summer rolls
I moved to New York on July 31, 2006, right before a massive heat wave. I remember it being about 97 degrees, but feeling and smelling like the fifth circle of hell. I arrived to my first day of work in a sweaty haze, with really gross wet wrinkles in my clothes. After that, I got dinner at S’mac and wondered why we were subjecting ourselves to the heat of huge mac-and-cheese filled ovens. The brand new air conditioning unit in the bedroom blew out and stopped working about five days after John and I installed it, thanks to bizarre wiring in our apartment building. For the rest of the summer, there was no air conditioning in my apartment. As a result, I looked and felt like a total mess through September and ate mostly sandwiches, salads, and crappy takeout for dinner. These are my earliest memories of food and hot weather in this fine city I now live in.
By the time my third New York summer rolled around, we had installed not one, but TWO air conditioning units in our apartment. The one in the living room made watching TV and having friends over somewhat bearable. On top of that, I wasn’t afraid of producing a marathon’s worth of sweat while preparing dinners with my bounty of CSA vegetables (and meat!), since frequent showers had become pretty much mandatory. One evening, my neighbor Mabel dropped by as I was pan-frying some breaded chicken. I told her “Aw, sorry, we’re eating meat tonight,” since she’s a vegetarian. But all she could say was “Jeez, it’s so hot in here! You people are crazy!” This was a real wake-up call for me, since Mabel sometimes wears wool cardigans and calf-length boots in July.
To celebrate the first 90+ degree day of summer this year, I wore loose clothing to work, pinned my bangs off of my sweaty forehead, kept ice packs in my pockets, and prepared a dinner that required very little generation of heat: summer rolls and barely reheated leftover pizza. Yes, I’ve learned a lot.
Summer Salad Rolls
Soak rice paper wrappers one at a time in warm water in a wide, shallow pan (a pie pan or a frying pan works well) for about 15 seconds to soften. Push each sheet down so that the edges don’t curl up. Carefully remove from water and place on a large cutting board or other clean work surface. Add thinly sliced raw vegetables, herbs, rice vermicelli, tofu, cooked shrimp, and/or cooked meat to the bottom edge of the wrapper. (My colorful rolls contained tofu, cabbage, yellow cucumber, finely julienned carrot, bean sprouts, rice vermicelli, serrano pepper, cilantro, and opal basil.) Carefully roll over away from you, keeping it as tight as possible with minimal tearing. Fold the side edges over, then continue rolling the way you would with a burrito. Serve with…
Hoisin Dipping Sauce
Combine 2 sliced cloves of garlic with 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 2 tablespoons of water, 2 teaspoons tamarind extract (or vinegar, or lime juice), Sriracha hot sauce, and a small handful of crushed peanuts.
