BLT Summer Rolls

Summer is here…with a vengeance! With the temperature into the 90’s, I was looking for a light and cool dinner. I remembered seeing an email from ZipList News that had a recipe that I wanted to try. I said to myself, “Self, this would be just the perfect night to try these!” And so I did.

ZipList led me to the "Inspired Taste" blog (http://www.inspiredtaste.net/ ) where I found the BLT Summer Rolls. 

Bob and I absolutely love Vietnamese Summer Rolls. You might remember I have posted about them. http://dishingitup-columbus.blogspot.com/2010/06/vietnamese-spring-rolls.html.  And we love BLT’s! So how could we not love the insane combination of the two?

I’m not going to yammer on and on about them. It’s too stinkin’ hot for even me to talk. (If I had a pool to jump into and cool off I could talk on and on…but oh, I digress.) Let me show you how to make these simple and scrumptious babies :-)

These are rice paper wrappers. They are generally available in the Asian food section. They are totally different from eggroll wrappers and the two cannot be interchanged. Working with these will be a new experience! They are incredibly delicate and sticky (in that they stick to themselves)! But you easily get the hang of it quickly.

This is the cast of characters. We have bacon (totally essential), lettuce (again, essential) and tomatoes, thus giving us the "BLT" part of the summer rolls! In addition there is a mound of vermicelli rice noodles, and a wonderful mayo based sauce that has lime juice and Sriracha sauce. The noodles were not in the original recipe, but Bob and I thought they needed to be included to maintain the integrity of the summer rolls. Actually, we included them because we like them!!! I will also admit to playing around with the lime mayo. I wanted a little more flavor but not more heat. So I added additional lime juice, a tablespoon mayo, lime zest and I grated a garlic clove. Bob proclaimed it "awesome". Being the weenie that I am, I just dabbled a bit on mine. Next time I'll probably go for plain mayo...or maybe pull some of the lime mayo aside before I add the Sriracha. That should do it!

Please excuse my messy counters...and my well used & stained cutting board! Okay. So to begin you need to put some warm water into a dish and slide a wrapper into the water. It only takes a quick few seconds and you will feel the texture of the wrapper relax and become pliable. Slide it out of the water and put it on the cutting board. The wrapper is thin and will easily stick to itself!

When you have it on the board, pat it dry a bit with a paper towel.

Now the fun begins! Start filling it with whatever you want your BLT Summer Roll to be.

Of course I like lots of noodles on mine ...

... and just a drizzle of the Sriracha lime mayo! I know I'm a sissy. Let's just move on.

Once you get everything you want stacked up, you tuck the bottom edge up over the filling and fold in the ends, and then roll it up. The wrapper will adhere as you roll so there is no worry about sealing it.

And there you have the perfect BLT Summer Roll! You can serve it with a dipping sauce according to Inspired Taste, but I have to admit that Bob and I were so darn hungry for these that we just dug in and forgot to make the sauce!

I really do hope you enjoy these as much as we did. They are just delicious and so simple to make and even simpler to eat. Plan on several per person...and maybe more!

BLT Summer Rolls

Author: Adam and Joanne Gallagher http://www.inspiredtaste.net/12679/blt-summer-rolls-recipe/

Prep time: 10 mins  Total time: 10 mins  Serves: 4

You can make these up to 3 hours ahead of time. Cover rolls with a damp paper towel or clean dishcloth.

Ingredients

• 4 8-inch rice paper (spring roll) wrappers
• 2 cups packed shredded or baby lettuce leaves
• 1 large tomato, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 4 strips cooked thick-cut bacon
• For the Lime Mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce
• salt to taste

Method

1. If making your own lime mayonnaise, combine mayonnaise, lime juice and 1 teaspoon of chili sauce. Taste for spiciness then add more chili sauce if needed. Season with salt. Store covered in refrigerator and keep up to a week.
2. Dip a rice paper into a plate of warm water for 5-10 seconds; shake off excess water and place on a clean kitchen towel or cutting board. Stack shredded or baby lettuce leaves on the lower third of the rice paper. Add tomatoes then a strip of bacon. Spread about 2 teaspoons of lime mayonnaise then top with some more lettuce