get any pictures because I was too busy shoveling them into my mouth, but I will say that they were pretty decent and Marques ate 10 of the 14 I made.

Here’s the recipe:

Baked Crab Rangoons a la Ashley:

ingredients:
1/2 package light cream cheese
1/3 of a package fake crab chunks, finely diced
2 green onions, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
couple shakes of soy sauce and black pepper
15 wonton wrappers

the how-to:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all of your ingredients together, taste and add more soy sauce if it’s not salty enough for you, Mr. High Blood Pressure.  Plop a teaspoon or so in the middle of your wrapper.  Fold appropriately.  There are tons of folding techniques out there so do what you want.  I personally did the envelope because it made for a good vessel.  Also I am bad at folding wontons.  Marques did not help me.  Put all your little wontons on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (aluminum foil will work too) and brush LIGHTLY with a vegetable oil of your choice.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until you see your edges turning brown.  Remove and eat, and enjoy your much less-fatty crab rangoon.

(sidenote:  My all-time favorite crab rangoon was at the China Garden restaurant in Huntington, W.Va., where I attended college.  It was an egg roll wrapper folder in half, stuffed full of hot melty cream cheese.  I think about 20 pounds of my hips are due to those crab rangoons at China Garden)

Now, this evening, Marques and I had originally planned to eat a nice dinner - tilapia, oven-roasted potatoes and corn on the cob.  But then we got a late start running our errands so we ended up eating Chick-Fil-A (also equally as delicious, especially with fountain Dr. Pepper) so we weren’t really hungry enough for a big dinner.  However, I made some potstickers about an hour ago for a snack and these being my second entrance into wonton cooking, I thought I would actually take a picture.

Look at that yummy goodness.  Yum yum yum yum.

Do you want to know how I made them?  Okay!

Potstickers that didn’t actually stick

ingredients:
1/2 lb ground pork
1 egg, beaten
3 green onions, minced finely
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
squirt of Gulden’s spicy mustard
squirt of Heinz ketchup
couple shakes of black pepper and a smidgen of cayenne pepper
1/2-1 cup chicken broth
30-40 wonton wrappers

the how-to:
Combine all of your wet ingredients except for the chicken broth.  Plop a teaspoonful on your wonton wrapper, fold appropriately.  Again, I did envelopes because, well, I suck.  When all of your wontons are folded, fire up your pan.  I used my cast-iron pan because it was the only thing clean, but a stainless steel saute pan would be appropriate because you want your potstickers to actually stick, unlike mine.  Damn my perfect seasoned cast-iron!  Brush a bit of vegetable oil on your pan and turn your heat up to high.  Place your wontons in the pan and don’t touch them for 2-3 minutes.  Pour 1/4 cup chicken broth in your pan - watch for steam!  Quickly put a lid on the pan and don’t touch for another 3-4 minutes.  Finally lift up your lid and you should see your wontons kind of deflate and get wrinkly.  Pull them out and put them on your plate.  Do this for all of your batches until done.

I made a quick sauce of equal parts soy sauce and honey, but it wasn’t that good.  Experiment with sauces.

Eat and enjoy.  See below: