Amazin' Asian

During our weekend morning ritual of looking through cookbooks, we came across a delicious goat cheese spring roll recipe. This was the basis for our Wednesday night dinner. We just continued to look through the cookbooks to find a nouveau Asian complement to the recipe. And we did! The Goat Cheese Spring Rolls with Asian Pear Salad perfectly paired with the grilled whole trout (and tofu) with Citrus-Ginger Sauce. All-in-all, it was a pretty satisfying meal.

Goat Cheese Spring Rolls with Asian Pear Salad (Cooking Light, March 2005)

Dipped in the extra sweet red chile sauce, these are absolutely fantastic. Be careful that the spring rolls don't sit directly on the salad because they get a bit soggy, but the flavors meld wonderfully.

Salad:
2 cups sliced Asian pear or ripe pear
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbs. maple syrup

Spring Rolls:
1 Tbs. sesame oil
1 1/2 cups matchstick-cut carrots
1 1/2 cups vertically sliced red onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green onions
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps
1 1/2 cups red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs. sweet red chile sauce
1/4 cup (2 oz.) goat cheese, crumbled
8 egg roll wrappers
cooking spray

1. To prepare salad, combine first 6 ingredients.
2. Preheat oven to 425.
3. To prepare spring rolls, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots and next 4 ingredients; saute 3 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from heat; stir in soy sauce and chile sauce. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in cheese.
4. Working with 1 egg roll wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers to prevent drying). spoon about 1/3 cup vegetable mixture into center of each wrapper. Fold lower right corner over vegetable mixture; fold lower left and top right corners over vegetable mixture. Moisten top left corner with water; roll up jelly-roll fashion. Coat spring rolls with cooking spray; place rolls, seam sides down, on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 18 minutes or until golden brown, turning after 9 minutes. Cut rolls crosswise at an angle; serve immediately with salad.

Grilled Whole Red Snapper with Citrus-Ginger Hot Sauce (Cooking Light, June 2008)

We used trout instead of red snapper because that was the only whole fish at our local grocery store. I'm sure any type of whole fish would work just fine.

Sauce:
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbs. water
1 1/2 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1 Tbs. fish sauce [soy sauce]
1 1/2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp. grated garlic
1/2 tsp. minced seeded serrano chile
1/2 tsp. Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
1 dried hot red chile, seeded and crushed

Fish:
2 (2-lbs.) cleaned whole red snappers
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
cooking spray

1. Prepare grill to medium heat.
2. To prepare sauce, combine first 10 ingredients; set aside.
3. To prepare fish, score each fish with 3 diagonal cuts on both sides. Brush outside of fish evenly with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stuff lemon and garlic slices into cuts. Place any remaining lemon slices into fish cavities. Coat outside of fish with cooking spray.
4. Place fish on grill rack; grill 40 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. (Fish does not need to be turned.) Serve fish with sauce.