Deconstructed Summer Roll Salad

 I was actually telling someone recently that I'm not very creative when it comes to developing my own recipes, but I was fairly impressed by this one. If you like the taste of Vietnamese summer rolls, but feel too lazy to assemble a bunch of them, this is a quicker and easier way to shovel that goodness into your pie hole. There are indeed a few steps because we are making two proteins and sauces for one dish, but I promise this moves fast. The shrimp, pork, and marinade sauce can be made a day in advance for an even quicker meal. After the recipe, we will talk about what this dish has going for itself and notes on the process.

Ingredients:

• Grilled Pork
• 1 lb pork tenderloin 

•  2 Tbsp fish sauce 

•  2 Tbsp palm sugar (or whatever type of sugar you'd like, but I definitely recommend trying palm sugar if you can find it. Check out your local Asian market!) 

•  2-3 Tbsp neutral oil, like canola oil

•  1 two-inch piece of lemongrass stalk, peeled

•  2-3 garlic cloves, minced 

•  3 Tbsp red onion or shallot, diced
• 1 lb large shrimp, shells off 

•  Spring Mix  

•  Rice vermicelli noodles

•  Garnishes 

•  Fresh mint, Thai basil, cilantro, sliced jalapenos, chili peppers, mung bean sprouts, cucumbers, carrots-- the possibilities are sort of endless here... it just might stop being a summer roll salad at some point.

•  Nuoc Cham 

• 2 Tbsp Fish Sauce 

• 1 Tbsp Palm Sugar 

•  2 Tbsp warm water

•  Lime juice from half of a lime 

•   1 minced garlic clove

•  1 tsp canola oil 

•  1 Tbsp rice vinegar 

•  Sliced chili peppers (optional)

 Directions:

 For the pork:

1. Slice the tenderloin against the grain as thinly as possible and set aside. If you have difficulty, pop the meat in a freezer for 10-ish minutes so that it firms up for easier slicing.

2. Run the aromatics (lemongrass, garlic, and onion) through a food processor until a fine paste forms. If completing the recipe without a food processor, mince these ingredients as finely as possible.

3. Combine the aromatics with the fish sauce, sugar and oil.

4. Toss the pork slices with your marinade mixture. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for at least 4-6 hours, or ideally overnight. 

5. When the pork is adequately marinated, remove the pork from the marinade, dry off the slices and remove any big chunks of marinade. Reserve the marinade liquid: we will cook it down to make a dressing for the salad.

6. Stick the pork slices in a nonstick skillet heated to medium-high heat, working in batches if needed. We don't want to crowd the pan because our meat will steam itself instead of getting that nice crust on it. Flip when a nice sear forms, approximately 2 minutes. You may notice some caramelized, burnt bits sticking to the bottom of the pan at this point. Do not despair: you're doing it right. In fact, we need those! Now might be the time to turn on your range hood or vent fan if you have one.

7. Rub the seared slices into the burnt bits, you will notice a nice glaze of sorts forming on the meat. Work quickly to cook the slices so that the bits in the pan do not burn excessively. Cook the meat until all but fully cooked. I'm talking like 95% cooked. Our meat is thin, so this will only take about another minute after flipping. Pull those suckers off the pan and set on a plate and cover with foil for at least 5 minutes (see note at the end of the recipe for more information on this step). 

8. Now it's time to make our dressing from the marinade. I'm going to affectionately call it Vietnamese A1 Sauce. Throw about 1/4 cup water (or Shaoxing wine if you're feeling fancy) into your pan to deglaze it, scraping up the burnt bits with a nonstick-safe utensil, such as a wooden spoon or silicone tongs. Simmer for about 2 minutes.

9. Add remaining marinade liquid and let it simmer, approximately 3-5 minutes, until it thickens up and resembles a sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust to your preferences if needed (add fish sauce for savory, sugar for sweetness, etc).

