Food You Can Move With [Fierce Foodie]

Summer is road trip time, get in your car and go time, gas prices be damned.  And that means car food, road food, food eaten with one hand.  Since nothing is less fun than biting into your delicious treat and having half of it dribble down your chest, I suggest eggrolls, samosas, burritos and other self-contained yummies.

My personal favorite is Vietnamese summer rolls, which are wrapped in cellophane-thin rice paper circles.  When you buy them they are hard and brittle, but once you brush them with water they soften into a pliable consistency that makes them perfect for enfolding the traditional filling of fresh herbs, vegetables, meats, and rice noodles, or alternatively fresh fruits.

Rolls filled with fresh mango spears combined with naval or blood orange sections and fresh mint then dipped in raspberry sauce make a novel dessert.  Or you could put the raspberries in the roll itself, if you want to eat them on the run without danger of drippage.  You can keep these cool for a half hour or so, but don’t wait too long to eat them or they stiffen.  Buckle up and eat them fast!

Summer Roll Dessert

(care of Kara Holsopple)

6 rice paper circles, softened with water

1 mango cut into spears

1 naval orange or blood orange

6 sprigs of fresh mints

1 pint raspberries

Put 1 sprig mint, 1 mango spear, 1 orange segment, and 3 raspberries into the middle of each roll.  Fold the top and bottom inwards, then the sides.  Alternatively, leave raspberries out and puree them with ¼ cup sugar to make a tart sauce.

featured image credit: Mahesh Telkar