Vegetable Summer Rolls with Chile Lime Dipping Sauce and Salt and Pepper Squid

What we have with these two dishes is a delicious mix of contrasts. With the rolls, the pale, white, chewy rice paper wrappers are filled with bright, colorful, crunchy vegetables, and they're mild tasting until dipped in the chile lime sauce. Meanwhile, the fried squid is crispy on the outside and coated with a riot of flavor after being stir-fried with garlic, green onions, and chiles. Under the crisp coating, the squid is pale and mild. These recipes came from an article about party food in last June's Food and Wine. I didn't actually make them for a party, but I can tell you they would have worked well for one. The summer rolls can sit in the refrigerator for a few hours after being assembled, and the squid can be kept warm in the oven after it's been fried. I did make one small change to the summer rolls. One of the filling items was supposed to have been rice vermicelli, but I was determined to use all raw ingredients and not have to cook anything for the rolls. So, I used shredded lettuce in place of the noodles. I made a slight change to the squid as well since I skipped the dusting with five spice powder that was suggested. Otherwise, I followed the instructions and was thrilled with the results.

For me, making summer rolls is one of those fun kitchen tasks like pitting cherries and rolling fresh pasta dough. You soften a brittle rice paper wrapper in warm water, lay it flat, and pile on the fillings before folding in the sides and rolling it up snuggly. It seals itself into a nice, little package. I think the self-sealing is possibly what makes it so fun. The fillings here were thin strips of red and yellow bell pepper, shredded lettuce instead of rice vermicelli, strips of avocado which I tossed with lime juice to prevent it from turning brown, julienned cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, Thai basil leaves from my garden, and I might have added a few thin strips of serrano chile as well. The dipping sauce for the rolls was made with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, water, and a chopped red chile. The fried squid was breaded simply by dipping the cut pieces into egg and then into cornstarch. It was fried in batches and left to drain. Once all the squid was fried, it was then quickly stir-fried in a little oil in which garlic, green onions, minced red onion, and a finely chopped jalapeno had been cooked.

I actually really like squid, but I realize it might not be everyone's favorite ingredient. When it's fried though, it's hard not to like, and this version with the added flavor from the final stir fry was especially good. The salad in roll form was fresh and light while feeling a little more substantial than just a salad on a plate. These two dishes full of contrasts went together perfectly.

Piquillo Pepper Num Pangs

I made homemade Kaiser rolls, and I had a plan for them. I had been thinking about these sandwiches on Kaiser rolls for a year, or the recipe had been sitting in my files for that long anyway. Last September, these num pangs appeared in Food and Wine, and the combination of big flavors and crisp vegetables was something I wanted to try. They could have been made with just about any roll, and semolina baguettes were suggested as another option, but they were shown on Kaiser rolls which seemed just right. There’s a lot going on in these sandwiches. The julienned carrots aren’t just raw carrots. They’re crisped in vinegar with a little sugar. And, the pesto is no standard pesto. It’s made with Thai basil and spiked with anchovies, lime juice, and fish sauce. That’s not all. While plain mayonnaise would have been good, drizzled with sriracha, it was even better.

So, to make those quick-pickled carrots, cider vinegar and sugar were combined and the julienned carrot sticks were tossed in the mixture. That was left at room temperature for an hour and stirred from time to time. The pesto was made by whizzing the following in a food processor: Thai basil leaves, anchovies, lime juice, fish sauce, crushed red pepper flakes, and chopped garlic. The Kaiser rolls were split, toasted, and buttered, and then it was time to build sandwiches. One side of each roll was spread with mayonnaise and drizzled with sriracha, and the other side was topped with pesto. The sandwich was layered with thinly sliced cucumber, piquillo peppers, carrots, and cilantro leaves.

This sandwich has been by far my favorite use of these Kaiser rolls. For a sandwich full of vegetables, the flavor was incredible. The smokiness from the piquillos was a nice touch, but even raw red bell pepper strips would have been great. I definitely recommend the pesto, and there’s a tip in the recipe intro for a quicker version. Store-bought basil pesto could be doctored by adding chiles, lime juice, and fish sauce for a similar result. I also wouldn’t skip the sriracha on the mayonnaise. In fact, that will be appearing on almost all of my future sandwiches.

Thai Lemongrass Rice Salad

We all have our food phobias, preferences, and various other issues. Kurt doesn’t have very many food issues, but every once in a while he surprises me with a new one. For instance, sometime in the last year, he decided rice salads should always be avoided. I don’t know what a rice salad ever did to him, but he made the decision and stuck with it until last night. When presenting this dish, I slyly called it a Thai salad and left the rice word out of the title. That worked well enough for him to taste it before pointing out that he could see that it was a rice salad. But, one taste managed to change his mind. That’s how good this salad is. This bright, freshly-flavored, mind-changing salad is from none other than Donna Hay and is found in Off the Shelf. I wasn’t kidding about the proliferation of salads and recipes from that book this week.

So, if you were wondering what would be a great make-ahead item that you could leave in the refrigerator, that would have incredible flavor even in its chilled state, and that you could enjoy for a few meals, well you found it. Make a big bowl of this salad and enjoy. The recipe is very quick and simple, and if you have some leftover chicken it’s even faster. I used leftover grilled chicken, but any cooked and shredded chicken would work. Then, cook some rice. I went with jasmine rice, and I always follow the process I learned from Saveur years ago. That process involves swishing the rice in water, draining, and repeating until the water remains clear. Then, the rice is boiled in a saucepan for a few minutes before the heat is turned to low and the pan is covered for 20 minutes. Last, the pan is removed from the heat and left to sit, covered for 10 minutes. The ratio from that article, from so long ago I don’t remember what year, was two cups of rice boiled in two and three-quarters cups water. It always turns out great. So, with cooked chicken and cooked rice, all that was needed to be cooked for this salad was some briefly sauteed green onions, chopped red chiles, and finely chopped lemongrass. Once sauteed, those items were combined with the cooked and cooled rice, the shredded chicken, some shredded mint, cilantro leaves, and shredded kaffir lime leaves which I actually found at the grocery store even though I usually don’t. Then, a dressing including lime juice, a little sugar, and fish sauce was poured over the salad. It was tossed to combine, and the salad was left in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

I tasted the salad as I made it, and the lime and lemongrass flavors were front and center, but I wondered if it would become a little dull after being chilled. It did not. The lime leaves, lime juice, lemongrass, fish sauce, mint, and cilantro all contributed to the flavor burst that was still there after the time spent in the refrigerator. I was very happy with the salad and surprised that Kurt not only tolerated it but found it to be quite good. I don’t know that this has opened the door for other rice salads, but I do know this one will be welcomed when I make it again.