dinner 6/15

Curried Lentils with Sunburst Summer Squash, Rice and Grilled Purple Asparagus

(plating for my son)

dinner 6/13

Penne with Carmelized Fennel, Roasted Cauliflower, Spinach and Pine Nuts

sushi night!

shrimp avocado and green onion futomaki - shrimp-asparagus futomaki - smoked salmon cucumber and green onion futomaki - carrot-cucumber futomaki - smoked salmon avocado and cucumber futomaki - asparagus makimono - steamed sweet potato makimono

i love making sushi.  it is one of those things that i put on a pedestal during the "food awakening" of my early 20's.   i imagined that it was far too difficult for me to ever be good at, too expensive, too exotic to procure ingredients for...  boy was i wrong.  it's fun and cheap (if you go mostly veggie).  if you are living in an area larger than 50k people, chances of easily getting ingredients are high.

i'm not going to get into the mechanics of making sushi. there are plenty of good tutorials out there - even the instructions on the nori are pretty good.

here are a few key points:
when making rolls, always keep your wooden spoon in a glass of cold water to keep the rice from sticking. i find my 2c Pyrex is perfect for this job. keeping your fingers wet is also a good idea.

wrap your bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap. this will keep your mat clean and make it a easier to roll consistently. i find that an unwrapped mat has more tendency to shear and my rolls are less even. with a recent ban on plastic wrap in my kitchen, due to exposure concerns for our three year old, i've been using wax paper. this keeps my mat clean but is far more tedious. but it is also forcing me to be more precise, which is good.

be bold, experiment, try out new things. my rolls tend to be a little on the traditional side because that is what i enjoy.

finally, i want to talk about making sushi rice. to the Japanese, rice is the most critical part of sushi.  at first this was the most daunting aspect for me. i couldn't quite make rice with the traditional firmness, grain separation, and slightly sweet, slightly salty, slightly sour yet rice dominant flavor. a lot of my early attempts started out fine but got mushy as i cooled the rice. some were soggy messes. some were too dry. after about 15 batches or so, i discovered a combination of a few peoples techniques that works for me. my method is perfect for those who are either a little lazy, don't like the traditional stirring and fanning or are too busy with a little one.

busy dad sushi rice
2c. calrose sushi rice - unwashed!
2.25c. filtered water
0.25tsp. sea salt

seasoned rice vinegar
3Tbs. plain rice vinegar
2.5tsp. low sodium soy sauce (you can use full flavor)
1Tbs. brown sugar
or for whiter rice
2tsp. sea salt
2.5tsp. white sugar

bring your rice and water to boil in a medium pan. once the rice has come to a boil add the salt and stir well. cover and reduce heat. lightly simmer for 20min. turn off heat and allow to steam, with the lid on for 25-30 minutes.

while rice is cooking, heat all the ingredients for the seasoned rice vinegar, stirring, until sugar just dissolves. set aside to cool.

turn rice out into a non-metal wide dish. push the rice with a wet wooden spoon pouring the cooled vinegar over. mix very well. flatten the rice into an even layer. this is where i save time and hassle: place the rice in your refrigerator, preferably below the cold air exhaust. wait 5 minutes, stir completely. return the rice to the fridge, repeat until rice is cool but not cold.

yields approx. 4 cups

comments:

• i have found CalRose Short Grain rice doesn't benefit from being washed - saves a lot of time and reduces rice prep times considerably.
• this method typically takes me 65 minutes. in the past, washing, cooking, then fanning and stirring was taking me 2hrs+.
• it is really best to use filtered water (we have faucet adapter style) because of the off flavors that unfiltered water can impart.
• some extremes in hard or soft water will effect the cooking time adversely. you can steam your rice for less time if you want firmer rice, but i find that allowing a full thirty minutes saves you time cooling.
• using the "brown" seasoned rice vinegar option makes it far easier to tell when you have incorporated it well.
  
• i use a ceramic serving dish with medium height sides for cooling the rice. it works nicely because it pulls heat out of the rice.
• i leave my fridge door open a few seconds to make the compressor turn on, ensuring cold air is being pumped right onto rice.

a brief intro

so i'm finally starting my food blog. i'll be dedicating a lot of my attention on feeding a growing 3 year old, a mostly vegetarian, mostly organic diet on the cheap...

i have a little motto:
"may i be as courageous in life as i am in the kitchen."

i've been cooking for others for 8 years now, worked with some talented chefs, some not-so, and waited tables for 10+ years. my favorite cuisines are japanese, italian, indian, thai, and chinese; experimenting with french fusions of those styles. i never fear a mistake in cooking. as with a successful dish, it's just another opportunity to learn.

hopefully tomorrow i'll be posting tonight's homemade sushi. i'm planning:

shrimp with avacado and green onion futomaki
shrimp with asparagus futomaki
carrot-cucumber futomaki
steamed sweet potato makimono
asparagus makimono
carrot makimono
cucumber makimono