A Hypothetical Round Up (with Imperial Rolls!)

KERTHUNK!

This is the sound our brains made after yesterday’s long, exhausting day on the mainland. A day that ended, I might add, with a flat tire on the ferry boat.

Yes, our brains are on the floor. Today, still deep in recovery mode, they are sad, tired brains. Brains too tired to write the Paper Chef Round-Up. We have, however, reviewed all the wonderful entries, and decisions are at hand… but, today, our poor brains lack the ambition to do justice to this grand competition. So, our tired brains beg forgiveness and ask for your return on Thursday, when all will be revealed.

(Uh, yup. That was a long-winded, sorry-ass way of saying, hey, we’re going to be a day late. Don’t kill us!)

In the meantime, since, hypothetically, this post should be a round-up, we offer instead — courtesy of the always entertaining Cookiecrumb of I’m Mad and I Eat — a Hypothetical Paper Chef entry.

Cookiecrumb sent this my way with the endearing title (below) and an equally endearing introduction of “I didn’t actually make this dish, but I sure as heck thought it up.”

Now, since (hypothetically) these rolls sound damn tasty, I figured what better way to beg forgiveness for our late round-up than to offer up this nifty (hypothetical) entry!

Okay, I’m done with the word hypothetical now. Really.

Hypothetical Imperial Rolls

by Cookiecrumb

Serves 2

4 big rice paper wrappers
1 lamb shank (of course, since you’re cooking lamb shanks, you should do as many as you want, and just use bits of one of them for this dish. And eat the others later. Braise the lamb shanks in a Dutch oven with liquids â€“ tomato sauce and red wine, probably, possibly even a squirt of fish sauce â€“ and flavor the mix with aromatics such as bay leaf, rosemary, garlic, and grated orange rind. Get ‘em cooked to the point of shreddy.)
Some chiffonade basil. To taste. About a tablespoon, I’d guess.
Mung bean thread noodles, cooked briefly in warm water and drained.
Grated carrot. Not a lot.
Dipping sauce: Fish sauce plus an equal portion of orange juice. And some diced fresh hot red pepper. (To taste, duh!)

OK: Pull apart lamb meat until you have about 1/2 cup of succulent shreds. Maybe even less.
Soak rice paper wrappers in warm water to soften. Blot dry.
Line wrappers with drained mung bean noodles, enough to â€“ well, line them.
Spread meat shreds over the noodles.
Distribute carrot shreds over that.
Sprinkle with chiffonade basil leaves.

Roll up the rolls in such a way as to be sure they don’t fall apart in the hot oil.

Oh, did I mention hot oil?

Heat oil for frying in a pan. Guess for yourself how much oil you want to fry these babies in. Don’t go nuts. Fry the rolls, turning, until crisp and golden. Or crisp and brownen, depending.

Cut attractively at a slant, and put four halves on each plate.

Serve with that awesome dipping sauce.

Probably ought to place a fresh basil leaf on each plate for pretty.

“Brownen.” Snicker.

Many thanks to Cookiecrumb for this tasty (hypoyaddayadda) recipe!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 at 7:41 pm and is filed under food blogging events, paper chef. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

cookiecrumb Says:
November 9th, 2005 at 9:28 pm

Aah! OMG!
xxx

Gracianne Says:
November 10th, 2005 at 12:45 am

Oh, lovely virtual rolls, it is poetry almost!

boo_licious Says:
November 10th, 2005 at 4:29 am

Mrs. D - the virtual rolls sounds yummy.

Farmgirl and I are joint hosting WCB this weekend - a special get well edition for Clare and Kiri. Hope the Cat and the other kitties will join in and please do bring something to cheer them up with!