Wild Alaskan Salmon Spring Rolls

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A gluten-free and dairy-free light meal or snack with a Plan B. Why the plan B? Well, while Spring Rolls are super simple to make, the rolling part, however, takes a bit of practice and you will likely sacrifice some of the wrappers in the process. The good news is that if you decide to ditch the spring roll option, all of the ingredients work well in a sandwich or a salad. Since these are not served warm, you can start early and take your time for your first attempt at rolling rice paper.

If the rice paper is not your thing, keep reading because you can use all of these ingredients to make a killer sandwich loaded with healthy goodness. Non-vegetarians tend to skimp on the vegetables in their sandwiches. Salmon might play the leading role of this dish, but the veggies are far from mere extras. The crunch factor of the vegetables allow you to sneak in extra health benefits from the vegetables and still keep this a light dish.

These are so good, that you might even find yourself cooking salmon for this rather than waiting for leftover salmon to make an appearance.

Ingredients

• 1-2 cups Leftover cooked Pride of Bristol Bay Wild Sockeye Salmon, flaked
• 1 large Carrot, shredded
• 1 Cucumber, sliced thinly
• 2 Radishes, sliced thinly
• 1 Green Onion, chopped
• 8 leaves Butter lettuce (keep the leaves whole)
• Rice noodles
• 1 package Rice paper sheets (you will need at least 8, but plan for a mishap)
• 2 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• Peanut or chili sauce for dipping
• OPTIONAL: Bread, if you plan to ditch the spring rolls and call it a sandwich

Directions

1. Flake the Salmon, discarding any bones you find. Shred the carrots. Peel cucumber and slice into thin rounds. Wash and slice the radish in thin rounds. Wash and chop the green onion (all the way from the dark green part to just before the roots).  Wash full leaves of butter lettuce and dry in a spinner or with a paper towel.
2. Combine rice vinegar with sugar and add half to a bowl with the shredded carrot and the other half to a bowl with the cucumber; set aside.
3. Cook the rice noodles in salted water for 3-4 minutes. Immediately rinse with cold water to cool and drain.
4. Add warm water to a large skillet. You won’t actually be cooking in it, you just need a bowl where the diameter is larger than that of the rice paper sheets and a skillet seems to fit best. If all of your other ingredients are all lined up and ready, drop one rice paper sheet in the water for about 15 seconds, hold it over the pan to let the water drip off. They should be a little stiff and starting to soften (leaving them in the water too long will result in a gooey sticky mess that you throw away, unless you have a dog who might like it). Working quickly, add the ingredients immediately: one bibb of butter lettuce, a pinch of the noodles, 3 cucumber slices, a couple radish slices, a pinch of the green onions and some Wild Salmon flakes. Wrap it up tightly like a burrito, one long edge, then two ends, and then the last long edge. By this time it should have no problem sticking to itself. Move it to your serving plate and repeat until the rice paper and fish is gone.
5. If that did not go so well, just ditch the rice paper and pull the bread out. All of these ingredients will make a great sandwich.
6. Any left over veggies make nice side dishes. Serve with either sweet chile sauce or thai peanut sauce for dipping the spring rolls.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Nancy Ingersoll is a recipe developer and food photographer in San Diego, California. Always up for adventure, she learned the art of sauces and soufflés from one of James Beard Award winner Roy’s Yamaguchi’s executive chefs, and her curious spirit has been fed with cooking classes domestically and abroad. Nancy is also known as The Creative Resource and you can find her work on nancyingersoll.com and on instagram as @thecreativeresource.