California Rolls or Beginner Sushi

One very good thing about having friends who love to bake/cook/eat as much as I do is that sometimes they make me discover something that I might not have tried out for myself. Take sushi, for example. Martin loves sushi, but when he had it for the first time, at a party at work, I was pregnant and raw fish just wasn't something that was very appetizing, at the time.

Fast forward almost 2 years and a friend invites the kids and I for dinner as both our guys would be working late and wouldn't that be a good excuse to get together, have a glass of wine and just talk each others' ears off. She had recently tried making sushi and she was so excited to make some for us and show me how easy it was. I was very intrigued and let me tell you, it is easy and really, really delicious! She made a few variations of California rolls, no raw fish, and I was hooked! I didn't think you could make so many different kinds of rolls; there was imitation crab, spicy shrimp, smoked salmon and vegetarian. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to try making some myself so, the next weekend, I got everything I needed and set up shop!

These days you don't really need to go to a specialty store to get ingredients for your sushi. Most supermarkets even have little sushi shops where you can buy the rolls already made or ask the sushi chef for tips and tricks. I've found that they're always happy to help, even if they do seem to find it a little odd that you'd want to make sushi yourself when you can buy it right then and there. Imagine if I had tried to bring my camera and take pictures in the supermarket, that would have gotten me a few weird looks!

Please remember that I am by no means an expert, and there are a lot of more experienced sushi makers out there with how-to posts you can check out too. But I had fun making these and I'll try to show you how I made my sushi and maybe you'll be intrigued and try to make some too. If I could do it, anyone can!

What you'll need for each roll:
1 sheet of nori
1 cup of cooked sushi rice*
Black sesame seeds, or regular sesame seeds, roasted
Grated carrots
Cucumber, sliced lengthwise into thin strips
Avocado, sliced thinly
Your choice of smoked salmon, shrimp or imitation crab
Cream cheese, if you're using smoked salmon
Fried egg roll wrappers, crushed (adds a little crunch)

You can make things easier on yourself by having all of your ingredients ready and close-by, because once you start you don't want to have to run around looking for this and that. Also, a good trick is to wrap your bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap before you start, it'll make it a lot easier to clean. Oh, and have a bowl of water near by so you can wet your hands from time to time, otherwise you'll end up with sticky rice everywhere.

Place a sheet of nori on your bamboo mat (shiny side down) and spread 1 cup of rice on top of it, leaving a 1 inch space at the end. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds onto the rice. Arrange your choice of ingredients into a strip and start rolling at the edge closest to you. Use the bamboo mat to roll the sushi firmly. You can use a few drops of water at the seem to help the seaweed to stick at the end of the roll.

Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into about 8 pieces. It's easier if you cut the roll in half and then cut the ends into equal pieces. Serve the sushi with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

The variations for the rolls are endless. You can make a shrimp salad using a little bit of hot sauce and mayonnaise and adding it to chopped shrimp. You can spread a little cream cheese onto the rice before adding the smoked salmon. You can do all veggies and use red bell pepper for even more color and crunch. Use your imagination and have fun!


* For the sushi rice:
You absolutely have to use short grained rice. Use specialty sushi (or Japanese) rice. It's a lot like Arborio rice, the kind used for risotto. In a saucepan, add 1 1/4 cup of water and 1 cup of sushi rice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, without stirring, until rice is tender and still shiny. Now here's where it gets interesting. To the cooked rice you can add 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sifted confectioner's sugar. I didn't add the vinegar or the sugar as I wasn't sure I would like it but I might try it next time. You can then place the rice in a bowl or spread it on a baking sheet and let it cool to room temperature.

Dinner, Not Dessert

Just so you guys know it’s not all Gooey Chocolate Cakes, Doughnuts and Maple Pudding Cakes around here, I decided to tell you about our dinner last night.

I just love to make risotto. Not just because I like the fact that it’s so versatile you can put almost anything you want in it, but also because I like to prepare it. I do. I like to stand in front of a pot of butter coated Arborio rice and carefully ladle warm chicken broth into it, watch it bubble, ladle some more broth in, stir it all up. Until the rice is tender and creamy and perfect. Then the fun part begins because after adding the required amount of Parmesan cheese, or in my case Grana Padano, you can add the ingredients you want to make it your own. Tonight it was Spicy Shrimp and Roasted Asparagus Risotto and it was oh, so delicious! The spiciness of the shrimp was perfect against the creaminess of the risotto and the asparagus with their coating of garlic and olive oil added just the right amount of texture to the rice. Of course, if you want even less complicated you could make the whole thing into a risotto cake, I'm sure it would work really well. Make your own variation of this versatile dish and I’m sure it will become one of your favorites too!

