Farm Fresh Spring Rolls

 

Farm Fresh Spring Rolls

I am doomed! It is Wednesday already and last Thursday’s CSA produce is still running wild in the fridge. When one buys into a CSA, one must remember one has duties to the box. There is to be no skipping meals, no eating out, no going to weddings or birthday parties or amusement parks. It’s all about serving the produce. Fortunately, we have guests coming this evening, so I can whip most of it up into little bites and free the fridge for tomorrow’s new veggie hooligans. What better way to wrangle produce than to swaddle it tightly in spring roll wrappers.

These babies are stuffed first with either udon or rice vermicelli and then loaded with fresh herbs including mint, basil and cilantro. I julienned yellow squash and cucumber and had tons of field greens to fill ’em up. Obviously, the rice paper wrappers and noodles were not CSA items, but the greens, cukes, squash and basil all came from Foxtail Farm. The mint and cilantro are from my garden. How’s that for local?

I have never in my life made spring rolls before, but after watching a couple of YouTube demos, I felt pretty confident. The idea is to wet the wrapper, place all the ingredients in the middle, fold in the sides and then the bottom, so you essentially have an envelope. Then you stuff all the filling down into the envelope and roll it up tightly. It’s remarkably easy and totally worth it. I served these with both a spicy peanut sauce as well as a Spring Roll Vinaigrette.

Farm Fresh Spring Rolls

• Spring roll wrappers – my package had 15
• cooked udon, soba or rice noodles
• salad greens
• fresh herbs – mint, basil, cilantro
• julienned vegetables – cucumbers, carrots, yellow squash, peppers, steamed asparagus, bean sprouts, green onions, snap peas. (Anything can be used as long as it is thinly sliced or julienned.)

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

• 1/3 cup creamy organic peanut butter
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 3 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. tamarind paste
• 1 tsp. chili garlic sauce

Directions: Dissolve the brown sugar in the water then mix all ingredients in a food processor.

Vegetarian Spring Roll Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbs. Mirin
• 1 Tbs. soy sauce
• 2 Tbs. sesame oil
• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1 tsp. chile garlic sauce
• dash salt

Spicy Sesame Ginger Sauce

• 1 tsp. chili flakes
• 2 tsp. minced ginger
• 2 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 Tbs. sesame oil
• 1/2 lime,  juiced
• 1 Tbs. rice vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts to garnish