Spring Rolls & Vinaigrette Pasta

Let me first give myself an award for posting something different. And this time it's totally different, not just a variation of something I have previously made. This dinner took most of the late afternoon and evening to make, including internet searching. I decided that we haven't had any type of pasta besides couscous or rice noodles in a while, so I decided to make a pasta salad with vinegar. This pasta salad consists of spinach noodles (semolina and dried spinach), carrots, cucumber, olive oil, red wine vinegar, tamari, garlic, basil and dill. I just tossed everything together and let it hang out in the fridge for hours. Every so often I'd go in there and steal a bite to see how well the flavors have married and absorbed. I did have to keep adding soy and vinegar throughout the next few hours. It ended up tasting wonderful and very refreshing. Ray said it was "bold". That's a compliment to me!
I had the vinaigrette salad made and cooling in the fridge for a long time while I thought of what else to make with this meal (based on random ingredients in the house). I've been thinking of making spring rolls for a while (well, I've had the wrappers for 9 months now). This doesn't really go with the pasta salad theme, but I am quite random. I also kept going back and forth, and didn't really want anything super-heavy with the pasta.

As I was making these I was sort of unhappy with my choices of ingredients, but kept thinking that I needed some tofu in it. I used the last of the tofu for the quinoa stir-fry, which bummed me. My ideal spring rolls would consist of cabbage or lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, sprouts, tofu, and mung beans. I didn't have a few of those (most) ingredients, so I went with what I had.
Ingredients: rice paper, carrots, cucumber, avocado, red kale, basil and cashews.
As you can see, these aren't pretty. It was my first time rolling (spring rolls, at least) and it was very hard to keep the cashew pieces inside, plus they made the rice paper tear quite a bit. I think what made me not care for these was not the lack of ingredients, but the kale. It really wasn't good in this. I did make one roll all raw at first, and then I decided to saute the carrots and cucumber, but I regret not adding the kale to heat up and blend flavors. The kale was too pungent for me in the rolls.

I took Dori's (The Bakehouse) advice and sort-of followed her spring roll recipe (based on the ingredients I had on hand). It was quite a challenge at first to soak the rice papers and then carefully place it on the damp towel for rolling. I messed up a few times, but then sort-of got the hang of it. I came out with 5 rolls total. I am just glad that Ray ate most of these (I had almost one, but started pulling out the kale, I'm picky!), and that next time I know how to do the whole method, I will just change the ingredients around.

One great part about the spring rolls was this sauce. It is also Dori's recipe and it consisted of peanut butter, brown rice vinegar, tamari, chili flakes, sesame oil, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting. It was super-good but I will use a tad less peanut butter next time, as it was thicker than my desires even after whisking. This sauce was soooo good, I probably ate more plain with my fingers than with the spring rolls.
Verdict: The cold pasta vinaigrette was awesome. I have a few leftovers and I am liking the idea that they are already cold and it is supposed to be cold. How easy! I rate the pasta salad a 9.5 (nothing's perfect!). As for the spring rolls, I will rate my efforts and learning experience also a 9.5 (again, nothing's perfect!). I will rate the outcome and the taste just a 5. It was so-so and most likely based on my choices of fillings. As for the chili peanut sauce, that was an amazing 9, but to give it a few more decimal points, I will have to use less p.b. next time. This was a fun and different meal for me, and more of a learning experience, that's why I didn't get frustrated that I didn't care for the rolls. I am now more excited to see what I can really do with wanted-ingredients next time!