Sushi Saturday: Nigiri and Rolls Galore

Like the true heroes of the kitchen you undoubtedly view us as, Kevin and I fought through the fast approaching food coma compliments of our earlier Miso Soup, Edamame and Sapporo Tempura Shrimp and Zucchini to finish our mission and create some tasty sushi. Thanks to our excitement for the task and a complete misunderstanding of fiscal responsibility, we had purchased far too much to stop now.

It was finally time to brave the uncertainty of our Asian market fish and turn the night into something legendary.

Basic Ingredients for a Super Sushi Adventure
Tuna

So focused and wearing my finest shirt!

Yellowtail (himachi)
Tempura Shrimp (see previous recipe)
Sushi Shrimp (but not super raw shrimp, that'd be bad)
Crab meat (stay clear of imitation even if it is way cheaper)
Cucumber, sliced long and thin
Avocados, sliced thin
Nori
Bamboo Rollers 
Saran Wrap
Sushi Rice
Spicy Mayo
Masago
Mint
Lemon
Wasabi
Ginger

Sushi Rice
Adapted from All Recipes

2 cups uncooked sushi rice
3 cups water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Rinse the sushi rice in a strainer until the water comes out clear. Combine with the water in a saucepan or rice cooker, cover and cook for ~ 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Let cool.
2. Combine the rice vinegar, oil, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until all the sugar dissolves. Cool then stir well into the cooked rice. 
3. Always handle the rice with wet hands or wooden spoons dipped in vinegar and water to keep the rice from sticking.

This rice was billed as "Perfect Sushi Rice" from the random person who wrote the All Recipes article, so we had some pretty high hopes. Initially we were a little distressed by how vinegary and slightly sweet the rice was on its own, but, luckily, it actually goes extremely well with fish and managed to not shame its mysterious internet scribe.

Spicy Mayo
Equal parts Sriracha and Mayo

Alter the mayo/sriracha ratio to your taste

Cayenne Pepper
Salt
Garlic Powder


The secret to elevating even the most subpar sushi is the sweet kick of Sriracha based spicy mayo. I modeled this after the killer dipping sauce from my Heart of Palm "Crab" Cakes, but I just toned down the Cajun some.

Standard Nigiri

The basics of nigiri are simple. Just mold some sushi rice into a nice oblong shape, place a dab of wasabi on top to help stick the fish on and top with you expertly filleted sashimi. We made tuna, shrimp and the oh so perfect Texas Style Himachi, which deserves its own section.

Texas Style Himachi

Texas Style Himachi is the definitive nigiri in my opinion. Ever since being introduced to the powerfully spicy yet refreshing magnificence at Kubo's back in my impressionable college days, I have been a firm believer in this one cultural bastardization of sushi. For this slightly more complicated piece of sushi, top your rice with wasabi, a mint leaf, yellowtail and a jalapeno. Then lightly drizzle with some lemon juice. I may have made several extra of these as the night evolved into a roll making party because it was just too delicious to call it quits.

Just pure, utter perfection. Every simple layer is delightful.

Shrimp Tempura Roll

Everyone knows that if you want to feel properly disgusting from a sushi extravaganza, you're going to need to fill yourself with an ungodly amount of rolls.

To make a roll, cover a bamboo roller with saran wrap to prevent sticking. Then top that with a piece of nori, a thin layer of rice (that doesn't quite extend the full size of the nori) and your fillings. Rolling works best if you place all the ingredients toward the edge of the nori (and not the center as we were about to learn following that pic). Also, it's definitely worth cutting the pieces of nori to prevent from over-ricing the rolls. Once it's all rolled tightly, slice it evenly with the seam down. If your "skills" mimic our Kindergarten level ones, you will find yourself frequently tossing out the edge pieces, which may be a little uneven.

For our shrimp tempura roll we went with our previously made shrimp, avocado and cucumber. We then topped it with a little masago for some added crunch.

Our next great sushi excess will likely involve multi-colored masago because, damn, that'd be pretty. 

Inside-Out Yellowtail Roll

We decided to mix things up for our next roll by creating one that was inside-out. Simply put the rice before the nori, but beware this one is a little more unwieldy when it comes to cutting. Our filling consisted of yellowtail, cucumber and avocado (Are you noticing a theme? These are scientifically proven by us to give a nice combination of smooth, crunchy and refreshing.). We then rolled these in sesame seeds, but masago would also work quite well. Finally, feel free to top some pieces with tuna or shrimp for added color a la the rainbow roll. Another easy and delicious variation of this roll would be to substitute in the mint and jalapeno for a Texas Style Himachi roll (which I now severely regret not thinking of at the time).

