The Gabby Gourmand » appetizer ideas

Thai-Inspired Peanut Sauce and Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Gabby — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:58:18 +0000

When we visited Austin, Texas a few weeks ago, J’s brother and his fiance took us to a Vietnamese sandwich shop called Bite Mi. I had never really heard of sandwiches with all the delicious Vietnamese flavors like that of the signature pho, but I tell you what! These sandwiches were awesome. They also had these crazy canned beverages like Chrysanthemum tea or Jasmine Green tea which were both delicious. To top it all off (and my favorite part of the experience), their side item to the sandwich was a spring roll. Not the fried kind–The cold, basil, mint, noodle, shrimp or tofu kind with spicy peanut sauce for dipping. There is a restaurant in Nashville that serves these just the way I like them. And I happily pay the 8 or 9 dollars because they are so damn good. Halfway through our meal at Bite Mi, I commented with a big ole bite of spring roll and peanut sauce, “Man, I wish I could make these!” Fiance Nicole, rather nonchalantly, commented back, “They’re not that hard. Those wrappers are super cheap and easy to find.”
WHERE HAVE I BEEN?? Every time I had gone to the store, I had looked for those rice paper wrappers. All I can ever find are the wonton wrappers in the refrigerated section. So when we ate at their favorite Korean place in Austin, we visited the Asian grocery in the same strip mall. And I picked up 2 packages of rice paper spring roll wraps to smuggle back in my suitcase…only to find that Kroger had them in the Asian section when we got back to Nashville. I suppose I just didn’t know what I was looking for, eh?

Anyway, these things are super easy to make and handle. You just follow the instructions for hydrating the wrappers. They are easier to deal with if you just make sure all of the surface area has been covered by water and then quickly transfer to your work area while they are still hard and papery.

Then you just pile in whatever filling you like and then wrap up like you would a burrito. Just make sure you include fresh basil and mint. These are a must, trust me.

Our filling included:

plain chinese noodles, cooked
marinated and baked tofu– I just marinate in soy, bake until slightly crispy, and let cool before I start the spring rolls. This is also a great way to use any leftover tofu or protein you have from a previous meal. Shrimp, tempeh, pork, anything you like.
bean sprouts
matchstick carrots
fresh basil
fresh mint
sliced cucumber
chopped fresh green onions

Now for the Thai-inspired Peanut Sauce.

J looked up several recipes while I was baking the tofu, and none of them really appealed to me. So I just kinda threw together bits and pieces of things I saw. I don’t have exact measurements because I was adding and tasting as I went. I just knew I wanted it to be like a peanut sauce we buy in the jar, but better and less spicy. This recipe makes a lot of sauce, but it’s great on everyday leftovers, and we ate it up in a week.

Here’s what I came up with:

jar of natural peanut butter, creamy (the unsweetened kind)
half can of coconut milk (you may have to use more or less depending on the consistency of your peanut butter–just get it to the creamy consistency you like, and it will be good)
2 or 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
a few tablespoons of water (again, just have a cup of water near you, and add until you get the desired consistency of creamy)
juice of 1 fresh lime
lime zest of that lime
approximately 1 tablespoon of fish sauce (sounds weird, but it just adds that little something)
a couple shakes of dried ground ginger
several dashes of Mongolian fire oil or chili oil or whatever spicy sauce you usually use to add the heat
2 cloves minced garlic
approximately 1/4 cup sugar or sweetening agent like agave syrup –be careful with this, especially if you used a sweetened peanut butter. Add a little at a time until you get your desired sweetness. I like a perfect blend of sweet, salty, and spicy, but that may not be your forte.

I kept adding the fire oil until I got some heat. The sugar balances it nicely.

The spring rolls will keep for a few days, so if you have leftovers, they are EXCELLENT for the next day’s lunch.

salsa to change it up

Gabby — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:26:16 +0000

My MIL had this when we visited a few weeks back. I didn’t write anything down, but I did remember a half bottle of “robusto italian” dressing. It must be Robusto. It makes a big batch, but it doesn’t even matter if it sits in your refrig all week, because the flavors just keep getting better and better. I bought a red-yellow-orange package of the bell peppers, so I used all 3 of them. I freaking love bell peppers. But if you don’t like left-overs or you’re afraid the other halves of your peppers will go bad, just choose 2 colors and use the whole things. We used the left over peppers on a tri-pepper pizza (same dough as the one here).

Throw ‘em in the bowl:

can corn, drained
can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, finely chopped
bunch of green onions (4-6?), finely chopped
can mild Rotel tomatoes, drained
1/2 bottle of Wish Bone Robusto Italian
1/2 cup-3/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Stir and marinate for a few hours in the frig. I kept going to visit the frig and take small bites of this stuff “to see if it was ready.” It does taste amazing after marinating for a good long while, but it tastes dang good in the minutes after you make it, too.

It’s good with rice, on tortilla chips, by itself, with hummus, you name it.

Meatless Meatballs? Really!?

Gabby — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:31:54 +0000

I just discovered the most wonderful meatless invention ever: meatless meatballs. Veggie Patch frozen meatballs…with no meat!

Veggie Patch's Meatless Meatballs: These puppies are GOOD. Besides the fact that their consistency is yummy and even more appetizing than some meatballs I've had, they taste nice, too.

They are GOOD and filling. I think they would even be good in an appetizer…you know the ones that Southern folks serve at parties in their crock pots? The ones you eat with toothpicks and chase around your plate with a slightly sweet sauce on them? I have no idea what those are called, but I would bet these would be good in that, too.

Mix ‘em with some marinara and noodles, and oh my! I had wanted to make this another one of my noodle adventure blogs, but my hubby has not had time (and slightly refuses) to go by Whole Foods on his way home for some more shirataki noodles. I’m not that upset for 2 reasons:

He has been going to the gym twice during the work week, and there is just no time on those days.
Publix has agreed to stock them for me!

The idea occurred to me last night after an awesome 45 min spin class. I might add that this grand idea came to me in spite of the sweaty muscle-bound guy with the very un-rad tattoo on the bike next to me. Yeah, the guy with hair gel who gave me advice on my bike (unsolicited, I might add), but then didn’t know how to clip in his own bike shoes to the pedals…who continued to make silly faces and pedal backwards like there was something wrong with his bike…and left early. Oh, there’s nothing worse than dudes like that. Not even newbies. Did I mention his tattoo was very large and of something circular and grey and blobby? I bet you’re thinking of a similar dude you may have encountered.

Spin class never has this much drama in the other 11 months of the year. Anywho, I digress.
I needed stuff for our Greek Tabouleh and Hummus night, so I stopped by Publix, my favorite grocery of all time (besides the Ingles supermarkets of the Carolinas, of course). Publix has all kinds of weird stuff that I bet folks asked them to order for them. So that’s just what I did. I marched myself up there, filled out a form, and they’ll call me when they start stocking them on the shelves. OH MAN!