Recipe Review - Spring Rolls

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Cheryl said she'd like to see pictures of my version of each recipe. Well, Cheryl, this is for you:




Yeah. Have you guys ever seen spring roll wrappers before? They're like these crazy thin, hard, translucent plastic looking things. Apparently, if you believe what you read on package directions and such, you're supposed to be able to soak them in water for 20 seconds to make them soft and sticky. Then you fill them. Then you wrap them. Then you can either eat as is, steam them or fry them. A, B or C. Sick, Sick, Sick. Not really sick in flavor, but I just don't have what it takes to make those freakin' wrappers work. Eating them as is wasn't an option. Cold. Not wrapped tight enough. Slick. Slimy. No thanks. Steamed? Well, maybe if you want to pick the insides of the spring roll out of your steamer pot, along with your totally jellyfish like wrapper that didn't have enough muscle to hold the filling. No thanks. Fried? Well, see steamed, only everything has fallen apart inside burning oil. Yeah, after an hour of cooking, preparing, grunting, sweating and finally giving up, we went to Taco Bell. :( I spent more money on the ingredients to make our stinkin' meal than I did at Taco Bell. Needless to say I was frustrated. However, the filling for the Spring Rolls was actually tasty. So I made in into a soup for lunches that week, and all was not lost. If you're interested in Cabbiage Soup, and I suspect you're not, read on my friend.

Fry several strips of tofu (probably about 2 inch strips for each so called spring roll) in sesame oil and spices to taste. (this is from my recipe book. I added the tofu to the rest of the recpie from foodnetwork.com below)

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons peanut or olive oil
• 2 cups shredded coleslaw mix
• 1/2 cup Thai Peanut Sauce, recipe follows
• 8 spring roll wrappers (sold in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle)
• 1 (6-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1 (11-ounce) can asparagus, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coleslaw mix and cook, stirring, until the cabbage wilts, about 3 minutes. Add the peanut sauce and mix well to combine. Remove from the heat.

Place 2 inches of water in the bottom of a steamer or large saucepan and set over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, arrange the spring roll wrappers on a flat surface. Top each wrapper with an equal amount of the coleslaw mixture, water chestnuts, and asparagus, making an even layer down the center. Roll up the wrappers, tuck in the ends and place side by side in steamer basket or large colander. Set the steamer basket (or colander) over the now simmering water, cover, and steam until the wrappers are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Serve the spring rolls with soy sauce on the side for dipping.

Thai Peanut Sauce:

3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon hot sauce

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients until well blended and set the pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes.

The leftover peanut sauce will keep in the refrigerator up to 4 days or in the freezer up to 3 months; thaw completely in the refrigerator or microwave for about 3 minutes on LOW before using.

Please note, friends, this recipe was level: easy. Prep/cook time: 18 minutes. Yeah. Right.

Next attempt: Asparagus and Pistachio Risotto-stay tuned!

Recipe Review - Roast Sweet Potato Ravioli

Well, I'm afraid to say this was two thumbs down in my book and maybe two sideways thumbs from Jeff so I'm not going to type the whole thing out this time. It was sort of a lot of work on the scale I use, which is basically comparing the easiness level to the level of Kraft mac and cheese. Picture me chopping, stirring, mixing, boiling, brushing, spooning, reducing, basically running around the kitchen like a crazy woman all while trying not to spill on my recipe book or the floor, or generally anywhere because, hey, let's face it, I like it clean. Finally I finish the stinking meal, take a bite, and...well....not that great. The yams never got quite soft and smooth enough. It probably needed more cheese, more spices, more seasoning, more something. And the wonton wrappers? They were sort of slimy. Ewww. Not a good flavor/texture combo for Ter Ter. Oh well, though. That page is no longer dog eared in my recipe book and now we know what we think of it. On with the resolution!

This week: spring rolls and miso soup!

Recipe Review - Pitas with Falafel and Tomato Cucumber salsa

Greek!



