Think Spring-Eat Spring
23 February 2010, by gj
I was at my work desk when the mail came in and the word “Spring” immediately caught my eye – it was the latest issue of Vegetarian Times (a nice little publication, I’ve tried a few recipes with success). Now let me say first that we don’t consider ourselves to be foodies per se (I had to look up the term ‘umami’ the first time I read it). We just like what is fresh, homemade, and shared with those we care about.
So the recipe they were referring to was Live Spring Rolls (meaning uncooked) with a Lime Ginger Dipping Sauce; and that intrigued me. When I looked at the list of ingredients I knew there were some I would not find at my local country grocer, there were two I never heard of; still it sounded worth trying. What they were doing was using a green leaf (lettuce or Swiss chard) as the roll wrapper (instead of a dough wrapper), and filling it with fresh ingredients, sauce on the side. Pretty easy.
So at the end of the day I headed out the 30 mile drive home and to my local market; without, of course, the recipe. Needing anything ‘Spring’ so bad I can feel it (I drove to and from work today in ‘snow showers’- meaning: a wet snow that accumulates more and faster than predicted) I was not to be denied. I decided to choose whatever ingredients struck my fancy, mixing textures and flavors with abandon. I came home and started washing, chopping, peeling, grating and slicing. In about 45 minutes I had a Spring Buffet and was happy as all get-out. My (vegetarian) daughter was pretty pleased too when she got home from school. Surely not the typical after school cookies and milk!
Recipe: I used some large leaf lettuces for the wrappers, be sure they are clean, dry, and cut off any hard stems. Fill with whatever you like! I chose grated carrots, parsnips, radishes; thinly sliced bok choy, celery, water chestnuts; chopped sweet red pepper, scallions; and some bean sprouts. I also had available mixed Mexican cheeses and feta-peppercorn cheese. For dipping I had bottles of Sesame-Garlic Sauce (our fav), Sweet and Sour Sauce, and Ginger-Mango Vinaigrette. We each made our own, trying different combos and chatting about the day (mostly how we were not happy that school and work were not cancelled what with all the snow) and had a good time eating and sharing.
This is a fun way to use the assorted odds and ends produce you might find over the course of the growing season.
To make ahead use toothpicks to skewer, though making your own was half the fun. I expect my husband will find a creative way to use the leftovers- I’ll let you know. For now at least I feel just a little closer to spring (in spite of the snow that is still falling).
2/25 NOTE: We did use the leftovers to make Egg Rolls. We added chopped green cabbage and a little more scallions. We chopped the leftover red peppers more fine and chopped the bean sprouts. All this was cooked down in a skillet with sesame-garlic sauce, soy sauce and olive oil. This was then thickened with corn starch dissolved in water. We folowed the egg roll wrapper directions for wrapping and frying the egg rolls. Served with sweet and sour sauce. Mmmm!
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