How to Make Sushi at Home

Sushi Rolls are a lot easier to make at home than you'd think. And they're A LOT CHEAPER than going to a restaurant, too.

When my brother James and I were in college we had a ritual every Sunday. It was called Sunday Sushi Sake Cinema night. He had learned how to make his own Sushi after having visited Japan on deployment in the Navy and since he had become vegetarian, we made some really amazing veggie sushi together. Who needs fish when you have ingredients like jalapeno, avocado, red pepper and cream cheese? Though this recipe is easily alterable if you want to add crab or salmon. Best when served with warm Sake, great company and a good movie.

Here are some essential ingredients that you can pick up at your local Asian Market:

1)      Calrose Rice

2)      Nori (get at least ten up to twenty sheets)

3)      Wasabi

4)      Rice Vinegar

5)      Sriracha Sauce if you like it spicy

6)      Soy Sauce

7)      Sushi Mat Roller. I’m sure this has a technical name. I don’t know what it is.

At the grocery store, get lost of yummy veggies. My favorites are:

·        Avocado (this is a must)

·        Jalapeno

·        Cucumber

·        A colorful Bell pepper

·        Sprouts

·        Marinated tofu

·        To make it non vegetarian, you could also get crab or sushi grade salmon or tuna

·        Cream Cheese

 

Directions

1)      Cook at least four cups of Calrose Rice. When fluffy, add a generous drizzle of Rice Vinegar and mix. Let rice cool a bit.

 

2)   While Rice is cooking, slice your ingredients thinly.

3)      Lay a sheet of Nori shiniest side down on the sushi roller. Spread rice evenly on Nori, leaving about an inch uncovered at the base of the roll.

4)      Spread with cream cheese (if you’d like) and top with yummy veggies. Add Sriracha sauce in a line if you want it spicy.

5)      Roll starting at the base of the veggies and tightly push down with your thumbs as you get closer to the end.

6)      Place on a cutting board and slice in one-inch pieces with a serrated knife. If knife gets gunky, dip it in a glass filled with hot water which will help it slice through the sushi better.

7)      Serve with dipping plates filled with Soy Sauce and use wasabi to your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go-To Rosemary Salmon and Veggies

I was not going to post this. I have another rosemary recipe I want to try that is going to be a little more work and if it works out I'm going to be ready for some serious accolades (so be ready to dish them out).

Then I started thinking if there's anyone out there like me, you want that 3-5 ingredient weeknight dinner idea. Don't you? Don't lie. We can't all be Martha all the time. I don't care how bomb you are. So here you go: My go-to rosemary meal. 

Lemon Rosemary Salmon and Veggies

Salmon filet

Lawry's Lemon Marinade

Lemon sea salt flakes

Rosemary, chopped

Combine all ingredients over top of salmon filet (in a little foil boat) and cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Way more awesome if you let it marinate for a few hours in advance. Optional: lemon pepper. Or if you're not super gourmet like me and you don't have lemon sea salt flakes on hand, try the lemon pepper and regular sea salt instead. PS: I'm not super gourmet; I don't even know how I ended up with lemon sea salt flakes in my cupboard. Seriously. Do those expire?

For this meal, I just happened to cut up some potato and green beans, spread them out on a pan with garlic oil, salt, pepper and a little butter. Topped with more chopped rosemary and let those suckers bake with the salmon. Open a package salad, dress it up with almonds, avocado and carrot shavings -- you have yourself a winner winner salmon dinner!

Not even Instagram could fix this ghetto photo to make it look more appetizing. Dammit. I swear it's good.

Behold...the child went in for salad. I almost fainted.

~ Posted by Missy

Salmon + Salmon: Emily’s review

First I made the ACME FARMS + KITCHEN recipe for smoked salmon pasta that Amber linked to. I followed the recipe, except since we were already on a roll with butter and cream, I also added Parmigiano-Reggiano to the sauce. It was rich and delicious and the best part was it was so quick and easy, I honestly think it took about 15 minutes start to finish. And I know since it was pasta covered in goodness, I should have just had a nice small serving with a big side of veggies, but I had a big serving and then went back for seconds! This is a recipe that will definitely make it into my rotation and would also be a good one for company.