Risotto
Adapted from The Food Network

1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp butter
5 cups or more of chicken broth
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan or Grana Padano Cheese

Melt the butter in a 4 to 5 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly. Add the onion, continuing to stir, until it turns soft and translucent. Turn the heat down if the onion starts to brown.

Meanwhile, pour the chicken broth into a separate saucepan, set over medium heat, and bring to a gentle simmer. Adjust the heat as needed to maintain this simmer the whole time you are preparing the risotto.

Once the onion is soft, add the rice and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary -- if the rice is cooked at too high a heat, it will turn brown and take on an undesirable flavor.

Using a ladle, scoop up about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of broth. Pour it in the pan with the rice, stirring constantly with a spoon. After the first addition of broth, the rice mixture will look a bit soupy.

As the rice begins to cook, stir it constantly, making sure that you scrape along the bottom of the pan so that it does not stick. You should see little bubbles popping up on the liquid from time to time. If it bubbles more vigorously than this, turn the heat down to medium-low.

When most of the liquid is absorbed into the rice and the rice begins to look a bit dry, add another ladle of broth to the pan and stir constantly, as before.

Continue to add the broth in 1/2-to-3/4-cup batches and stir the rice until you have used most of the broth (this will probably take about 20 minutes). It is now time to test whether the risotto is cooked. Spoon up a grain of rice and bite into it -- it should be tender without being too mushy. If it is still crunchy and tastes a bit starchy, you will need to continue adding liquid and cooking further.

If it looks as if you will run out of chicken broth and your rice is still not cooked, don't be alarmed. Because of variations in individual stoves and cooking temperatures, you may need more liquid than called for in the recipe. Simply heat up another cup or 2 of chicken broth. If you run out of broth, use hot water.

When the rice is tender and the risotto has a creamy consistency, almost like thick oatmeal, it is done.

Add salt and pepper to the risotto, about 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until it seems well seasoned to you. Stir.

Add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir well.

Serve the risotto immediately in warm bowls and have extra grated Parmesan on hand.

Roasted Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus, cleaned and tough part of the stem removed
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the broiler to 500F. Place the oven rack on the setting that is about 6 inches from the broiler.

Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and mix everything together until the asparagus are well coated.

Cook, under the broiler until the asparagus are tender, about 20 minutes but the cooking time will depend on the size of the asparagus. Shake the pan a few times during cooking.

Remove from the oven, place the asparagus on a cutting board and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Stir into the risotto.

Spicy Shrimp
1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined, you can remove the tails or not
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Chili flakes, to taste

In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil, over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic and chili flakes. Stir everything around. When the shrimp turn pink, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with the risotto.

Lemon Envy

There are so many incredible lemon recipes out there on the internet lately, I’ve been craving lemon.

I tried my hand at a lemon roll cake last week but it wasn’t much of a looker and the taste was nothing to get excited about either. So I kept looking for a recipe with a lemony twist I would like. And then I found it.


A risotto cake. A baked risotto of sorts but that holds its shape when cut into wedges. I served it with some Italian sausages and sliced tomatoes and it was gorgeous. I might just try other flavors of risotto baked this way, it’s much less complicated and it can wait a little bit in the oven while I make the rest of the meal. That’s a good thing when three kids are running around the kitchen and I have ten things to do at once!

Lemon and Herb Risotto Cake
Adapted from Allrecipes

1 leek, thinly sliced
3 cups chicken stock, divided
1 cup uncooked short-grain white rice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 sprigs fresh parsley, for garnish
1 lemon - cut into wedges, for garnish

Place the leek and ½ cup of the chicken stock in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, until leek is tender. Add the rice, and the remaining chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid has been absorbed.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch springform pan.

When the rice is tender, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the lemon zest, chives, parsley and mozzarella cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into the springform pan, and spread evenly. Cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and lightly browned. Run a thin spatula or knife around the outer edge of the pan, and invert the cake onto a serving plate. Serve hot or cold, sliced into wedges. Garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.