Post-Operative Pub Fare

The carpal tunnel release surgery went so swimmingly on my right hand back in January, that I was eager to go ahead and do the left one, too. Of course, I had almost a month over winter break to heal up last time, and I don't have any substantive time off until the end of July. I just started teaching summer school this week, but since it's my non-dominant hand, I decided to just go for it. I cancelled my afternoon class today, had the procedure in the morning, napped during the afternoon, and I am already cooking and blogging by evening! I don't return to work until Monday, so I should be able to step down the narcotics by then. ;-)

I am pretty sure that my hospital discharge instructions expressly forbade me to operate a stove for a full 24 hours until the anesthesia wears off, but I am a rebel who laughs in the face of such overly-cautious admonitions. For our dinner tonight, I attempted to recreate something that I had at an Irish pub called Swifty's in Utica when I was in town for a conference last week.

They were like those southwestern egg rolls that everyone loves at Chili's but with a Germanic twist. If you love a Reuben sandwich--with its tantalizing combination of corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and Russian dressing--you will LOVE these! And they are easy enough for someone fresh out of surgery and still partially anesthetized to throw together. (Tee hee.)

Crispy Reuben Rolls

Mix together two cups of chopped corned beef (slices from the deli), two cups of chopped swiss cheese, and two cups of sauerkraut that has been squeezed dry, plus a half teaspoon each granulated garlic, ground celery, and black pepper.

Place about two tablespoons of the filling in the lower third of each egg roll wrapper (turned diagonally).  Fold the bottom corner up and over the filling, seal the edges with a little water, fold over the ends, and roll it up, again sealing the top corner with a little water.

Fry the rolls in 350 degree vegetable oil in batches of four or five, seam side down at first, for a couple of minutes per side until golden brown. Keep them warm on a rack placed over a cookie sheet in a warm oven until all the rolls have been cooked. Serve them with Russian or Thousand Island dressing on the side as a dipper.

This makes 14 rolls.