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RPerlow x

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  1. ------------------------------------------------------------ from Jason Perlow on 12:53 pm on July 23, 2001 Effectively what you need are vietnamese spring roll wrappers, which are made of wheat flour and you can get them from any good asian grocery. You put each one in warm water for a few seconds, pad it dry with a towel -- put on a layer of shrimp, basil, mint leaves, cilantro, cucumber, and small strip of cold chicken breast or pork loin, with a single blade of chive down the middle. add a Layer of rice stick noodles (which are cooked the same way as the wrappers, in warm water for a few minutes so they get soft). Roll it up and dip in a mixture of peanuts, hoisin sauce and nam pla/nuoc mam (fish sauce). Repeat until not hungry anymore. ------------------------------------------------------------ Since I'm the one who actually makes them, I feel compelled to comment on Jason's directions for summer rolls. After you dip the wrappers in warm water, they need to sit for minute before they get soft enough to roll. I work with about three wrappers at a time and a strip of about 4 paper towels. Dip one wrapper in the water. Lay it on one end of the paper towel, fold the towel over the wet wrapper, dip the next wrapper and lay on top of the towel and fold over in the other direction. Dip the third wrapper, fold the towel over. Now flip the package over, by this time the first wrapper is ready to be used. Fill and roll tightly like a burrito. Place rolls on a plate covered by a damp towel until they are all rolled up. Place the shrimp down first in the center of the wrapper. They get sliced in half vertically and I lay them down yin-yang style. The shrimp is followed by a salad of shredded red leaf lettuce, and torn basil and mint leaves. This is topped with about 1 tsp. chopped cooked meat (usually some leftover steak, pork or chicken). Then a small handful of cooked rice stick noodles. Less is more when it comes to filling these. If they are too full the wrapper is likely to tear. Serve with two sauces: Nuoc leo (a quick version is equal parts peanut butter and hoisin) and Nuoc cham (a sweet/sour/hot vinegar based sauce, the bottled version is called Spring Roll Sauce.)
  2. RPerlow x

    Basil

    I thought of another dish that we've gotten many times at a certain chinese restaurant: Beef with Basil. It is addictive, we order it almost every time we go there. The only time we don't order it is when we stop and say, "we've ordered this the last few times we were here, let's try something else." Anyway, does anyone have a recipe for us for this dish? Thanks, Rachel
  3. RPerlow x

    High end ranges

    I wish we could do all that, but it'll have to wait until we build our "dream home" and are richer than g-d! I think we'll have to "live with" the Garland and a 900 cfm Best hood.
  4. RPerlow x

    High end ranges

    I think what's missing from the equation with all these posts is the knowledge of the layout of our kitchen and house. There is a choice of two locations for the range, on an interior wall and next to the back door. However, I don't like the latter choice because it puts the cook's back to the pass-thru area between the kitchen and dining area peninsula. This is the current configuration to the range and I feel this is rather dangerous, because someone can bump you while you're cooking. Hence, we have a longer run for the hood ducts and have the heat of the stove further into the house. Also, I think our space limitations prohibit allowing the extra room for the insulation necessary with a commercial range. Also, we don't have a semi-outside area in which to install a heat producing item such as a previous poster suggested - except for the grill, which we already have. Actually I use the grill side burner for the wok a lot because of the heat and because it has a higher flame than the current stove burner. I do have a question about the salamander. Where do they get located? If they are over the range, how do you vent the range? Thanks, Rachel
  5. We have the Tilia FoodSaver Professional II. Tilia sells it on their website for around $319. I don't know what the current infomercial version is or sells for, but we bought ours through eBay. I paid $180 total including shipping. I could have bought an earlier model for less, but I figured I'd be wanting to upgrade sooner if I did that. For lots of tips on purchasing and using a foodsaver, go to the YahooGroup, the link for which is posted above.
  6. Yes, we have a foodsaver. It works really well. Regarding the lettuce Jason mentioned, it is important NOT to wash it. I originally figured it would be helpful to have the lettuce all cut and washed for salad, but it didn't keep more than a week. However, when I keep the lettuce whole and unwashed it stays much fresher. Check out the FoodSaver YahooGroup for lots of tips on how to use this product at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FoodSaver
  7. I'll agree that using lots of cream and butter is yummy, but let's get real, you can't do that all the time. Save that version for Thanksgiving, and try this version. BTW, this is the way I made it when Fat-Guy and wife were over for dinner a month or so ago, and I think they liked it. If they were just being polite, I don't think Steven would have gone for thirds! This is more of smashed potato, rather than a smooth puree (use a food mill or potato ricer for that kind). Anyway, I think I used Yukon Golds, scrubbed but unpeeled, cut into about 1 inch chunks. Put into cold water with a several peeled garlic cloves and quite a bit of salt (water should taste a little salty, but not like seawater). I've always heard that you shouldn't overcook the potatoes, that they'd become water logged. (Un?)Fortunately, I got distracted and totally forgot about these, I think they cooked for almost an hour! However, I drained them and put them back in the pot, over heat to cook off a little of the water (when it starts to stick to the bottom you're done with that step). Remove from heat, mash with hand held potato masher (the wavy wire kind, not the spring loaded kind), add a couple Tbs butter, then adding milk as needed. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and fresh ground black pepper, and one more raw garlic clove, minced through a garlic press - I recommend the GoodGrips brand). These were excellent, very pleasantly garlicy and even though the skins were on came out not too lumpy because of the "overcooking."
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