Paprika Grilled Shrimp with Olive Oil Poached Baby Purple Potatoes, Pickled Onions & Italian Style Salsa Verde. That's quite a mouthful for a small plate. And if that's not enough for you to digest I have an interesting wine pairing too. Terrebrune Bandol Rosé 2009.

This is the fourth recipe and wine pairing from this weeklong series of small plates. So I am going to be brief. Because there are a lot of ingredients and instructions for this dish. But don't let that intimidate you. It is essentially a salad. I know you can make a salad. Even a salad with a long complicated name...

That's because you can marinate the Shrimp, make the Salsa Verde, Poached Potatoes, and Pickled Onions way ahead and then simply grill the Shrimp, toss the Arugula in Lemon and Olive Oil and assemble the salad as you serve it.

I do want to say something about the potatoes because they are special. They are from Tasteful Selections and are called Purple Passion. Now I don't usually buy "branded" produce. The good stuff shouldn't need a marketing department. But despite the overly cute name, I found that a bag of them ended up in my hot little hands. I needed potatoes, my Farmers Market was a week off, so I thought, "is one plastic bag of produce gonna kill me?" But guess what? They were a joy to cook with and to eat. Slightly sweet, yet nutty with a plump texture and firm skin, they were all very uniform in size making them ideal for my poaching method too. But what makes these potatoes so special in my mind is their ability to hold their purple color. Have you ever noticed how purple potatoes sometimes end up looking like any other potato once cooked? These babies held their dark hue and really were an asset to the taste, texture and visual success of this luxurious little plateful.

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Hey! Don't call these egg rolls. They don't like that. They prefer to be called by the exuberantly optimistic name of Spring Rolls.

I can see where the confusion comes from. An egg roll is an Asian treat of the same basic size and proportion as these rolls. But really that's the only similarity between the two. In Vietnam these are known as Gỏi cuốn. Besides Spring Roll, the English names include: Salad Roll, Fresh Roll, & Summer Roll.

They are fresh and delicate and in large parts– raw. Nothing at all like their deep-fried continental cousins. The fillings in egg rolls are cooked and shredded, then fried in their wrapper to a crackly crunch. The crunch in a good Spring Roll comes from fresh lettuce, fragrant herbs and crisp veggies. The nuanced flavors of these vegetables can also be enhanced with cooked pork, chicken or shrimp. 

I chose to make these for the photo challenge of this competition because they are such charming little hand-held works of edible art. All their beautiful components are firmly packed together and rolled into rice-paper sheets. They can joyously burst out one end or stay seductively tucked inside. But they can't hide their beauty. Because the rice-paper sheets that give this roll structure are thin and translucent; offering an artful window into the soul of these Vietnamese classics. The effect is almost like stained-glass and it really is one of the culinary world's most beautiful creations; making them more than ready for their close-up. VOTE for me here!

"Wowza!" Does that phrase ever pop into your mind?

How about "Gadzooks!" or "Eureka!"? Are these the explatives that fall from your lips when faced with something so perfectly and so unexpectedly delicious?

Well, I bring this up because I have got an "Egad!" recipe for you today. Orange & Rosemary Prosciutto-Wrapped Grilled Shrimp.

One bite and you will join the chorus in "Hallelujah!".

The simplicity of their preparation makes them all the more fantastic. The fact that they are finger food makes them not just delicious but fun.

I love finger foods and make a point of bringing you frequent posts featuring them. Because there is something about finger food. It seems both sophisticated and mischievous. Finger food is party food and I am sure that is where the allure stems.