veggie spring rolls

Marika and I had a trashy TV marathon over the weekend. The TV part is really just an excuse to get together - the real focus of these gatherings tends to be conversation, wine, and food. For the latter, I had been thinking that Thai sounded good. But I haven't been impressed with our last few tries of the local takeout places. So I decided to make my own.

I love spring rolls. It's surprising, now that I think about it, that it's taken me this long to try making them. Part of the issue is that I was never sure where to find the wrappers - this time, for example, I went to Whole Foods thinking they'd be in the refrigerated section with the tofu. I was briefly excited when I spotted something that looked like what I was seeking. My excitement turned to disappointment when I realized what I was holding were egg roll wrappers - suitable for deep frying, but not for the fresh healthy rolls that I was picturing in my head. Then a thought struck me. Rice wrappers probably start out in a similar form as rice noodles. I headed for the Asian Foods aisle. 

Bingo! A quick scan revealed two types of rice wrappers that would be perfect for spring rolls. One package contained 30 6" rounds. The other was larger and square. The circles looked like about the right size, so I selected those. (In retrospect, the larger squares might have been easier for a novice like me, but hey, I like a challenge!)

Anyone who's made spring rolls before (unless perhaps some have a spring roll making gene that I'm missing?) will appreciate that there's a certain art to making them look edible. My first few attempts bore little resemblance to the spring rolls of restaurants. But through trial and error, I started understanding how pliable I needed the wrappers to be and thus how long to leave them in the warm water before trying to roll them around veggies (the magic number was 11 seconds for my wraps, which got a little longer as the water temperature cooled). I learned how much filling was the right amount (not so little that the wrapper ends up loose, not so much that the veggies stick out or the wrapper breaks). I found it quite fun trying to make the perfect spring roll. I think it's a skill that will keep improving as I use it.

Though our spring rolls didn't look quite like what you'd get from your local Thai restaurant, the fresh taste and effort that had gone into them made up for it. We ate ours dipped in peanut sauce (add a little more water than called for in the recipe if needed to get to desired dipping consistency). Here's what I did:

Veggie Spring Rolls

Makes 12

1/2 c. bean sprouts

1/2 small head savoy cabbage, chopped

1/2 c. carrots, julienned

3 scallions, sliced (including green parts)

1/2 c. cilantro, chopped

3 Tbsp. lime juice

1 Tbsp. tamari

12 rice paper wraps

Mix all ingredients* except wraps in a medium bowl. Make first roll by soaking wrap in hot water for 10-15 seconds, then rolling about 3 Tbsp. of filling in the wrap. Repeat with remaining wraps. Finished wraps can be stored in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

*My filling ingredients were the combination of a few different recipes I found online. As I often do, I picked and chose the parts that sounded good about each and meshed them together. 

fish tacos

Tonight's meal was inspired by the vegetables that are sitting in my fridge, screaming to be eaten. They are yelling at me because there are only 2 days left until the next CSA delivery, and there are quite a lot of them still cohabitating in the fridge. I think due to the combination of long lasting meals from last week (I had the final bit of the kale & potato enchiladas for lunch today) and the fact that we ate dinner at friends' last night (thanks Dave & Ashley for the fantastic homemade sushi!). So the remaining vegetables are screaming. Let's see what we can do about that.

Items that I would like to incorporate into tonight's meal include red cabbage and collard greens (the broccoli and cauliflower beckoning will have to wait until tomorrow night). This may not be an obvious leap, but my mind went straight to fish tacos.

The first time I had fish tacos was when I was a senior in college. My roommate and I discovered that a seafood restaurant in our neighborhood had a very good happy hour, with reasonably priced appetizers and drinks (on sunny days, we'd end up there for the great view of the water and half priced wine!). On one of those occasions, we decided to try the fish tacos (for $5, you can't really go wrong, right?). They were fantastic.

I think one of the reasons I'd avoided them before was that I tended to associate tacos with hard shells, ground beef, and seasoning that comes in a packet. None of those things sounded like something that would go with fish. And a taco without cheese? Now that's just silly. Or so I thought. 

It turns out that the flavor and texture mix of white, flaky fish, crunchy shredded cabbage, black beans, and the fruity salsas that are often served with fish tacos is simply not something to pass up. I learned my lesson.

Two years ago, JR took a fishing trip up the Washington coast with his dad. They caught ling cod and halibut, and JR had his portion shipped overnight to Texas, where we were living at the time. The best fish tacos I've had to date were the ones that we made with the halibut JR caught. Though now that I think about it, those particular tacos did involve seasoning that came out of a packet (the Texas period in my life predated the cooking mostly from scratch habit that I've fallen into in California). So, while the halibut we'll be having in our tacos tonight has been frozen and most certainly won't measure up to JR's, I think tonight's overall preparation will beat the Texas fish tacos. Here's what I did:

Fish Tacos

Serves 2

Fish tacos:

6 corn tortillas

1 small red cabbage, shredded

1/4 c. poppy seed salad dressing (I used this one)

1/2 pound white fish (I used halibut)

2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili pasilla

1/4 tsp. chili cayanne

salsa

baja cream:

1/2 c. sour cream

1/4 c. mayonnaise 

3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tsp. lime zest

pinch of salt

To make baja cream, whisk all ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

Combine cabbage with poppy seed dressing. Set aside. 

Combine lime juice, oil, and spices. This will form a paste. Rinse fish and pat dry with a paper towel. Drizzle olive oil in a shallow baking dish. Add fish and spread paste over the top. Allow to marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake fish 15-20 minutes, until if flakes easily with a fork.

Assemble tacos - add fish, cabbage, and salsa to warmed tortillas. Top with baja cream.

 

We had ours with tomatillo salsa verde, guacamole, and spicy collards & black beans. It definitely beat the Texas tacos (but not your fish JR!).

what to do with a head of cabbage

This week's CSA box included a head of green cabbage. It actually stressed me out a little. The cabbage recipes I could online find were almost exclusively of the slaw/chinese chicken salad variety, neither of which sound appealing to me in the middle of winter (yes, it's even raining in California). Luckly, as it often does, 101 cookbooks saved the day.

Heidi Swanson seems to have a sixth sense for cooking. I'm always amazed to find that in many cases, the perfect recipe I find on her site was posted only days earlier. It's like she knows what's going to come out of my kitchen before I do! In this particular instance, the recipe was Rustic Cabbage Soup. 

I admit it: cabbage soup is not something that sounds like it's going to be very tasty (but rather like something that would be served in a Dickens novel), however I will personally vouch for this one. JR went back for seconds. 

Check out the Rustic Cabbage Soup Recipe at 101 cookbooks. Enjoy!