Summer Roll

I make 3 per person. Here I’m making 12. Sometimes the ingredients get a little tilted by the end. I usually run out of avocado first.

For this three person version, you’ll need:
1/4 of a 14oz package of rice stick noodles
36 shrimp peeled and deveined or frozen
1 carrot julienned
1 cucumber julienned
Rice vinegar
2 cups cabbage (Napa, Savoy, Green…) sliced thin
1 Avocado halved and finely sliced
24 sprigs of cilantro
24 basil leaves
12 25cm extra-thin spring roll wrappers (or 22cm look for Dynasty brand)
Sweet chili sauce for dipping
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Cooking equipment I used:
9×9 Pyrex baking dish
4 quart saucepan

2 cups boiling water in a 9×9 casserole dish or something close to that. Break up a quarter of a 14oz package of rice stick noodles and soak for about ten minutes then drain in colander. Cut up a bit with scissors.

36 shrimp. 3 for each roll. I buy frozen medium size wild-caught white shrimp and flash them in lightly salted boiled water for 3 minutes (turn burner off as soon as shrimp are in. Then drain in colander and remove tails).

On a big cutting board with prep bowls if needed:
1 carrot julienned (I have a hand-held Japanese Kinpira julienne tool thing)
1 cucumber cut lengthwise and seeded. Julienne half. Thinly slice other half and put in bowl with some rice vinegar.
About 2 cups of cabbage finely sliced (Napa, Savoy, green, or whatever)
1 avocado cut in halves and sliced thin
Cilantro leaves and tender stalk
24 or so basil leaves

12 25cm extra-thin spring roll wrappers.

With enough space on cutting board to roll and a 9×9 casserole dish with hot water next to it, rotate wrapper through hot water, place on cutting board and begin to load about a third of the way down the wrapper: basil leaves and shrimp next to each other and then everything else on top. Tuck in sides and roll.

Serve cucumber slices in small dishes topped with toasted sesame seeds and sweet chili sauce for dipping. I usually make sushi rice as a side.

Copyright © 2018 MRuesen • All rights reserved

Summer Sole

For this four person version, you’ll need:
2 medium or 1 large filet of sole for each person (cut large ones in half lengthwise)
2 cups of orzo
2 crowns of broccoli
3 carrots
1 or 2 yellow squash (depending on size)
Garlic cloves (I used 4 cloves vegetables and 4 in the sauce)
1 lemon
2 cups of parsley leaves (I don’t like the stems, so I pluck the leaves)
Salt, ground pepper, olive oil (or other mild oil)
Optional: sea salt flakes, lemon wedges, fresh cracked pepper

Cooking equipment I used:
Saute or frying pan for the vegetables (I used a 12″ frying pan)
Sheet pan lined with parchment if needed for the fish (I used a 13×18 because that’s what I have, but it could be smaller, even a toaster oven pan)
3 qt saucepan for the orzo

Get the oven going at 400°F.

Start with the the sauce so it can have a little time for the flavors to come together. Combine about two cups of finely chopped parsley with the zest and juice of one lemon, around a third of a cup of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt, and one to four or more garlic cloves —finely chopped or run through a garlic press. I use the zest and juice of one lemon to be economical and as many a four cloves of garlic and enough olive oil to give it the consistency of a sauce. You could also blitz it in a small food processor or one of those bullet things.

Next, get a pot of water going on high for the orzo and set your bowls on the stove to warm.

While the water’s heating up, rinse and dry the sole. On a baking sheet, with parchment paper if needed, brush the fish with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt flakes; then roll the fish up bow to stern and repeat with olive oil, salt, and pepper on the outside. Put fish on baking pan.

Then set to work on your vegetables. Get the pan warming up on medium with a teaspoon or so of olive oil and a little salt. I cut the carrots and squash into thin half-moons and the broccoli into small half-florets (you can save the stems for slaw).

The water for the orzo should be ready now, so that can go in. It usually takes around nine minutes, but go with whatever the box says.

Then saute the vegetables. I turn the pan up to medium-high and put the carrots in first for a minute or so, then the broccoli, and then the squash. If you want to avoid using a pan, you could also boil the vegetables in with the orzo by adding the carrots the last four minutes and the broccoli and squash for the last three to two depending on the thickness. When the vegetables are almost ready, add one to four of more garlic cloves—finely chopped or run through a garlic press.

Once the orzo is in and the vegetables are sauteing, the fish can have its turn in the oven. The fish is ready when an instant read thermometer says 145ºF or when a fork or knife can easily go through the thickest part. This is somewhere around seven minutes.

Finish with lemon and sea salt.

Copyright © 2014 MRuesen • All rights reserved