Spring Rolls

Week 5 of My CSA Share

Strawberries, flat leaf parsley (also called Italian parsley), carrots, 2 types of zucchini, 2 heads of lettuce - the red speckled is a type of romaine and is named Forellenschluss which means speckled like a trout, tatsoi, rainbow chard, and sugar snap peas...

Making spring rolls can appear to be a daunting task, but with just a little practice can be a quick and healthy meal for one or the family. They also make beautiful and inexpensive appetizers for parties. The rice wrappers and rice vermicelli noodles can be found in most grocery stores or for a more interesting experience pick up these items at an asian market!! At the end I'll include a quick peanut sauce recipe to accompany the spring rolls or you can purchase a prepared peanut sauce when you buy the wrappers and noodles.

Ingredients to gather: to make about ten whole spring rolls which will be cut in half to serve.

1 package rice paper sheets

1 package rice vermicelli noodles (sometimes called cellophane noodles)

2-3 small Carrots

1 small beet (optional - it adds amazing color)

1 head asian green such as Tatsoi, Bak Choi, or Vitamin Green

12 Mint leaves

1 bunch Cilantro

Bak Choi, Mint, and Cilantro

Rice vermicelli noodles, rice paper wrappers, beet, Carrot.

In a sauce pan or stock pot bring about 4 cups water to boil, add noodles. These noodles cook very quickly. In about 2-3 minutes check for doneness by pulling one and tasting it after it cools. When noodles are cooked remove from heat and rinse.

Rinse noodles using cold water to stop them from cooking any further. Move them around with your hands to ensure that they get well rinsed. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl. Add a little oil to prevent the noodles from sticking together. Again mixing with your hands or tongs to ensure the oil is dispersed throughout.

For the beet cut off the top and bottom.

Peel Carrots and beets and shred them with a hand held grater or food processor and transfer to separate bowls.

Shredded beet and Carrots.

Chop Mint and Cilantro mix together and transfer to a bowl.

Chop asian greens into ribbons and transfer to a bowl. Pictured here is Bak Choi.

Now gather all the bowls of ingredients plus a pan for warm water and set up an assembly line.

Add warm water (as hot as you can comfortably handle) to the pan (this will have to be refilled with warm water once or twice). Place one sheet of rice paper in the water until it is thoroughly softened.

Remove rice paper and set on your work surface.

Add a handful of noodles. You will have to experiment with the right quantity. Too much will make them hard to roll. Too little will make them flimsy, and they will fall apart easily.

Add a little of each ingredient.

Pick up the end of the wrapper closest to you with thumb and index finger. Pull it up slightly at the same time take the ring and pinky fingers and guide the ingredients toward you and pull the wrapper taut. This too will take some practice as to feel how taut to pull without ripping the wrapper. Fortunately many come in the package and cost about $2... so a little learning curve does not break the bank.

Fold the wrapper over the filling that you have just pulled toward you and while keeping the roll taut, roll it over just a little more. You can release now because the rice paper will stick to itself a bit. At this point you could add some cooked shrimp for a variation.

Fold over right side.

Then the left. Pull it taut again and complete the roll.

Completed roll. Let it rest for a moment and cut in half either straight across or on the bias (at a diagonal).

I am terribly sorry for this photo. It does not do the roll justice. My batteries ran out and there was no time for replacing - so this will have to do. If you have some pea shoots stick them into the open ends for a lovely finish. Serve with peanut sauce and lightly blanched snap peas for a yummy healthy meal.




For a quick peanut sauce blend 1/4 cup peanut butter (I like the organic/natural others have hydrogenated oil in them) couple tablespoons soy sauce, juice from half a lemon, a tablespoon of honey and stir slowly whisk in warm water until the desired consistency is achieved. Salt and pepper to taste. Add Sriracha for some heat if you can take it!!!