We later realized that we spent $10 on roe purely for trying to make our sushi prettier...

Shaggy Dog Roll

Somehow Kevin's fancy camera even managed to make our shaggy dog roll look nice. My picture looked like an insane cry for help from two drunk children, so I will spare you from it.

To make the shaggy dog roll, top a shrimp tempura roll with crab meat (again, we highly recommend you spend the extra cash on real crab meat and not the cheap and not very shaggy imitation crab), spicy mayo and crispy tempura pieces (look at us being resourceful and using the failures from our frying).

Spicy Tuna Roll

The crown jewel of our rolls was without a doubt the spicy tuna roll. Our superb spicy mayo provided a creamy kick that made this by far the liveliest of our rolls. It's a shame that we saved this for last because we were no longer in any condition to truly appreciate its greatness.

The roll seemingly spewing out spicy tuna provides even more of a quote than the ever stoic Kevin did (but, darn it, how can I stay mad at those baby blues).

To make the spicy tuna roll cut your tuna in long, thin strips and dredge through the spicy mayo. Fill with the tuna and our standard cucumber and avocado. For added awesomeness and kick, top with jalapenos and diced spicy tuna.

Up close and personal with how to make the perfect roll even more delightful.

Our latest cooking bonanza may have been several months overdue, but it was quite possibly our best yet. We were extremely pleased with everything we made, but the Texas Style Himachi and Spicy Tuna Roll were the obvious highlights of the evening. We also learned an important lesson about excess, and will make sure to have at least 6 other people present the next time we decide to do this. Making sushi is incredibly easy and fun, so it's perfect for a big gathering of friends (who you can then make do all the work under the guise of "instructing"). Plus, everyone loves giant Japanese beers and sake, so we will be doing this again.

This may be my favorite pic because it looks like we're trying to sneak up on the sushi from below.

Dinner with Mac & Sacha: White Wine Poached Fish

Now that Maconda and Sacha have a fancy grown-up person house, they finally have the space to utilize their fancy grown-up wedding gifts. When presented with the opportunity to use said fancy adult things on their sparkling new island kitchen-top, I couldn't resist. The only problem was figuring out what splendiferous culinary feat we should make. Initially, my thoughts turned to trying painstakingly time-hungry new techniques like braising or making confit in honor of Sacha's homeland, but our adult responsibilities (read: my video games aren't gonna play themselves) led to a compromise. We'd teach ourselves the time friendly skill of poaching (read: we wanted an excuse to drink wine, and I always wanted to describe myself to strangers as "a poacher"). Their shiny new kitchen would be broken in with a delightful meal of wine-poached fish, bruschetta and roasted cauliflower.

Wine-Poached Fish

Adapted from The New York Times

Servings: 6

Time: 40 minutes

6 fish fillets (I recommend cod)

Salt and Freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4-5 tbsp finely chopped shallot

1 1/2 cups chardonnay 

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsp capers, rinsed 

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Wine poaching: the drunken hot sauna of fish

Not broccoli au gratin!

1. Go to Kroger.
2. Be very disappointed in their fish selection and convince yourself the recipe will be good enough to carry the meal.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 
4. Oil or butter a large baking dish then lay the fish in one layer and season with salt and pepper.
5. Sauté the shallots in olive oil over medium heat until tender and translucent.
6. Add the wine and bring to a boil.
7. Pour the wine over the fish, cover with foil and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the fish becomes opaque and pulls apart easily with a fork.
8. Remove the fish from the baking dish and place on a covered platter to keep warm.
9. Reduce the poaching wine in a skillet to ~1/3 cup then add in the garlic cloves, capers, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley and salt to taste. Let cook for ~ 2 minutes.
10. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

Yes, mask the lowly tilapia in delicious sauce topping.

It turns out the simple (20ish minute) technique of poaching is an incredible way to prepare fish. The end result had the absolute perfect texture for fish- beautifuly smooth and tender (almost buttery). Each bite came off effortlessly with a gentle pull from our forks, while the acidity of the picatta like sauce imparted wonderfully powerful flavors to the unassuming fish. The only improvement I would make to the sauce would be to add some butter at the very end to make it even more rich and help thicken it some (just cut the end olive oil, turn off the heat, add butter and let it melt to proper artery clogging thicknesses).

