Day 129 - Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls and MangoPear Pandowdy

Today I'm so happy to be entertaining Celia, who is one of the most fun and sparkly people I know. And she is so game in the food department! No restrictions - bring it on!

Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seed Rice Paper Rolls

Here's one of those recipes that requires some intense early action, but once you have all the components prepared, it goes pretty quickly. But one of the components is a mother. One pound of butternut squash diced into 1/4 inch cubes. Think about it. You have to peel that thing, then slice it, then dice it into teeny tiny little cubes. We're talking roughly aspirin sized cubes. Endless. Oh, and then you have to roast them. Not easy, right?

The rest of the components are a breeze though: rice vermicelli, which cooks in minutes. Fresh cilantro. Roasted pepitas. And a sauce that is easily assembled, although beware the hot chile oil measurement. One tablespoon, as listed in the recipe, will set your hair on fire. I used a third of that, and it was plenty! (NB: I may be a wimp, but Celia also agreed.)

One tricky part of this recipe is the 'juicing' of the rice paper wrappers. First off, I recommend doing the rice paper rolling on a lint-free kitchen towel. Next, you want to figure out the perfect amount of time for the wrapper to be in the water so that it's malleable but not tearing at your touch. For me, that magical time is 30 seconds. It still seems like it's going to be too stiff to roll, but by the time you fill it, the residual water has softened it to a perfect consistency. 

Meanwhile, getting these stuffed and wrapped tightly is another challenge. Mine were a little loose and saggy. Workable, but not the snazzy, tight, tight rolls you see in Vietnamese restaurants.

Flavor-wise, these are really nice. A little sweet, a little crunchy, a little herby, with a perfect sauce accompaniment. We made a meal out of them, and it was yummy and filling.

SFO: 9
One point off for "Where's the beef?" concerns.

Mango Pear Pandowdy

Here's another dice-a-palooza. Two mangoes, and two pounds of pears, all cut into 1/2 inch dice. Not as bad as the squash above, but time-consuming.

A piece of advice: mix the filling ingredients together in a bowl. It's too crowded in the pie plate to properly toss everything to get it mixed well.

Now it's time to put yesterday's busted crust to the test!

I have to confess, I didn't know what a pandowdy was until reading this recipe. Midway through the baking process, you cut the crust into squares and mash it into the filling. The idea is to have some browned crust pieces and some mushy, soggy crust pieces. The cutting and mashing feels so strange and violent and sacrilegious, but it was kind of fun! Here are before and after shots.



Now, I don't know if it's because I overworked my dough so horribly, but this crust wouldn't brown/cook! I left the thing in the oven for about 20 minutes longer than it was meant to be in there, and the crust was barely brown in spots. Even though it seemed that I could/should cook it longer, the filling was bubbling over badly by that point, and I thought, enough already!

Unfortunately, my crust was pretty much a bust. I mean, it was edible, but it was so dense, not flaky at all, and there was NO magic to it. The filling, though, was fantastic. Mango and pear is not a combo I would have thought of, but this is a terrific pairing! 

Side note: When I ate this as leftovers, I reheated it in the toaster oven and let it go until the crust got good and brown, and it was delicious. I think with a better crust and longer cooking time, this could be a home run.

SFO: 10
Just needs a better crust.