CSA Week One: Lettuce Wraps

Welcome to The CSA Chef Blog. My intention is to share with you recipes that I have created based on what treats and treasures I receive in my weekly CSA share. Although my CSA comes from Fair Share Farm, the recipes could be easily adapted to most CSAs in the area. I have been involved with local food and farmers for over ten years and currently make my living as a personal chef and caterer. The recipes that I post are original. From time to time I adapt other chef's recipes to my style. When that is the case I will credit the source of the original inspiration. To find out more about what CSA is visit www.kc-csac.org/ or www.localharvest.org/csa/.

Here is my first CSA share from Fair Share Farm in Kearny, MO...

This is a full share and includes 3 heads of Lettuce, Tatsoi (one of my favorites), purple and green Asparagus, Leeks, Sorrel, Chive Flowers, Green Garlic, and Mint. I have put together some recipes based on these items.

The first is Lettuce Wraps. I created this recipe for a catering some time ago and also served it for lunches at the Pi Gallery last summer. It is a favorite with my vegetarian daughter, but is loved by non-vegetarians as well. Grilled pork or chicken is an excellent accompaniment. This is a great recipe to start off the season and the spring lettuce abundance. It is easily shifted to accomodate different items as the season progresses. As you will soon find out, I create recipes and meals based on what comes in my CSA and what is in the fridge and hope this will help you if you get stumped on what to fix or feel overwhelmed. This recipe is a snap if you have a food processor and still quick if you don't. Below is the recipe with step by step instructions.

Lettuce Wraps:

These are extra items from my pantry and fridge that I included in the Lettuce Wraps that were not a part of my CSA.

Cashews, Carrots, Dried Basil, Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients to gather:

10 large Lettuce leaves

10 leaves of Tatsoi

4-5 medium carrots

3 Green Garlic stalks

handfulf of cashews

2 portobello mushrooms (or 10 crimini, shiitake, or oyster)

2 Mint sprigs

1 large Leek

1 Chive Flower

1 Tbsp dried basil (or about 7 fresh basil leaves)

Step 1:

Slice the white parts of one large Leek and three Garlic Chives and sautee on low to medium heat in about two tablespoons of oil - I use Grapeseed Oil.

Sliced Leek








Sliced Leek and Green Garlic in Cast Iron Skillet. You may need to add a couple of tablespoons of water to the sautee pan to help "melt" your Leeks.

Step 2:
Once they have softened add a couple of generous pinches of salt and pepper, then add 3 diced carrots and dried basil and stir.

To dice carrots: Peel and cut in half, take one half and cut in half lenghtwise, carefully cut each half in half again lengthwise, cut the lengthwise quarters into matchsticks, then cut the matchsticks into small dice cubes.

If you have a food processor, peel carrots and cut into chunks, pulse until carrots are finely chopped.

Step 3:
Continue cooking on medium-low heat. Let carrots soften a bit then add diced mushrooms.

Break off stems and compost (they can be used to make veggie stock which I will post on at some point), with a damp cloth wipe off tops of mushroom, slice into strips, then chop strips into smaller pieces until diced.

If you have a food processor pulse until minced.

Leek, Green Garlic, Carrot, and Portobello mixture.

Step 4:

Continue cooking on medium-low heat and add Tatsoi chiffonade and diced cashews then stir. Leave the mixture on the heat for just another minute or two then remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

To chiffonade the Tatsoi, remove stems and stack four or five leaves, roll the leaves lengthwise, and slice across the roll to form ribbons.

Chop cashews until minced or pulse in a food processor.

Add to skillet and stir.

Step 5:

While the mixture is cooling, break off 8 to 10 leaves of Lettuce rinse and pat dry. Arrange the Lettuce on the edge of the plate and place the mixture in a mound in the center of the plate. Serve with chopped Mint, Chive Flowers, and soy sauce.

Sliced Green Garlic (lower left), Chive Flowers (top middle), Mint (right)

Voila!! Lettuce Wraps...

To wrap take the top portion of the lettuce (the rib makes it hard to wrap) and add a few spoonfuls of the mixture, drizzle some soy sauce, and sprinkle Chive Flowers, and Mint then wrap lettuce around mixture and eat!!! You can use the sturdy inner smaller pieces of the lettuce head like spoons!

Enjoy...there is more to come!