Week One: Springtime Soba Fresh Rolls!

Recipes, ,
clockwise from the top and spiralling inward, we have mustard and bok choy greens, soba noodles, rice paper, mango, toasted sesame dressing, mint, julienned bok choy ribs, avocado, and peanut dipping sauce

Hi friends – Charles here! This year, Jane is working at TWO farms, so I’ll be taking over the recipe blog and I’m super excited about it. I’m looking forward to staying creative with how I use all the contents of our amazing CSA boxes, and sharing ideas with you all!

I gotta say, I’m pretty relieved to take a break from overwintered carrots and potatoes and get into the refreshing greens time of year, and really celebrate all the contents of this first spring CSA share. I took one little pinch of the mustard greens right from the bag and knew they were something special.

One of the things that’s really important in a dinner plan for us is that it makes for good leftovers. Fresh rolls themselves don’t travel well, but the contents of this roll make for an amazing cold noodle salad the next day. This will definitely be an ongoing goal of mine in meal planning – Let me know your sweet lunch box hacks!

clockwise from the top, mustard and bok choy greens, diced bok choy ribs, salted peanuts, soba noodles topped with mint leaves

Without further ado, here is the plan and recipe for these extremely simple and delicious spring rolls.

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Springtime Soba Fresh Rolls

With buckwheat soba noodles, fresh mustard greens, bok choy, and mint, these fun-to-assemble fresh rolls are refreshing and surprisingly filling!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 6 rolls + 2 salads

Ingredients

  • 2 handfuls soba noodles
  • 5-7 rice paper wraps
  • 1 delicious bok choy
  • 2 handfuls mustard greens
  • 1 sprig mint
  • 1/2 mango (optional)
  • 1/2 avocado (pictured, but honestly didn't add that much)
  • protein could include tempeh or shrimp, both of which could be marinated in the toasted sesame dressing if you wanted!

Toasted Sesame Dressing

  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 pinch chili flakes

Peanut Dip

  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 tsp soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
  • a little water to thin for ease of dipping

Instructions

  1. Boil and strain the soba noodles until soft, then toss in just a bit of oil to keep them from getting sticky

  2. Separate all the leaves of the bok choy, and cut the white ribs away from the greens

  3. Add the bok choy greens to a couple handfuls of mustard greens and chiffonade

  4. Julienne the bok choy ribs

  5. Pull the mint leaves off the sprig

  6. Mix up the two dressings/dips. Certainly +/- salt, acid, spice to taste! I always find it easiest to mix them up in a small mason jar so I can shake them instead of stirring. *sunglass face emoji*

    PRO TIP: If you make the toasted sesame dressing in advance, it will give the chili flakes more time to spread their spice around.

  7. (optional) Apply the toasted sesame dressing directly to soba noodles, or use as a dip! Peanut dip could also be a dressing, but we haven't tried it that way.

  8. Heat water in a wide pan or pot that will fit the rice paper wraps. Just before a boil is all you need.

  9. Set the rice paper in the water gently and let it soften, then carefully pull it out so it doesn't stick to itself (an acquired skill)

  10. Lay out the rice paper on a plate and load up the toppings! Then roll it up like a burrito and dunk into a dipping of your choice!

TRANSFORM INTO LUNCH SALAD

  1. Once you're done your delicious fresh roll dips, pour the remainder of both dips/dressings onto the remaining soba noodles.

  2. Dice up the remaining bok choy ribs.

  3. Toss all the remaining mint, greens, and bok choy onto the noodles, along with any other toppings leftover.

  4. We added some salted peanuts because we didn't have much peanut dipping sauce left to add.