Trackie Daks, Ugh Boots and a well stocked pantry

An impromptu invitation, quite late in the afternoon yesterday, inviting friends to come over for dinner and a game of cards, left me in a slight panic. Why do I open my mouth before thinking? Time and time again I put myself in this situation. I was tired, the house was in a complete mess, I couldn't be bothered sprucing myself up to go to the supermarket (trackie daks and Ugh boots is not a good look in public)...why do I do this to myself?

The critics in my family, and there's quite a few of them, have often made fun of my well stocked pantry, and still "not a bloody thing to eat" in it. Well, there is, if you're willing to take the time to actually PREPARE something, I always tell them.

At least the finger food dilemma was solved with these great rice paper rolls, made with Light Chilli Philly, a can of crab meat (from the pantry) and coriander from the garden.


Simple and delicious, followed by Chicken, Preserved lemons and olive tagine, with a side of sage and onion couscous. The dinner was a hit, the boys opened a can of beer each, and the girls opened their can of whoop ass. Sorry guys, maybe we'll teach you how to win 500 one day. And I was still in my trackie daks and Ugh boots. Good friends couldn't care less.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 8 round (21cm-diameter) rice-paper sheets
• 160g sweet chilli light cream cheese (Kraft Philadelphia brand)
• 1 x 170g can crabmeat, drained (or you could use small cooked and peeled prawns)
• 1 celery stick, trimmed, halved crossways, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves
• Soy sauce, to serve

Method

1. Soak a rice-paper sheet in a shallow dish of warm water for 10 seconds. Drain on paper towel and transfer to a clean work surface.
2. Place the cream cheese in a medium dish. Spread 2 tsp of the cream cheese along the centre of the rice-paper sheet. Top with 2 tsp of crabmeat, a few pieces of celery and coriander. Fold in the ends and roll up tightly to enclose filling. Repeat with the remaining rice-paper sheets, cream cheese, crabmeat, celery and half the remaining coriander.
3. Place rice-paper rolls on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the remaining coriander and serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Margot, from the UK, and author of Coffee and Vanilla is hosting Kalyn's Kitchen Weekend Herb Blogging this round.