Vegetable Spring Rolls: Fresh or Crispy

I learned to make these in Vietnam at a cooking course I took there. It took a long time to explain that I am a vegetarian; they seemed to think that if someone can afford it they should eat a ton of meat.

Ingredients
• All vegetables should be thinly sliced like matchsticks. Quantities are not specified because it depends how many spring rolls you want to make.
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Boiled white potato
• Green beans
• White mushrooms
• Green onion
• Yellow noodle, cooked
• Deep-fried tofu (can be found at Asian supermarkets)
• Chopped peanuts
• Round rice paper (can also be found in Asian supermarkets)
• Vegetable Oil (enough to cover, not just coat, the bottom of the frying pan you are using)
Dipping Sauce
• 1 tbsp chopped peanuts
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hot chili sauce
• Dash of fish sauce

Directions
1. Prepare vegetables, tofu and yellow noodles
2. Cut in half, half as many rice paper sheets as spring rolls you plan to make (each spring roll consists of one and a half sheets with the vegetable mixture on the double layered portion.
3. Moisten and fold a dishtowel placing one full sheet of rice paper as well as one of the half sheets in between the folded dishtowel.
4. Leave for a minute then place the half sheet of rice paper on the full sheet.
5. Arrange vegetables, tofu and peanuts on the half sheet. Roll as you would a burrito and tuck in the ends
6. If you are eating the spring rolls fresh move on to making the Dipping Sauce and enjoy, if not heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
7. When the oil is hot drop the first spring roll in (you will know its hot enough because the roll with crackle when dropped in the oil) carefully fry all sides of the roll until it bubbles. Be careful not to burn the spring rolls, rice paper is delicate and burns easily if left.
8. After frying place rolls on a folded paper towel to remove excess oil.
9. Prepare dipping sauce and enjoy!

Caramelized Carrot and Feta Linguini

This recipe comes from the green mountain that is North Vancouver, I am not sure how it made its way to my boyfriend’s family but through him it came to me. I make it when people come over to dinner because it is an easy recipie to double and I have never met anyone who didn’t love it.

Serves 3 or 2 if you’re a 20-something male

• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 carrots
• 2 tbsp. Olive oil with extra to drizzle
• 1 cup crumbled feta
• Linguini for 3 people (each serving is the amount grasped between 3ed joints of the pointer finger and thumb.

Directions
1. Chop onion, peel and crush garlic and peel and grate carrot into a bowl.
2. Heat a medium sized skillet on medium heat and when warm add 2 tbsp. Olive oil. Add onion, garlic and grated carrot.
3. Toss onion/garlic/carrot mixture for 20 minutes or until carrots have caramelized (they become slightly sweet and soft) and onions have softened.
4. While caramelizing the carrot mixture put on linguini, and boil until desired tenderness.
5. Crumble feta into a medium size bowl, when carrot mixture is caramelized add on top and when linguini is done add that on top. Drizzle olive oil over the three layers and let sit for a couple minutes. This allows the feta to melt and merge slightly with the carrot mixture.
6. Toss and serve.

Serve it up…
You can add parsley as a garnish to make it pretty, I personally like a sprinkle of pepper or just have it straight up.

Spice it up…
To give the pasta a little more kick, add a seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper to the onion, garlic and carrots and fry them all together.