Spring Rolls and Tofu-Artichoke Spread

While we watched the super bowl last night, I whipped up this light dinner. The spring rolls are more of a salad roll, as I used whatever veggies I had in my fridge (baby spinach, sprouts, carrots, pea pods, and green onion) but a more authentic Thai spring roll would consist of cooked rice noodles, Thai basil, mint, and cilantro. These are so easy to put together: just soak your spring roll wrappers in warm water until they become soft, pile on the veggies and roll up like a burrito. I also made this dipping sauce:

Chopped dry-roasted peanuts, soy sauce, a little lime juice, peanut butter and water to thin. Again, a more authentic version would use tamarind paste, which I will try next time.

As a more hearty compliment to the light, fresh spring rolls, we have my tofu-artichoke spread.

For the spread you'll need:

* 1/2 block firm regular tofu (not silken) drained and patted dry, then cut into rough cubes

* 1 small jar oil-marinated artichoke hearts, drained of about 75% of the liquid

* generous pinch of salt

* juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

* 1 small clove garlic

* If you have a taste for vegan Parmesan, by all means, throw some in, but this dip/spread is wonderfully flavorful and rich without it.

Put everything in a food processor (including the 25% artichoke liquid) and blend until smooth, about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl. I strongly recommend making this at least a few hours ahead of time to let the flavors penetrate the tofu.

Either transfer the dip to an oven-safe dish and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes (then garnish with a sprinkling of paprika and dried parsley) or spread one side of sliced sourdough bread woth Earth Balance, spread the other side evenly with the artichoke dip, place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 10 minutes then broil for a minute to brown the tops.