Appetizer Roll Ups

Thanksgiving. The turkey was perfect. I will say this without false modesty because false modesty about a perfect turkey is a sin against the bird and the smoker and the sixteen hours of brining and smoking that went into it. The fish sauce brine gave the meat a depth of savory flavor that no amount of butter basting can achieve — the skin was mahogany and crispy, the breast was impossibly moist, and when I carved it at the table, the juice ran clear and golden and everyone went quiet. That's the sound of a successful turkey: silence.

Twenty-two people in my backyard. The Tran-Santos-Okafor coalition, plus Mai, Mr. Washington and his wife, and two guys from my AA group who didn't have anywhere else to go. My backyard is not designed for twenty-two people. We made it work with folding tables and lawn chairs and the kind of spatial creativity that only happens when the food is good enough to make discomfort irrelevant.

The highlight: James's puff-puff. He made a hundred pieces and they were gone in twenty minutes. Deep-fried dough balls, golden and light, dusted with powdered sugar. The outside was crispy and the inside was airy and warm. People were fighting over the last ones. Mr. Washington's wife, a woman of impeccable manners, elbowed her husband to get the last three. James watched this happen and grinned like a man who knows exactly what his food is doing. I respect that grin. I have that grin. It's the grin of a cook who has just made a room full of people temporarily lose their composure.

Mai sat at the head of the table and said grace in Vietnamese. She's not religious — she goes to the Buddhist temple on holidays and that's it — but on Thanksgiving she says a few words in Vietnamese about gratitude and family and the table goes quiet and listens. Even Tyler, who has the attention span of a golden retriever, was still. She ended by saying something I'd never heard her say before: "We came here with nothing. Look what we have." Then she picked up her fork and started eating. No one moved for a second. Then everyone ate.

I thought about Huy. He would have been sitting in the chair where I sit now. He would have carved the turkey, badly, because he was a terrible carver but insisted on doing it every year. He would have eaten Mai's spring rolls and complained that there weren't enough and then fallen asleep on the couch by 4 PM. He's been gone eight years. The missing never stops. It just changes shape.

Mai’s spring rolls have always been the heart of our Thanksgiving table — the thing Huy would reach for first, the thing he’d complain there weren’t enough of. This year, with twenty-two mouths and only so many hours, I added these appetizer roll ups to the spread as a second wave alongside her rolls. They’re quick, they feed a crowd, and they disappear almost as fast as James’s puff-puff did. Sometimes you need a recipe that lets you stay at the table instead of stuck in the kitchen, because the table is where it all matters.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes (plus 2 hours chilling) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

4 large flour tortillas (10-inch)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 packet (1 oz) ranch seasoning mix
1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 can (2.25 oz) sliced black olives, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup jarred jalapeños, drained and chopped (optional)

Instructions

Make the filling. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sour cream together until smooth. Stir in the ranch seasoning mix until fully combined.
Add the vegetables. Fold in the diced red bell pepper, green onions, black olives, shredded cheddar, and jalapeños if using. Mix until everything is evenly distributed.
Spread and roll. Lay each tortilla flat and spread about 1/4 of the filling evenly across the entire surface, reaching the edges. Roll each tortilla up tightly into a log.
Chill. Wrap each roll tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. This firms the filling and makes slicing clean.
Slice and serve. Unwrap each roll and trim about 1/2 inch from each end. Slice into 1-inch rounds. Arrange on a platter and serve cold.

Nutrition (per serving)

Appetizer Roll Ups — The Rolls We Make Now, for the People Still at the Table