10. Strain the simmered sauce to remove bits of aromatics, set aside.

For the Shrimp:

Boil, steam, or heat in a pan until pink and opaque, being especially careful not to overcook them. Overcooked shrimp tastes like sadness and has a disappointing texture. They don't call overcooked shrimp tires for nothing. This would also a great time to finish the job with some residual heat in order to avoid this. Set aside to cool and cut in half lengthwise.

For the Nuoc Cham:

Nuoc Cham is that delicious orange-ish dipping sauce served at Vietnamese restaurants with appetizers such as summer rolls. We will drizzle it alongside our dressing to add an extra punch of umami flavor to the dish.

1. Combine your sugar with the warm water to dissolve it for optimum ingredient incorporation.

2. Whisk all of the rest of ingredients together with the dissolved sugar in a small bowl, set aside.

Assemble the salad:

1. Prepare rice vermicelli according to package instructions. Be sure to rinse the cooked noodles in cold water and allow them to dry a bit.

2. Start your bowl with spring mix, add your meats and preferred toppings. I used about half a serving of vermicelli noodles and loaded up more heavily on my vegetables and garnishes to lighten this meal up even further.

3. Drizzle your Nuoc Cham and Vietnamese A1 over the salad to suit your preferences.

 

Recipe Debrief

Why is that pork so dang tasty?

The element at play here is the presence of a maillard reaction: this is the chemical reaction that occurs during high-heat cooking (such as searing, grilling, roasting and baking) between proteins/amino acids and sugars as they reduce into a byproduct called acrylamide. This is the same brand of deliciousness that you taste in a seared steak, french fries, cookies or caramelized onions. Like most things that taste awesome, acrylamide-containing foods are not the healthiest for you in excessive quantities. Remember to indulge in all of life's finest things in moderation, folks.

A note on residual heat cooking:
We are using this method to ensure that our pork stays as juicy as possible. The goal is to achieve a good crusty sear without drying out the meat. Once we remove the almost-fully-cooked-meat from the pan, the residual heat from the cooking process will cook the meat the rest of the way as long as your pieces are sliced very thinly. If you're sketched out, cut into one of your slices and inspect the meat, checking for any raw areas. Throw them back into the skillet if it does not appear cooked enough. Usually my top recommendation would be to use a meat thermometer. However, our meat is sliced too thinly for this method in this recipe.

Some notes on equipment:

• While this recipe doesn't call for anything too specific in terms of equipment, it might be important to consider using a nonstick pan over other types of cookware due to the sugar content of the marinade. It just makes for an easier cleanup and the nonstick surface is a bit more forgiving on the burnt bits that we made a sauce with. 

• Remember to use wooden utensils or materials that are otherwise safe to use on nonstick surfaces to avoid scratching your cookware and getting sketchy nonstick pan flakes in your food. Yuck.

• If you have enough brainpower to make it this far into an obscure, unsuccessful cooking blog, I shouldn't need to tell you that you'll need a knife to prepare some food. However, I do want to note the importance of maintaining a sharp edge on your knife. Not only does it help create a safer environment for you (fewer sawing motions and other movements/slippage that might lead to cuts), but it will make prepping the veggies and creating those thin pork slices much easier. 

Notes on ingredients:

As someone who is notorious for disliking fish, I was a big skeptic of this stuff called fish sauce before trying it. I assure you, fellow fish dislikers, it tastes far less sketchy than it sounds. It loads your food with a unique, savory flavor. I personally feel that there isn't really a substitution for it and it is a distinct taste in southeast Asian cuisine. My favorite brand is Viet Huong, also called Three Crabs. 

Go to the Asian market. The produce is always affordable, and unique products that are tougher to find at your local store such as palm sugar (versus granulated sugar) or Thai basil (versus Italian basil) are the small adjustments in flavor that will make a world's difference in a dish like this. Who doesn't love saving money and eating food that tastes more authentic?

Thanks for reading to the end of my first substantial blog post on this site. I hope you learned a thing or two. Happy cooking!

Lauren