While the sauce will make just about any fish into a tasty masterpiece, proper fish selection will make your experience even more outstanding. Kroger's fish selection was rather limited (HEB should be used for all meat purchasing if in Texas), so I settled on tilapia and cod (it was either that or expensive sea bass). Personally, I hate the flavorless tilapia (specifically bred to not taste like fish for Americans), but I still really enjoyed my tilapia pieces thanks to the hard working sauce. The cod, however, was on an entirely different level as the fish itself stood up to the powerful sauce and held its own. The original recipe calls for the use of sole, flounder or swordfish, so I will be sure to verify the poaching process still works on these the next time I'm craving fish. Overall, I have to declare wine-poaching to be a giant success as the unbelievably simple and fast procedure perfectly cooked our meal while we watched sports on TV.

Not pictured: the 20 slices of bruschetta we all ate before the meal proper.

Come back soon for the other two equally awesome parts of our grown-up dinner: bruschetta and roasted cauliflower (Ok, I lied. The bruschetta far out awesomes them both) and to learn about Sacha's EMT skills following my finger being introduced to their sharp new knives.

Matt's Beer Battered Fish Tacos

For a while now, Kevin has been extolling the virtues of Matt's famous fish tacos. I've never been a huge fan of fish tacos (it just seems so unnatural), but I was willing to give it a shot. Thursday night, Matt came over to indoctrinate me in the ways of the fish taco, and the three of us banded together (a moment that would make the fish taco loving bromance of I Love You, Man proud) to produce one rapid and incredibly delicious meal that made me a believer. I mean, it's fish fried in beer. How could it not be awesome?


Fish Tacos
Adapted from Great Food Great Beer
Servings: About 12 tacos
Time: 30 minutes


Cabbage Slaw
3/4 of a purple cabbage finely shredded
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt to taste


Chipotle Tartar Sauce
2 tbsp canned chipotles in adobo, rinsed, stemmed and seeded
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 cup onion, chopped
Salt to taste


Fish
1 cup beer (Stella Artois works well)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs cod, de-bonned and skinless
Vegetable oil for frying
Tortillas
Lime Wedges

Not as tasty as cupcake batter

1. Make 2 friends so you have someone working on each component for a super quick meal.
2. Prep the slaw by mixing the shredded cabbage, cilantro, lime juice, oil, red pepper flakes and salt in a large bowl.
3. Puree the chiles, mayo, relish, onion and salt in a blender for your tartar sauce (see how easy this is with 3 people).
4. Whisk the beer, flour and salt together in a bowl to make your batter.
5. Preheat your oven to 200 F. Heat up your tortillas on a skillet then transfer to a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm for when the fish is ready.
6. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Cut the cod crosswise into 1 inch wide stripes. Also make sure all the bones are removed.
7. Heat up the vegetable oil in a large skillet to 360 F (Letting it get hotter than this may result in oddly distorted candy thermometers.).
8. Dip each piece of fish into the batter then fry until golden turning once to brown both sides (about 2-4 minutes each fish). 
9. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with paper towels to remove excess oil.
10. Assemble your taco by putting fish then cabbage on a tortilla and smothering with the chipotle sauce (Seriously drown that sucker. It's a fish; it can breathe submerged). Serve with lime wedges.

Still not enough of the amazing sauce.

Let's start with the fish component. The Stella battered cod was perfectly fried (save one piece before we got the oil under control, but, hey, that's what you have smoke detectors for), and the butteryness of the cod went fantastically with the crisp and almost fluffy fried golden deliciousness. This definitely was the right fish for the job.

That's better.

But tacos need their toppings, and we had two glorious ones to round these out. Any fish taco has a standard cabbage slaw that adds a freshness (and more crispiness) to things. The cilantro and lime really bring out the flavor of the cabbage to make for a ridiculously good slaw. The true triumph of the taco triumvirate (sometimes I get bored and have fun with alliteration), though, was the chipotle tartar sauce. It had just the right kick and made me forget all about my normal disgust with mayo. You really can't put enough of this on your taco. Together the three components also form a wonderful texture combination that has the crunchiness of the fried shell and cabbage sandwiched between the almost creamy fishy and sauce all wrapped in a wonderful tortilla.

I love it when my models take my direction perfectly. Matt: "What should I do?" Me: "Look like an idiot." I think he has a bright future in the modeling business.

Matt definitely earned a standing invite to my kitchen (Really, this should be a standing invite to his kitchen since he has one of those crazy house things. Silly married people with their adultness.). These fish tacos finally made me a fan, but were they too good that all other fish tacos will now be seen as inferior? It truly is a rough life that I lead.

And he can be sultry too!

It turns out Matt is not just a fish taco making fiend but is a man of many talents. Check out his mad drumming skills here (but really I would've thought he'd be all about slapping da bass), or catch his stunning photography at http://www.solidstatephotography.com