I love Thai food and do make curry every now and then, but not often enough. Probably because I’m a Costco shopper my veggie drawers are always overflowing and because I often need to use them up we do weekly rotations of stir fry in the summer and soup in the winter months. But doing “kitchen sink” curry is also a perfect way to use veggies and this is such an awesome versatile recipe.

And remember how I mentioned we really try hard to eat fish a couple of times a week? Well it turns out curry is another perfect vessel for salmon. Instead of cooking the salmon in the curry I marinated it the day before in Trader Joe’s light coconut milk (only $0.99 a can!) and red curry paste. While my veggies (a combo from our local Farmer’s Market and what I had on hand) were simmering in the other can of coconut milk and more red curry paste, I baked the salmon in the oven at 300 degrees for 20 minutes (the secret to perfectly cooked salmon!). Then I broke it into chunks, served it over the vegetable curry with a side of Thai rice.

It was an awesome meal and the best part is it made a ton so I was set with leftovers for lunch for the next couple of days!

Salmon Sliders - Emily's Review

Confession time. I was being selfish when I picked out a salmon burger recipe to try for July because I knew we were going on a boat trip in SE Alaska and there was a good possibility we’d catch some salmon.

Curtis, my dad and brother came through. Just days before we returned home they came back from one of their fishing trips with this:

And my dad graciously filleted those beauties and my mom froze them so a few days later we could make this when Curtis’ mom came for dinner:


Hillary’s salmon skin removal trick worked flawlessly as always. After a quick dip in the hot water, the skin peeled right off. I felt a tad bit guilty using the beautiful salmon for burgers but to compromise I cut the fish into big chunks to maintain some integrity instead of a ground/canned fish look.

I used all the wet ingredients the recipe called for (only I doubled the amount because I was working with a lot of fish) and added some dill, brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, mayo and Sriracha sauce. I put all the ingredients (minus the salmon) in the blender – then mixed the liquid by hand, with gloves on, into the chunked salmon. I shaped the mixture into sliders and froze them on cookie sheets lined with saran wrap for a few hours in hopes they'd hold together.

We started with a grilled romaine salad and used Megan’s recipe for mustard roasted potatoes as a side dish. She’s right, that little kick of Silver Springs beer n’ brat mustard rocked on the potatoes!

Our intention was to grill the burgers but after we made our salads, we ran out of propane so we went to our back up plan and cooked them in a frying pan. I was afraid they may not hold together and we’d just have big blobs of cooked salmon but they cooked into perfect, delicious sliders.

In hindsight I was being lazy by just blending all the wet ingredients and wouldn’t do that again because instead of pieces of bright green cilantro and garlic floating in the hunks of pink salmon, the blended “sauce” gave the burgers a greenish/brown appearance. Next time I’ll take an extra five minutes to chop the ingredients before mixing them in with the salmon.

Molly, Curtis and I enjoyed the burgers although Curtis requested next time that I try the recipe as it was written. We topped them with the mango salsa and the combo was the perfect amount of spice. And this weekend we’re going to use some of our left over patties for salmon tacos.

And because we had so much fish I was inspired to try the burger recipe that I found with the curry sauce. We made it one night with the Orange Apricot Glaze and Curried Mustard Mayo.

And a second night with Barefoot Contessa’s Basil Dill Sauce.

The sauces were great, but I much preferred the July recipe for the burgers coupled with the mango salsa. This second recipe had too much cumin and other strong flavors and it overpowered the salmon.

My Love/Hate for Salmon - Missy's Review

The extent of my fish exposure growing up was a lot like Megan's: fish sticks and tuna sandwiches -- until one day my older brother told me there were fish eyes in my tuna and that was the day (6 years old, maybe?) I stopped eating seafood, period. Brothers.

The fish eye comment was fueled by years of walking past the seafood counter seeing those scaly, scary fish staring back at me. "WHY do they keep them whole??" I never liked that and I still don't. I don't like seeing the carcass before I eat it. I just don't.

