Jiggs dinner, done up spring roll style

For many Newfoundland and Labrador folks, Jiggs dinner — a hearty combination of salt beef and vegetables like potatoes and cabbage — is a weekly tradition. 

• Ottawa's 'soup guy' offers free Jiggs dinner soup to visiting Newfoundlanders

It's not usually found ensconced in a deep-fried spring roll, though.

That culinary omission hasn't stopped Randy Fitzpatrick, the owner of Petit Bill's Bistro and a Newfoundlander himself, from coming up with a Jiggs dinner-inspired appetizer — just in time for your New Year's Eve parties.

Fitzpatrick shared his recipe earlier this week on D is for Dinner. 

Jiggs dinner spring rolls

Ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 large carrots, peeled and quartered
• 2 large parsnips, peeled and quartered
• ½ head of cabbage, sliced
• 1 pound salt beef, soaked and drained at least twice
• 2 pounds roast turkey
• 1 package of wonton wrappers/phyllo paper
• butter
• oil for deep frying

Instructions:

1. Soak and drain the salt beef at least twice, three to four hours each time.
2. Once the beef has properly soaked, boil with potatoes, carrots, parsnips and cabbage in a large pot until they've softened.
3. Pull the meat off the roast turkey.
4. Combine the turkey meat with the salt beef and boiled vegetables in a large bowl.
5. Take the wonton wrappers or phyllo paper and place three to four layers on a buttered sheet of parchment paper.
6. Take a half pound of the meat-and-vegetable mixture and spread it straight across the middle of the pastry, leaving about an inch or space on both ends.
7. Roll up the pastry to make a large spring roll.
8. Using a deep fryer set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit — or a large pot filled with sunflower oil — fry for four to six minutes or until golden brown.
9. Remove the roll and pat dry with a paper towel. 
10. Cut in half and serve with either partridgeberry compote or cranberry jam.