Jumbo Empanadas: Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

July 28, 2007

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

I’ve come to the conclusion that if you form your food into a roll, it becomes destined for success. Think about it; from the common pigs in a blanket to a rich chocolate roulade to fresh sushi, rolled up is the way to be. The shape is ideal because it corrals a wealth of tasty ingredients into a tiny enclosure, thus making it easy to pick up and pop into your mouth. Instant appetizer. And although rolls are fun and easy to eat, making them can be somewhat of a challenge. Every time I try to make rolls, of any sort, the first three are always sacrifices. It’s not like riding a bike. If you don’t make them on a regular basis, you quickly forget how. Or at least I do. My first few rolls always have ingredients spilling out of them and more often than not end up shoved into my mouth so that no one else can see how pitiful they look. I think that’s why I like cooking so much, getting over my mistakes is much easier when they’re edible.

These rolls, for example, were not what I was originally going for, but they turned out alright. I wanted to make temaki rolls. As you can see, these aren’t them. Apparently my cone rolling skills leave a lot to be desired. Although in my defense, I had prepared all of my ingredients before I discovered I only had two sheets of nori, which I then divided into 8 pieces. Those pieces were not nearly large enough to make temaki. Instead, I formed these little cigar shaped appetizers. Not what I was going for, but it worked. You’ll notice that only two of the three pictures are my fake-out temaki rolls, the third is of rice paper rolls. The rice paper rolls contain a few of the same ingredients, (mango and shrimp) but were made on a different occasion. I recommend rolls for every occasion. I’m telling you, if you roll it, they will come… and ask for more.