I am happy to report that I finally got over the fish eye comment somewhere in my mid-20s, when we arrived for dinner at a couple's home who we were just getting to know better. Just as we sat down to eat, the wife pulled the salmon fillet hot off the grill and said, "Oh I didn't even ask if you eat fish." I was honest and said, "You know I really haven't had much salmon so I'm excited to try it." (Okay, partly honest.)

Then I took a bite. And that delicious lemon-pepper savory taste was so unexpected; I realized at that moment how I'd been missing out. After that, grilled lemon salmon often made it's way into our dinner circuit. The problem is, we haven't really switched it up with salmon -- until now.

I've made the switch from beef burgers to turkey burgers and I love both -- but salmon burgers? I've seen them, heard about them, read about them, but have never really had a desire to try them. Thank goodness for this blog because last night I had another "I've been missing out" moment.

I followed the recipe on this one, using all the ingredients but the fish sauce. I used extra soy sauce and it was just fine in my opinion. I hate measuring so again I just kind of eyed everything and probably added extra of everything, I'm sure. They were goopy, so like Megan, I added bread crumbs and I pan fried them. They turned out delicious and worthy to serve to one of my best friends, Natalie, whom I rarely get to see because she lives out of state.

Only thing I would do different is try a mango salsa or some other great sauce. I made a yogurt/chive sauce that I wasn't impressed with so I never used it. I went with my co-worker Donna's trusty burger sauce last minute: ketchup, mayo, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce. Just a little bit to wet the burger, but the taste of the salmon patty was enough to enjoy alone. I served them as sliders on rosemary rolls and we had summer squash, zucchini and fresh greens from my friend's garden.

One more rant: The idea of skinning a salmon made me up-chuck a little in my mouth, so that wasn't going to happen. And since the QFC cheese guy once saved me the laborious task of grating cheese with his big-daddy machine, I thought it would be worth a try asking the fish lady to skin my salmon. Why not? AND SHE DID! Ask and it shall be given...thankyalord!

So skinned and done. Then I started chopping the salmon and realized I don't know how I'm going to form these into burger patties. I really need a food processor, which I don't own...except for that little, innocent one in the corner that makes my baby's food. Yes, I used the Beaba Babycook to chop and blend the salmon with the other ingredients and BABY, it worked great!

Okay this long-winded, nearly-pointless post is coming to a close. I swear all I was going to write about was the fact I didn't use fish sauce and that the QFC fish lady rocks....


My first time grating ginger and I like the brand name! I'm guessing Melissa also does carrots.

My favorite way to cheat with herbs.

Mmmmm...

Testing the salmon burgers on good friends from out of town (that was dumb of me...).

Friends since age 11. Love you Nat!

July Recipe: Megan's Review

Sunset from the Marbella in Cambridge, Maryland

I have some VERY exciting news to share: I got a new camera! I am so happy, and by the picture above you can tell I am going to get good use out of it. I had a Nikon and it was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned. I am now back to a Canon and my blogging is about to go to a whole new level!

I was so excited to try this recipe. I grew up thinking of fish as only fish sticks you baked in the oven. Loving fish has taken a few years and it has only been in the last year I have been enjoying salmon. I have to admit, I have only made salmon by myself once and that was last week for the owners of the boat. The cook, Amanda was out of town at that time and I had to make it all by my lonesome. It turned out great and so I was totally inspired for a new challenge.

Amanda is our cook and is very good at it. The owners of the boat have very specific tastes and she caters to it well. We like to have the occasional night off when the owners dine out to enjoy a meal for the crew and she had never made salmon burgers so we figured it out together. I would like to say I LOVED this recipe and it is now in my quick Rolodex for things to make for friends. As Amanda said "I love anything that has ginger and fish sauce."

We are currently still working our way up the East Coast and have spent the last couple of weeks in Virginia and now Maryland. The last place we were at was a very small town called Yorktown, Virginia. The best thing is that there were a bunch of local vegetable stands and seafood stands. I loaded up and got a couple of interesting things to try.

