Sometimes I get this need to make vast quantities of sushi. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know that I can't really fight it. I mean, sometimes I just make myself a few rolls of raw veg/avocado sushi for dinner/lunch the next day, but occasionally, I want to make many different kinds all at once, which means I need brave souls to help me out by coming over to eat. Feeding people is always fun, though nothing compares to the delighted faces that people make when when they walk in and see an entire table of sushi. So delicious. Some of the rolls were: chocolate (chocolate olive tapenade...which is really just melted chocolate and chopped kalamata olives and some garlic...., cucumber, ume paste and a little salted chocolate sail for the top), spicy eggplant and greens with sesame, sweet potato tempura with wasabi mayo (for the mayo, blend 1 pack firm silken tofu with 1tbs apple cider vinegar, some salt and some sugar and as much wasabi as you can handle), many mushroom (enoki, shitake, and some I don't know the names of), mock eel (those are the ones that are arranged in little pinwheels...the "eel" is just yuba, wakame and dried mushrooms soaked together and then drained and then put through a blender with some capers, soy sauce and smoked paprika. Then I added rice flour until it was not gooey, and then wrapped the not-goo in nori and fried that. ), and tofu pouches stuffed with salty sesame rice. There were also some that were various combinations of raw veg (carrots, cukes, avocado, chives), and some tiny ones that were pickled ginger and shiso. It was fun. The salads are spicy konnyaku (konnyaku cut into strips and fried in sesame oil, then simmered in konbu stock and then spiced up with red pepper and citrus), and a wakame/cucumber salad. There's a bowl of veg tempura in the middle of the table (mostly potato and zucchini), because it seemed silly to stop after just doing enough sweet potato for the sushi. Once you're deep frying stuff, you might as well keep going until the batter is used up.
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6 comments:
Really, pictures can't do this sushi feast the justice that it deserves. The sight was breathtaking. It was a luxury table.
I am lucky to have tried everything on the table and I liked it all. But I especially loved the miniature mushroom forest rolls and the chocolate cucumber plum paste rolls. And who could resist the fried sweet potato wasabi mayonnaise rolls? They were all so delicious.
And so pretty, too! Another kitchen triumph ... I'm lucky to see (and to taste) so many of these.
*clap, clap, clap*
I applaud your use of chocolate.
Thanks g. I think I can use chocolate in just about anything.
btw, Medici actually rolled most of that sushi. I made the fillings and other stuff, but there was some slave labour in the actual assembly. My need for near-dictatorial control over the filling combos was indulged. A good time was had by all. Using animals for slaves = bad. Using your nearest and dearest in the sinead sushi sweatshop = good. next up: dosa. I have come into a giant indian cookbook with a WHOLE CHAPTER on dosa. I confess that I started planning a dosa party as I was doing the dishes from the sushi madness.
Yes, this was my first experience at rolling sushi (although *not* my first experience at kitchen slave labour!). I appreciated the near-dictatorial control. Rolling was a lot of fun, and I got better at spreading the rice as the afternoon wore on. The rice-spreading and the actual rolling feels a lot like giving a deep massage. It was a wonderful simple physical pleasure to roll the sushi, and I was thrilled to see the little sushi medallions that emerged from beneath the slicing knife, especially the little mushroom forests. If I weren't so boyishly proud, I might have squealed in girlish delight! Whether I did or not, only The Kitchen Dancer knows. And she probably doesn't remember!
Oh, my! That's a lot of sushi. And so many different kinds, too. Looks brilliant.
*sigh* This post invokes such fond memories. I miss your sushi parties.
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