I recently stumbled upon Girl & Dug's subscription boxes. Girl & Dug is a well known farm amongst some of the top chefs in California, they deliver unique ingredients inspired by the owner's, Aaron Choi, Korean upbringing. Much of their product line came about as a result of of Choi's realizing that for all of the biodiversity of food currently within our reach today, what one culture/cuisine deems a “weed” is heralded as an ancient “staple” by another. That means “specialty” vegetables exist right under all of our noses if we’re willing to look! Choi is able to bring the wild new produce to consumers by working intimately with talented chefs. Because the pandemic brought uncertainty and disruption to the restaurant industry, Girl & Dug decided to make their produce available across the country through CSA style boxes. This was my first time trying their produce and according to them I was their first customer in North Carolina! I was immediately in awe of the neat packaging, biodegradable brown zipper bags for the salad greens and herbs, tomatoes who's colors looked painted on, squashini, Tokyo negi, ice plant, alyssum, small radishes, multicolor carrots, grapefruit mint, among other ingredients I had never had. Aside from the uniqueness of the ingredients, the flavors are what really stood out me. The ice plant was bursting with a bright tangy flavor that popped in your mouth - it really does have an ice like texture - and the salad greens were filled with spicy mustard and sweet sorrel.

To enjoy these flavors without over powering them, I decided to keep the meal rather simple by making summer rolls with rice paper wrappers. The sauce I made to go with it was similar to the dumpling sauce I make, but since I wanted something a bit thicker and nuttier like the peanut sauces that are commonly paired with summer rolls. Instead of using peanuts I decided to try pistachios because I felt like they would pair really nicely with the blend of salad flavors without being too overpowering like peanuts.

The fillings I prepared to go inside the summer rolls include:

toasted coconut flakes, sliced avocado, thinly sliced radishes, matchstick cut carrots, mint, rice noodles, salad greens, ice plant, sesame seeds.

Pistachio Sauce:
2TBS Pistachios, soaked over night
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove
1 TBS Chili Oil or Red Pepper Flakes
Juice of 1/2 a Lime
1 Sprig of Mint
1/2 Shallot
1 Tsp Ginger
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor then set aside in a bowl for dipping.

To make the summer rolls you'll need rice paper wrappers which can be found at pretty much any grocery store. You'll want to prepare a wide bowl with warm water to rehydrate the paper making it flexible. I wanted to highlight the alyssum flowers in the wrappers, inspired by my whole mood of working with edible flowers all spring and summer because why not! So after dipping the rice paper wrapper in some water and laying it out flat on a damp towel, I lined the center of the sheet with the flowers (marigold, pansies, nasturtium all work here if you have them available), then layered another wrapper right on top of the flowers. This creates a little pressing showcase of the flowers so they stand out among the other ingredients. Fill the middle of the sheets with the other filling ingredients, be careful not to over fill them, you can do any combination of ingredients here - use what you have, even leftovers can be delicious as a filling. Then wrap the roll like a burrito and repeat this until you've made as many as you would like. They do keep for a day, but I recommend making them fresh or a few hours before serving them.