Some Things Really Are Hard- 5/2/09

Often throughout this project of making every recipe in Gourmet every month, I've found that a skill or recipe that intimidated me really wasn't that hard at all. Today, I found a kitchen skill that really is difficult and I'm pretty sure I would need to practice for a very long time before it looked anything like a restaurant. I could not wrap the Spring Rolls with Baked Tofu and Sweet-and-Savory Sauce on page 81. I was hoping that the Kitchen Notebook section at the back of the magazine might have some instruction but other than a recommendation to overlap the wrappers, there was no other instructions. I was on my own and as you can probably tell, it wasn't pretty. Thankfully, the visual appearance had not affect on the taste. My spring rolls tasted like those at a restaurant, even if they looked nothing like them. This recipe was excellent, messy, but excellent. It was impossible to keep the counter clean with eight separate components to a dish but it was worth it. The peanut-hoisin sauce was also virtually identical to that found in an Asian eatery and it was very good.

Keeping with the Asian theme, I also made the Sate Chicken Salad on page 80. This salad was much easier than the Spring Rolls but I did think a few of the vegetable were a bit unnecessary. The celery added nothing and there was a bit too much coleslaw mix. Each mouthful was a lot of coleslaw and not a lot of chicken. I think the coleslaw could have been cut in half or the chicken doubled. That being said, I liked the salad as a lunch choice. It was not quite enough for a filling dinner. The peanut sauce was good but actually could have been a little lighter on the peanut butter. That was by far the strongest flavor of the dressing and I would have liked a little more ginger and soy flavor.

Summer Rolls with Baked Tofu and Sweet-and-Savory Sauce-A-

Sate Chicken Salad- B