I kept very close to the original recipe. For the Salmon Burgers, the only thing I changed was I added a bit of Sriracha sauce as well as some Panko crumbs. I am not sure what happened but the mix was way too wet. I added the Panko crumbs to the mix (appoximately 1/4 cup) to eat up some of the liquid. Our BBQ is on the top deck and this was waaaay too much work so I sauteed it in a pan like this:

They turned out perfect! I served them with the salsa on the recipe except I didn't have mango so I used (can you guess?) a peach fresh from the produce stand. I didn't have a red pepper either so I used a jalapeno. Luckily, the crew has gotten used to and embraces my need for spice. I served the burgers with mixed summer squash that I had baked in the oven with garlic, parmesan, salt & pepper, and olive oil as well as roasted red potatoes.

I have to share my secret to roasted potatoes. It is mustard. It is the most amazing ingredient, I learned it from my friend Mary from Montana and my potatoes haven't been without it since. You toss them in olive oil, pepper, lawry's seasoning salt, garlic, and mustard of your choice. Typically this is about two tablespoons. My favorite is the Beer n' Brat mustard from Silver Springs. You can get this at Fred Meyer or Kroger brand grocery stores. The next best is just regular dijon. The only time this failed is with plain yellow mustard (sorry).

We made salmon burgers as sliders which were the perfect portion. We served them with mayo, the Peach Salsa and fresh greens. The crew loved the dinner and I will be probably hearing requests for this in the future! Hope you enjoyed these as much as we did.

Our colorful and locally grown dinner plate!

My last bite fell on the floor - I almost cried!

Amanda taking a bite! Notice her delicious Rose in the background.

July Recipe: Spiced Salmon Burgers

It’s wild Alaskan salmon season and grilling season (well it will be as soon as summer decides to join us in the Pacific NW). And according to many sources/dietary guidelines, we all should be eating at least 2 servings of seafood a week if we want to live a long, happy and fulfilling life.

With that in mind, this seems like the perfect month to test out salmon burgers. Here’s the recipe and I’ve linked to a few sauce and salsa ideas to accompany your burger, but they’re 100% optional. If curry and orange doesn’t strike your fancy, maybe the Barefoot Contessa’s basil dill recipe or Megan’s secret sauce will get your mouth watering. Or perhaps you’re just a ketchup, mustard and mayo kind of person. And if you’re avoiding carbs or gluten, you’ll have to mix up the ingredients a bit and I’m sure the burger will be delicious bun-less. Or possibly stuffed in corn tortillas for salmon tacos. I'll look forward to hearing what you come up with and reading your review!

Two Tips!
1.) Fresh wild salmon is available at Costco right now for an incredible price - $7.99/lb. for wild sockeye fillets and $5.99/lb. for whole wild sockeye (yes, I have a serious Costco addiction, and will always be pimping it out!). And during the off season I buy frozen wild salmon at Costco (pictured above – you can tell by the wrinkles I yanked it out of my over crowded freezer - I won't be winning any photo competitions with this one!).

2.) Our friend Hillary gave me the best tip for an easy way to remove salmon skin if you don’t have mad knife skills (which I don’t). Fill up a frying pan with about ½ an inch of water. Bring it to a simmer and put the salmon, skin side down, in it for about 15 seconds. Remove it and the skin will peel right off! (Thanks, Hillary. Seriously most useful kitchen tip anyone has ever taught me!)

And now for the recipe!

Spiced Salmon Burgers
1 lb. wild salmon, skin removed
1 egg
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. red chili flakes

Finely chop salmon and mix, by hand, with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Shape mixture into sliders or burger patties and refrigerate until ready to grill.

Grill burgers on medium high for about 3 minutes per side. If you’re using the Orange-Apricot glaze (below) brush it on the burgers while cooking.



Optional Toppings:
Chipotle Mayonnaise
Megan’s Secret Sauce
Barefoot Contessa’s Basil Dill Sauce
Tarragon Mayonnaise
Orange Apricot Glaze & Curried Mustard Mayo

Mango Salsa
1 medium mango, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
¼ tsp. red chili flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all salsa ingredients in a bowl and chill for at least an hour.

Happy 4th of July!