Our main dish for this weeks POM Wonderful Summer Menu Series is brought to you from the home of the College World Series.

I was asked to step up to the plate and bring the main dish to this weeks POM Wonderful Summer Menu Series. I’ll be honest with you, this request was a bit of a curve ball as I’m never asked to bring the main course. Surely it’s not because I’m a bad cook or that my friends fear I’d show up with a pitcher of protein shakes, right? Right.

Nevertheless, making the main dish makes me choke-up and my pom’s sweat. To help ease my anxiety, I reached out to my pinch-hitter Michael Schall, the owner of Greenbelly restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska to prepare a pom-filled recipe for us today. Greenbelly is known for its eco-friendly establishment and it’s fine food featuring healthy salads, grilled pizzas, and panini’s….let’s just say, they’ve got all their bases covered.

Michael’s recipe is sure to be a homerun as it’s packed full of some of my favorite things like protein, veggies, peanut butter, and POM Wonderful.  Welcome to Omaha, we’re having…

POM Shrimp Wraps

• 1 pound (21/25 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 ounces maifun noodles (thin dried Chinese noodles)
• ¾ cup of seeded julienned cucumber (matchstick-size)
• 1 carrot, peeled, julienned matchstick size carrots (1/2 cup)
• 3/4 cup julienned matchstick size jicama (or Yam)
• 2 green onions julienned, matchstick size to about 1/2 cup
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage from about 1/2 of a head
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 12 (8-inch round) sheets dried rice paper (or substitute w/ a wheat tortilla)
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons POM Wonderful pomegranate juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mirin (substitute with sake or rice wine)
• ½ teaspoon of minced garlic

Directions

In a large pot of salted boiling water, add shrimp and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until cooked through. Slice shrimp in half from tip to tip and set aside. In a small bowl, pour hot tap water over noodles and set aside to soften, about 10 to 15 minutes. While noodles are soaking, prepare vegetables and herbs. Drain the noodles and cut with kitchen shears into 4-inch lengths. Set aside.

Prepare an area to work easily for assembly of rolls. Line all vegetables and herbs in front of you along with shrimp and noodles. Have a roll of clear plastic wrap handy. If substituting rice paper with a wheat tortilla, skip the rice paper preparation. Fill a shallow bowl (a pie dish works great) with warm tap water and submerge 1 rice paper round into water for 10 to 15 seconds to soften.

Gently remove rice paper sheet from water, place on work surface. In the center of rice paper, place 3 shrimp halves (striped side down) on rice paper. Top with 1/4 cup noodles. Top with 2 sticks cucumber, 2 sticks carrots, 2 sticks jicama, 3 pieces green onion, 3 tablespoons napa cabbage, 4 tablespoons bean sprouts, and a pinch of basil and cilantro. Finish with 3 more pieces of shrimp, striped side up. Fold rice paper up tightly over filling, fold in ends, and continue rolling, finishing seam side down. Place in plastic wrap and roll so that the rolls can set up and not stick to each other. Repeat to create the rest of the rolls. Refrigerate rolls for 20 to 30 minutes, before serving.

In a small bowl, vigorously whip peanut butter with a fork until easy to stir. Stir in hoisin sauce, pomegranate juice, soy sauce, mirin and garlic until combined well. Cover and let stand at room temperature until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, evenly spread remaining  cabbage on serving platter. Remove rolls from refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap and slice in half on the diagonal. Place half the rolls on their sides on the platter and the other half on their ends, standing up. Serve with peanut sauce.

This dish is fantastic and makes a striking presentation! Enjoy!

Now I really must go now that we’ve hit this one out of the park it’s time to get back to my bench warming, I mean, pressing.