Say Hello to Samantha everyone! Samantha is the beautiful daughter of our dear friends Rick and Ann Marie. You may remember Rick and Ann Marie from an earlier post I wrote about Brunch at the Bedford Village Inn.
Rick and Ann Marie along with all three of their kids, Samantha, Nick and Shaun rented a beach home in Wells, Maine a couple weeks ago. Jim and I crashed their vacation for a couple of days as we were staying about a mile away in our motorhome.

While spending a little bit of time with Samantha last summer, I learned that she loves being in the kitchen and learning new recipes. She was telling me that she had been learning to make spring rolls and crab Rangoon’s from one of her friends Mom. When I said I love crab Rangoon’s but have never made them, That’s when we started planning a day and Sam would be teaching me how to make some of the things she had been learning! Needless to say I was thrilled to be in the kitchen with Samantha and another one of her friends Ashley!

Samantha and Ashley were terrific in the kitchen together, they worked tirelessly chopping, rolling and pinching making these delicious dishes together! I was right there next to them learning, watching and laughing with them in the kitchen! The first dish the girls made were the spring rolls. They used cucumbers, carrots, Asian slaw mix, cooked shrimp, cooked shredded pork (found in Asian markets) and some of them had cooked teriyaki noodles in them for a fun twist. They mixed and matched the filling ingredients and rolled them in rice paper wrappers that were softened in warm water.
The girls were free spirits in the kitchen, adding whatever they wanted using however much they wanted, no measurements were used! The spring rolls were terrific and having each one made a little different made an exciting bite!

One of the things Samantha did that I thought was brilliant was to buy a ring of shrimp cocktail and use how ever many of the shrimp she needed and her family could still enjoy the shrimp ring and cocktail sauce at another meal! All of the work was done for her by doing this, no peeling ,deveining or cooking the shrimp it was all done!

Next up we made the Crab Rangoon’s! This dish just like the last there was no measuring involved but I’ll give an approximate amounts! We made easily 4 dozen Rangoon’s, you can half the recipe but feeding this group we definitely needed that many! Samantha used wonton wrappers, 2 blocks of softened cream cheese and about 3/4 to a cup of onion, celery and imitation crab meat(diced).

One of the biggest tips I took away from Samantha was after she diced the celery she put it in a dish towel and squeezed as much of the liquid out of it she could, I was amazed at how much really came out! I think that may have been Sam’s workout for the day as she get every last drop out of the celery she could! Once the diced, onion, celery and imitation crab were well incorporated into the softened cream cheese it was time to make the Rangoon’s! This is where many hands come in handy! Sam showed each of us how to pinch the filled wontons together just right but she also joked that when her brothers help they make them in all kinds of weird shapes!

While Samantha, Ashley , myself and even Jim made the Rangoon’s Sam’s Mother Ann Marie heated about 3-4 inches of oil (peanut oil or vegetable oil work well) in a large pot, the oil should be heated to just under 350 degrees. These can also be baked or air fried!

As we made them Ann Marie fried them in Batches just until the crab Rangoon’s turned golden brown on the edges.

While the Rangoon’s were frying up Samantha and Ashley made the dipping sauce. Again no measurements, Sam did this all by sight and taste! Hoisin sauce and about 2 dollops of Peanut butter mixed well!

Everything that Samantha and Ashley made was phenomenal! Everyone was quick to get to the table and just like that dinner was devoured and loved by all!

A HUGE Thank You to Samantha , Rick, Ann Marie, Shaun, Nick and Ashley for letting us crash your vacation and make some delicious food!