Archive for the ‘Techniques’ Category

We knew we had to post our Vegetable Spring Roll recipe after taking them on a ski trip this past weekend. As we unwrapped them and dipped them in delicious peanut sauce, the other parents at our table were asking all kinds of questions:

• “You made those?”
  Yep.
• “Isn’t that hard?”
  Not as hard as you’d think!
• “Where do you buy the wrappers?”
  We found ours in the international foods section in Wegmans.

We have done this recipe on our own enough time to be comfortable, and enough times to say that, while the process looks involved, it’s really not that much work. The recipe has the full technique, but read on for the cook’s notes:

1. Gather Ingredients
   Most of the time for this recipe is in the preparation. Get your ingredients together, prep them (slice, dice, cut, soak, etc …) and put them in prep bowls, assembly-line fashion. When it comes time to make the rolls, it’ll be good to have them all ready and in order.
2. Soak Wrappers
   The wrapper rounds just take a few seconds in hot water to become pliable. Put two in a hot water bath at a time, when you’re ready to start the next roll.
3. Blot Dry
   We used a Silpat (non-stick) mat on our counter to help with this step. We picked up the first round, laid it on a paper towel, and then flipped the paper towel over so the round is on the Silpat. This makes it easy to peel the paper towel off the top.
4. Layer Ingredients
   Start with the lettuce leaf and rice noodles, about an inch from the bottom edge of the wrapper.
5. Add Toppings
   Add the remaining toppings to the leaf and noodles at the bottom of the wrapper.
6. Roll in First Wrapper
   Slowly roll from the bottom, pausing after one revolution to fold in the wrapper sides to seal the sides, and continuing to roll the remainder. Set the roll aside.
7. Roll in Second Wrapper
   As in step 3, get the second wrapper onto the Silpat. Place the roll at the bottom again, and roll from bottom to top. This second layer helps to contain any rips or holes in the first wrapper.

If you’re not going to eat them right away, moisten paper towels and wrap the rolls before sealing in a plastic bag. We made these 4 days before eating them on our ski trip (we doubled the recipe and ate half the evening we made them), and they were still fabulous!

Good luck! If you make and take these Vegetable Spring Rolls for lunch, do comment and let us know how your experience was!

Reubens are a classic sandwich available in many sandwich shops. However, their high fat content (many versions contain up to 40 grams of fat) inspired us to find an alternative that we would enjoy just as much. For complete details and a shopping list, view the Seitan Reuben Sandwich recipe.

We replaced the meat with seitan. Seitan has 27 grams of protein per 3 oz serving, compared with 15 grams for corned beef. Seitan is also cholesterol-free. We also omitted cheese, to see if we missed it. I’m happy to report that we enjoyed the sandwich just as much! You may certainly add cheese: just choose a low-fat cheese, or go with your favorite and understand you are adding more cholesterol, fat and sodium to the sandwich. The key to this sandwich is the sauerkraut … make sure to add enough! We heaped on 3 tablespoons. This keeps the sandwich moist and flavorful. Purchase Russian dressing for the sandwich, OR if you want to make it vegan, whip up some of your own vegan Russian dressing.