Raise your hand if you’re from the Northeast and have officially turned into a human prune!!! *both hands up*
Did YOU know it was possible to feel both dehydrated AND saturated at the same time? Heat and humidity are the latest power couple, and it is getting rough out there. I just got back from an incredible week in Connecticut at the Amherst Early Music Baroque Academy, but it wasn’t always fun and games for my fiddle… Let’s just say when working with a period instrument with gut strings in 95% humidity, the name of the game is “What The F#*! Just Came Out of My Instrument?!” 5 points every time a string goes a whole step out of tune. 10 points when two consecutive strings go out of tune in opposite directions. 15 points when you play a note and nothing comes out… You don’t really want to win.
In this heat, my second love (cooking) also becomes not-so-lovely. When the mere thought of turning on an oven drowns me in my own sweat, I often resort to “un-cooking.” Luckily, the summer season offers us a huge selection of delicious produce, so filling up on raw fruits and veggies is hardly boring. And, not to diss salad, but there are plenty of creative ways to enjoy your raw produce, which was precisely our challenge at The Recipe ReDux this month.
This month’s theme, “Get Your Fruits and Veggies in Shape,” challenged us to transform summer produce using creative cuts. My spiralizer is one of my FAVORITE tools in the kitchen for this, and summer rolls are a go-to meal for me during the warmer months – oven-free, fresh, crunchy, light, healthy, and filling! What could be better than combining the two?!
While making this recipe, I was pleased with how quick and SAFE spiralizing was as an alternative. Julienning veggies with a knife or special peeler is fine, but it takes forever… Plus, I will take any chance I can get to keep my fingers away from blades.
To “wrap up” this delicious dish (hehe) I made an easy miso sesame ginger dipping sauce. Miso automatically lends an explosion of flavor to whatever it’s in, and I am always looking for new ways to incorporate it. This was a home run as far as I’m concerned!
Fresh, crunchy summer rolls with spiralized veggies and an addictive miso sauce.
Ingredients
Scale
Rolls
12–24 sheets rice paper
Warm water
1 large carrot
2 large (or 3 medium) cucumbers
1/2 purple cabbage
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 mango, thickly sliced
1 cup cilantro or Thai basil leaves
Miso Sauce
3 Tbs. light miso
4 Tbs. seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 1/2-inch knob ginger, grated (about 1/2 tsp)
1 Tbs. sesame oil
Instructions
Spiralize carrots using the “spaghetti” blade, or thinnest blade possible. Set aside.
Spiralize cucumbers using the “spaghetti” blade. I like to drain my cucumber noodles after spiralizing by squeezing them through a cheesecloth or a stack of paper towels. Set aside.
Spiralize purple cabbage on the “ribbon” blade, or thickest blade possible. Set aside.
Prepare your avocado, mango, and cilantro and arrange them alongside your other prepared veggies for easy assembly.
Submerge a sheet of rice paper in a bowl of warm water for 5 seconds. Immediately lay the wet sheet on a cutting board or large plate.
Fill your roll (careful not to overfill!) with veggies. I like to start with cilantro so you can see the leaves laying flat through the roll, and then add the veggies from thinnest to thickest. I also like to add more cilantro on top before rolling.
Roll each summer roll delicately while keeping it as compact as possible.
Sauce
Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.
Notes
Work as quickly as possible to prevent your rice paper from sticking to your surface!
If necessary after rolling, double up with another sheet of rice paper.
This is probably not real life. Actually, I’m positive it’s not. I’m definitely just having the deepest and most wonderful nap dream ever. Is somebody gonna wake me up before I pee? No? SO IT IS REAL?! 😀
In all seriousness though, I’m so excited to be continuing on in their historical performance program. I get to play baroque violin all day every day, play with an amazing group, and learn from some of early music’s most revered artists. This has been a dream of mine ever since I began playing baroque violin, and it’s actually coming true.
….I am also a leeeetle bit wiped out though. This was a warm (not quite hot) mess of a busy year, even if it turned out to be SO BEYOND worth the struggle. Preparing an audition on baroque violin while still juggling grad student life on modern violin nearly made me crazy, and I questioned my sanity every 7 minutes, basically. One thing I learned in the process, though, is that when things get stressful, you just need to power through one day, one task, and one minute at a time. Bite-sized goals on small plates… Do you see where I’m going yet?
Back-to-school season. It’s a time for new backpacks, pencils, and books, and a time for that new jean jacket that you wear on the first day “because it’s Fall,” but in reality, is pretty weather-inappropriate. It’s also the return of lunch-packing season.
I have a love/hate relationship with packing my own lunches. On one hand, I love knowing it’s healthier and that the portions are better. And, I feel way more organized when I have my own food packed away. But on the other hand, I just really stink at creativity when it comes to packing lunch. I think to myself, “What if I actually looked forward to something new in my lunch? What if it wasn’t always some variation on greens + protein + beans + grains + avocado + hotsauce? WHAT IF?! The struggle is real completely first-world.
Today was my aunt and uncle’s anniversary, so our family had them over for a celebratory dinner at our house. I was asked to cook, and happily agreed, as I will use ANY excuse to be in the kitchen creating all day. I made marinated tuna skewers with a ginger lime sauce (that will be posted separately once I perfect it) and veggie/squash kabobs with this salad on the side. Needless to say, there was none left by the end of the meal, and I knew my experiment was a success.
I’m calling this recipe “Summer Salad” since it’s light, refreshing, and full of summery flavors. Also, who knew Watermelon went so well with vegetables and cheese? I guess at least a few people, since apparently the Watermelon-Feta combination is a popular one, but I’m going to give you my recipe anyway. I will always give credit when and where credit is due, so any resemblance that it bears to another that you might find is purely coincidental.
Ingredients:
8 cups finely diced seedless watermelon (Roughly half of a medium watermelon)
2 cups diced heirloom tomatoes
1 cup reduced fat crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves (about 4 sprigs)
Combine ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. No dressing is needed in my opinion, as the natural juices of the watermelon make the salad moist enough and help to combine the flavors nicely.
TIPS:
Serve the salad in the empty watermelon shell and garnish with tomato and mint leaves!
Any type of tomato will do for the salad. I love heirloom tomatoes because they’re so pretty and always add beautiful, bright colors to any dish. You may even be able to do without the tomatoes too, but I found they added a nice acidity in lieu of dressing.
For cutting the mint, layer several leaves on top of each other and roll them up. Then slice them widthwise, creating the “chiffonade” effect which works perfectly for salads. You can do this with basil too (which may also work well in this salad… Next time)!
