Spring rolls and Chicken drumsticks

     What an odd combination, huh?  The original plan were to make fresh spring rolls as part of Asian cooking night, part 2.  And then we saw the chicken drumsticks on sale.  Twelve delicious chicken drumsticks for under $5.  Who could say no?  Of course, nothing would do but that we went home and cooked them that night.  So, here you go:

Marinated chicken drumsticks
original recipe from roadfood.com
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Marinade-for-chicken-legsDrumsticks-m303082.aspx
with modifications based on what I had in the house

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
1 clove garlic minced
2/3 cup Newman's Own Olive oil and Vinegar Dressing
1/2 cup orange juice
leftover BBQ sauce from two BBQ bottles

Procedure:
1) Mix all the ingredients of the marinade together and marinade with the chicken drumsticks, overnight.  Turn when you think of it.
2) Preheat oven to 350 F.
3) Put tinfoil on baking pan (we used a 9 x 13) and lay out chicken side by side.  Cook until done.  It took about an hour or so for us.

     Originally, I had planned on just using BBQ sauce as a marinade, but I had very little left of that.  So, then I researched chicken marinades online and found this one.  I thought it might also be good with some orange juice, so I added that in as well.  Scott taught me that you know a chicken drumstick is done when the meat pulls away from the bone in the skinniest section.  Sure enough, that was what happened.  These were delicious.  I enjoyed them even more the next day, cold from the refrigerator!  Yum!

Fresh spring rolls with hoisin-peanut dip
from Savoring Southeast Asia by Joyce Jue (a Williams Sonoma book)

Notes from the author:
"When making these marvelous spring rolls, don't skimp on the aromatic herbs.  In Ho Chi Minh Cit, I tasted rather plain spring rolls with very little meat, but the abundant fresh herbs made up for the simplicity.  The sauce, called nuoc leo, uses hoisin sauce, a popular Chinese condiment."
This recipe comes from Vietnam and is known as Goi Cuon.

Notes from Katie: I am going to post the whole recipe here, although I skipped a significant portion of it.  Notes on what I skipped down below.

Ingredients:

Dipping sauce:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup (3 fl. oz/80 ml) hoisin sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp chile paste or hot bean paste
1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./ 125 ml) chicken stock
1/4 cup (1 oz/30 g) chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

Filling:
1/4 lb (125 g) dried rice vermicelli, soaked in warm water for 15 min.
2 cups (16 fl. oz/500 ml) chicken stock
2 tsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp sugar
pinch of ground pepper
3/4 lb (375 g) boneless pork loin, in one piece
12 large shrimp (prawns)

12 dried round rice papers, 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter
12 large, soft red-leaf lettuce leaves, stiff ribs removed
1 carrot, peeled, finely julienned, and tossed with 1 tsp sugar
1 cup (4 oz/125 g) finely julienned jicama
leaves from 1 small bunch fresh mint
12 fresh dill sprigs
12 fresh coriander (cilantro) springs

Procedure:

1) To make the dipping sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. When it is hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 30 seconds.  Add the hoisin sauce, fish sauce, sugar and chile paste or hot bean paste, stir well, and simmer for 15 seconds.  Stir in the chicken stock; the mixture should have a thick, creamy consistency.  Add the peanuts and let cool. Divide among small saucers.

2) To make the filling, bring a large sauce pan three-fourths full of water to a boil. Drain the rice noodles and add to the boiling water.  Boil until just tender, about 2 minutes. Pour the noodles into a colander and rinse thoroughly with cold water.  Drain well and set aside. Toss the noodles occasionally to keep them from sticking together.

3) In a saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil over high heat.  Add the fish sauce, sugar, pepper, and pork and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and boil gently until the pork is firm and no longer pink, about 20 minutes.  Remove the pork from the stock and let cool.  Cut into thin strips 3/4 inch (2 cm) wide by 2 inches (5 cm) long.

4) Bring a saucepan three-fourths full of water to a boil.  Add the shrimp and boil until they turn bright orange-pink, 1-2 minutes.  Drain, let cool, then peel, devein, and cut in half lengthwise.  Set aside.

5) To make the spring rolls, lay 1 rice paper round on a flat surface.  Lay another paper next to but not touching it.  If space permits, lay out as many as 4 papers without touching.  Using a pastry brush, generously brush the papers for 30 seconds or longer until they are softened and feel like wet tissue.  While working on one, cover the others with a damp kitchen towel.  Arrange 1 lettuce leaf on the lower third of the round.  Put about 2 tablespoons of the rice vermicelli, a few strips of pork, carrot, jicama, a few mint leaves, and 1 dill spring on the lettuce.  Fold the lower edge over the filling, half covering it and forming a log.  Fold in the sides to enclose the ends.  Put 2 pieces of shrimp with 1 coriander sprig across the log.  Continue rolling the paper over the shrimp to seal the roll. Moisten the ends with water to seal the seam.  Set the roll on a tray lined with plastic wrap.  Cover with a damp kitchen towel.  Repeat until all the spring rolls are done.

6) Arrange the rolls, whole or cut into thirds, on a serving tray.  Distribute the dipping saucers among the diners.  To eat, dip the rolls in to the sauce and eat out of hand.

Notes from Katie, part 2:
     I definitely took this recipe and modified it to my own means.  I didn't like the idea of having pork in my spring rolls (as I find just shrimp spring rolls quite delicious) so I skipped the part with pork.  Little did I know, that meant skipping all of step #3 and potentially all of my flavor!  Worried about this, I made one spring roll with just shrimp and none of the other flavors and found it was delicious (especially with the dipping sauce), so this is how I made all the others.  I also didn't mix the carrots with the sugar (didn't really see the point) and I used cocktail shrimp that were ready to go (after defrosting), so I didn't have to worry about cooking the shrimp.  Nor did I cut it in half.  I like my shrimp whole in spring rolls!  I also wonder if boiling the vermicelli is really a necessary step.  After soaking them in hot water, I found they were already soft.  I boiled them anyways but didn't really notice any difference.
     Anyways, these were the real deal.  I loved the dipping sauce!  And we had so many leftovers we are still making them today!  Of course, we have had to go out and buy more shrimp.  I find that my taste are towards spring rolls that have fewer herbs in them.  I'm not really a big fan of the dill and the mint leaves are okay if they're not too powerful.  But give me plenty of cilantro any day!
     I love spring rolls ordered in restaurants!  I can see why they are so expensive to order (they are a lot of work), but they are just as delicious and cheaper at home!  Yum!