Felafel with Tomato Salsa (from "Delicious Vegetarian Food" cookbook.)
I used boxed felafel that you just add water to. However this recipe tells you how to actually MAKE felafel. Um, yeah, maybe I didn't mention that I do easy recipes. Making felafel-NOT easy. But here it is, in case you are more ambitious that I in the kitchen, which wouldn't be surprising ;)

Ingredients

2 cups dried chickpeas
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
oil for deep-frying

Tomato Salsa

2 tomatoes
1/4 Lebanese cucumber, finely chopped (I have no idea what Lebanese cucumbers are, I just used plain old cucumbers in the produce section)
1/2 green capsicum (pepper) diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Tziziki Sauce (from http://greekfood.about.com/od/appetizerssalads/r/tzatziki_sass.htm)

16 ounces (2 cups) of thick Greek yogurt
4 to 10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup of diced or grated cucumber (Kirby or "English")
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Preparation:

Prepare all ingredients in advance. Combine oil and lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Fold the yogurt in slowly, making sure it mixes completely with the oil. Add the garlic, according to taste, and the cucumber. Stir until evenly distributed. Garnish with a bit of green and serve well chilled.

Yield: about 2 1/2 cups

Add mint or dill: Slight variations include 1-2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh dill and/or fresh mint. Tasty additions!

Pita Bread (from Food Network.com)

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
31/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

So basically make the felafel OR just add water and follow the directions on the box ;) Then add all the ingredients for the salsa. We put felafel in multigrain pitas warmed up, topped with salsa and homemade tziziki sauce. Also, Jeff made some AMAZING pitas from scratch. Hello, we are totally a Greek restaurant. We give this meal two thumbs up. And we had TONS of leftover pitas that we froze and can enjoy again later.

Borekas and Mixed Berry Couscous

Remember when I used to do the “someplace new review” on the blog? Well that went out the window when we started budgeting. Now it’s better not to spend money on new restaurants, but perhaps new recipes would be a good goal instead. One of my goals for the year is to try out a new recipe each week. Hopefully I’ll learn new delicious and healthy meals we can eat to get us out of our rut, which is pretty much nachos, burritos, spaghetti, pasta salad, pancakes, repeat. I got so excited while looking at one of my cookbooks that I’ve already tried two new recipes. I confess I hurried too quickly at the grocery and therefore didn’t have all the necessary ingredients, but tried to make do with what I had. So here we go!


Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
7 oz feta cheese crumbles
1 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
Filo dough (this is what I didn’t have, so I used croissants instead-they worked great!)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in bowl-mixture will be lumpy
Separate dough into even lengths (if you use croissants, you’ll need to roll them out and flatten them, probably need to cans of 6.)
After you have about 6-8 lengths of dough, about 2-3 inches wide and 6-8 inches long, put a tablespoon or two of the mixture at one end of the dough. Then fold one corner over and pinch. Repeat folding until you reach the end of the dough and it is in the shape of a triangle. Bake according to package directions (probably at 350 for 20 minutes or so)
Enjoy!

Jeff and I gave this two thumbs up! Of course we both love cheese and carbs, so while it might not have been the healthiest, it was sure a perfect combo of ingredients for us! This is more of an appetizer than a meal, so we had it with some left over chili. MMMMmmmmm :)

MIXED BERRY COUSCOUS

Ingredients:

1 cup plain couscous
2 cups cranapple juice
Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc
Honey
Yogurt

Directions:

Bring juice to a boil in saucepan.
Add couscous, remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes until all juice is absorbed.
Put couscous in bowl, add berries, sprinkle with honey and top with a dollop of yogurt and serve for a warm, healthy breakfast.

Pretty tasty. I would probably give this 2 thumbs up with some slight adjustments. I don’t love the cranapple juice and wonder what the couscous would taste like just made plain and adding a bit of brown sugar for sweetness. Or maybe just using plain apple just instead of the cranapple. The raspberries taste wonderful with it, though, and it made enough for breakfast all week!