[video] Fresh Escarole and Avocado Spring Rolls

In this episode of Cooking Outside The Box, Cynthia Lair shows us how to make fresh escarole and avocado spring rolls.

So, I cut the tough end off and washed the leaves. I’m going to blanch this escarole, and that’ll take some of that sharp, bitter taste out of it. And then we’re going to put them in fresh spring rolls. Isn’t that awesome? And serve them with a little coconut-peanut sauce. And now I’m going to blanch it for 60 seconds, and that will get rid of the bitterness that’s naturally inherent in the leaves. I rinsed it in cold water until it quit cooking, and as soon as it’s comfortable to touch, which it is, I’m going to squeeze it. Now, I’m going to cut it. Actually, I can get quite a lot of it in a spring roll, because I squeezed it. Here’s my spring roll skin, which I’m going to put in a little bit of warm water. A cake pan works really well. And then what goes in my spring rolls are some avocado, a little of this blanched escarole, a protein source. I have some fried tofu or some grilled chicken. Grilled shrimp is pretty in there, too. A nice bunch of herbs, fresh lime, and we’ll roll it up.

So when you set it down, it’s kind of like Harry Potter’s invisible cloak. You can’t quite see it. But I’m going to put two little spooning avocado halves there, and they’ll show on the outside. And I’m going to put a little bit of this blanched escarole. Now, you don’t want to put too much in here, or it won’t roll right. And then I’m going to put some of that grilled chicken. And these are my herbs, I have basil, cilantro and mint. I think mint’s really important, and you need, at least, one of the other two. Thai basil is also really nice in there. That’s my little tower of beauty. And a squeeze of lime. Here it comes. And then you take the back end of it and fold it over this little bunch and pull back like that. Yes. Now you’re going to take in this side like this, and this side like this. And you roll this little puppy up. And there you go.

One of the wonderful things about spring rolls is you can put anything you want in it. Fresh lettuce is good in there, or any of the wonderful greens, collard greens, kale. But you’ll probably want to cook those a little bit before you put them in and any sort of protein. The thing that you really do want in there is the herbs and the lime for sure. Be sure and don’t put too much in there. That’s the most common error. And the other thing, when you cap this over here, when you’re putting this to bed like a little blanket, you want to pull back pretty hard right here, so it gets tight in there. That’ll keep it held together, and they won’t fall apart so much. Don’t be afraid to kind of manhandle them a little bit.

So, I’m pulling pretty hard when I roll it, and that way, it will stay together. That’s a good one. I like to serve these with coconut-peanut sauce that I made myself. I made it out of this awesome peanut butter. Oh my goodness. This is very, very tasty and all that’s in it is peanuts, so you’ve got to love that. But you can buy jarred peanut sauce if you want, but the homemade kind is pretty good. This peanut sauce has fresh ginger in it, and I kind of like that. This is a beautiful snack, just a handsome appetizer. It’s a great lunch for kids, because it’s a little pick up thing. And I like having the peanut sauce with it. Why? Because greens, all those fabulous nutrients that are in the dark, leafy greens that you want, they are more absorbable in the presence of fat. That’s why I’ve got some avocado in there and the peanut sauce to dip it in. It’s pretty cool.

And if you’ve got leftover blanched escarole, put it in the stir fry. You can add it to soups. You could put this in with your salad. More greens, low in calories, high in fiber, full of micro nutrients. Avocado escarole fresh spring rolls with coconut-peanut sauce.