Serious Eats: Recipes
Cook the Book: Shrimp and Mint Summer Rolls
[Photographs: Caroline Russock]
These Shrimp and Mint Summer Rolls from The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook by Vanessa Maltin are a testament to the incredible grain that is rice. When ground into a flour, rice can be transformed into sheer, pleasantly chewy wrappers and wonderfully fresh noodles to make these summer rolls.
Throw in a few shrimp, some julienned carrots and celery, refreshing mint leaves, and crisp green leaf lettuce, and you have a mess of fat rolls that make for a perfect warm weather appetizer. Aside from being gluten-free, one benefit these rice paper wrappers have over their flour-based counterparts is they're infinitely more forgiving. They'll stretch instead of tear, which is a boon to novice summer rollers.
With all of those crisp, fresh flavors, these rolls are not complete without a great dipping sauce and the one provided is an ideal match. The ratio of fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, and chiles is balanced—thankfully not too sweet with the creative addition of grated carrots for a bit of texture.
Once you've mastered the art of rolling the summer rolls (just imagine you're rolling burritos) you can start tweaking the fillings. Leftover shredded chicken. Marinated tofu. Or even slices of Chinese sausage. The rice paper and noodles make for an ideal and forgiving vehicle for experimentation.
Win The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook to give away this week.