Salad inside and out

With record high temperatures and killer humidity outside, there was no way I wanted to turn on the stove, and certainly not the oven. So, I chose a meal that a) required zero cooking; b) used up some of our farm bounty; and c) tasted deliciously cool and refreshing.


These Asian summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce hit the spot. They're light, cool, crunchy and not too filling. Rice paper wrappers are surprisingly easy to work with- simply soak each paper in warm water for about 30 seconds to soften, then transfer it to your work surface, fill, and wrap it up burrito-style. What do you fill them with? There are plenty of options. I poked around in our fridge and came up with tofu, shredded carrots, slivered scallions, slivered snow peas, red bell pepper strips, and fresh spinach. If I'd had some fresh basil, cilantro or mint on hand, I'd have used that too.

I set up an assembly line for the rolls and my 2-year-old helper dragged his step-stool over to the counter. He was amazingly restrained, placing just a handful of this and a handful of that on each wrapper. However, we did have a tofu crisis. For every piece of tofu he put in a summer roll, he ate two, so we ran a little short. I had some bell pepper strips and slivered snow peas left over, but my helper made short work of those!

The dipping sauce is a quick peanut sauce that also features tahini, soy, sesame oil, honey, and some tart lemon juice. Easy and a nice complement to the vegetables.

Oh, and as for the post title, "Salad inside and out"... I accompanied our vegetable summer rolls with a tossed green salad topped with avocado, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, dressed with some leftover vinaigrette from the Chinese Not-Really-Chicken Salad. There you have it- salad rolls with salad on the side!

Asian Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce