Super HOT!!!

So glad I cooked LAST night (veggie fritters, spring rolls, frittata).  It was 102ºF in the school garden today!  The spring rolls were quite refreshing and cold.  Yet another friend of mine finds he is gluten intolerant.  Try a salad!  Or roll this gluten free salad into a roll, here:

Gluten-Free/Vegan and Wild Option

________________________________________________

Spring Rolls

Taste of Vietnam

________________________________________________

Prep: 15 minutes   Makes 15 rolls

2 oz. rice vermicelli

16 chinese cabbage leaves or mixed salad greens

8 mint leaves, plus garnish (lemon balm also works)

3 tbs. cilantro

3 (wild) chive stems

1 carrot, grated

2 radish, grated

1 stalk of rhubarb, sliced fine

2 tsp. white sugar

2 tbs. white vinegar

1 cup small local cooked shrimp, chopped (optional)

15 rice wrappers

Chop cabbage or greens, herbs, and scallions fine.  Combine with other vegetables, sugar, and vinegar.  Boil rice vermicelli until soft, drain, and cool with cold water.  Drain again and cut into inch-length pieces using kitchen shears.  Mix well with vegetables (and shrimp, if using).   Soak rice wrappers in warm water in a pie dish, one at a time for about 30 seconds.  Place about half a cup of mixture near top of the corner of the wrapper, fold over, and roll tightly.  Tuck in sides half-way through rolling, and roll until end.  Serve chilled, with mint leaves for garnish.  

Chives and Spring Rolls

The chives are blooming!  These pretty wild specimens I moved into my garden seem to be doing a good job deterring seed bugs and slugs from my strawberries (in foreground).  But they are so much more...  As I write this, I have 15 flower heads soaking in white vinegar to use in future recipes and dressings.  It's easy: Take a nice glass bottle – these I salvaged from grenadine syrup, a fancy olive oil, and a second-hand shop.  

  

Wash and dry the bottle and keep warm.  Fill bottle with white vinegar to measure, then heat vinegar to just under boiling.  Stuff bottle with flower heads, then slowly add warmed vinegar.  Seal tightly, then let infuse at least two weeks.  Use on fish, in dressings, or to make sushi.

Meanwhile, those chive stems need not go to waste!  Chop them and use in dressings, on salads, fish, eggs, or the following recipe for spring rolls:

Gluten-Free/Vegan and Wild Option

________________________________________________

Spring Rolls

Taste of Vietnam

________________________________________________

2 oz. rice vermicelli

8 chinese cabbage leaves

16 mint leaves, plus garnish

3 tbs. cilantro

3 (wild) chive stems

1 carrot, grated

2 radish, grated

1 stalk of rhubarb, sliced fine

2 tsp. white sugar

2 tbs. white vinegar

1 cup small local cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp, chopped (optional)

8-10 rice wrappers

Chop cabbage, herbs, and scallions fine.  Combine with other vegetables, sugar, and vinegar.  Bring water to a boil, remove from heat, and add rice vermicelli until soft, about 8 minutes.  Drain, cool with cold water, and drain again.  Cut into inch-length pieces using kitchen shears.  Mix well with vegetables (and shrimp, if using).   Soak rice wrappers one at a time for about 30 seconds.  Place about half a cup of mixture near top of the corner of the wrapper, fold over, and roll tightly.  Tuck in sides half-way through rolling, and roll until end.  Serve chilled, with mint leaves for garnish.   Makes 8-10 rolls.