Veggie sushi

On Saturday, we attended Sushi Night at a friend's house. I had sent Warren a link from Pinterest and it inspired him to make some veggie sushi. Behold roasted red pepper nigiri. It's so good! The texture is very much like tuna, but it tastes totally different.

He also made mushroom nigiri that looked very eel like, but I didn't take a freaking picture.

Sushi

Warren has been in a sushi zone and I love it.

He's been fiddling with the somen noodle rolls. He added carrots, cucumber, and sesame seeds on top.



And a first--seared beef sashimi.



Another first--a dessert roll with black rice and mango.

Shojin Platter

Warren prepared the first course for our bi-monthly supper club meeting. His first component-a crunchy daikon roll-took almost a week to make! He had to dehydrate the daikon for several days before rolling orange peel inside of it. Then he had to dehydrate it some more before marinating it in rice vinegar. It was definitely worth the wait! He also make marinated lotus root and somen noodle nori rolls with a balsamic soy reduction. YUM!

Brown Rice Sushi

We journeyed out to the Winchester Farmer's Market last weekend and Warren spotted some Japanese brown rice. After experimenting with it in a few dishes he was inspired to make some sushi. He also busted out some soy wrappers his mom sent us a while back. He made California rolls and a few vegetarian combinations. My favorite was cucumber, avocado, and arugula.

Sushi

I love sushi nights! Eel, cucumber, crabstick, crawfish, avocado, and mango in various combinations.

Octopus Nigiri

Warren made this octopus nigiri when I wasn't home and didn't say anything until I found the pictures! Sneaky!

At the Ocean

Beach cooking '08 far surpassed '07.



First up, California Rolls with real crab meat...



Chicken and shrimp on the barby:



Chicken and sausage gumbo:



More chicken (for the kids):

Even More Sushi...and a Surprise

Warren caught wind of Sekisui's contest to create a new roll and started practicing. (Sorry, I can't reveal the ingredients!)




He also made crab stuffed jalapenos from a recipe in Sunset Magazine. Yum!

Practice Makes Perfect (Sushi)

Since we were hosting the weekly Monkey Wrangler Cocktail Hour, Warren decided to practice what he learned in Jimmy Ishii's Advanced Sushi Workshop at Viking.

Preparations started the night before with several hours of shopping and then cooking the shrimp and octopus. At the party he spent about three hours making House Cucumber Rolls; Spicy Tuna Rolls (which got eaten before they could be photographed!); California Rolls (ditto); and Eel, Shrimp, Octopus, and Tuna nigiri. He planned to also do salmon nigiri, but everyone was stuffed!

Too bad I am not a better photographer. (There was one in attendance, but he was understandably wrapped up with Mr. Baby.)


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

BBQ Sushi

It was only a matter of time before the Boston Butt became sushi. Warren's signature BBQ sushi. The latest incarnation involved the homemade coleslaw and pickles, spicy seaweed, secret sauce, and Rendezvous dry rub.






Steph, Warren plans to make this again for the next Cocktail evening...

More Sushi

It's been months since Warren had the time or energy to make sushi. Tonight he made four rolls: eel & cucumber, cucumber, spicy tuna, & pickled daikon.





Satchel assisted with rice balls for the tuna and eel nigiri.


Jiro assisted with the photo taking while I tried to kill an elusive fly with my jedi mind trick.


Everyone helped eat!

Tuna Nigiri

Lamenting the lack of leftovers at lunch time the next day, I remembered the filet of raw tuna we bought. Warren quickly turned it into nigiri.

New Year's Eve Sushi School & Gala

After Uncle Dave's stellar performance at Greek Fest 2006, Warren felt he was ready for Sushi School. Besides, after offering to make sushi (and gyoza and fried butterfly shrimp) for RJA and Sassy Molassy's New Year's Eve Gala, he needed a little help.

I peeled the shrimp while Warren took dogs and the monkeys to the trails, and then I took the monkeys to playground while Warren butterflied the shrimp, prepared the gyoza and set up for Sushi School. We returned to the house at 3:30ish to find Uncle Dave and Warren ready to get started. After observing for a bit, it was no surprise to me that Uncle Dave was a quick learner and a very good student.


They were moving pretty quickly, but I worried about the time since we were supposed to be at the NYE Gala at 5:00pm.


I asked if there might possibly be something I could do to help. Pleased with the efforts of his first student, Warren actually allowed me to assist with the shrimp. After receiving a brief demo on proper battering technique (and a place to prop up my broken leg), I went to work.


(Why yes, that is a Fertile Ground t-shirt. You can get yours here.) Warren said I was doing a good job, but he was all to eager to take over once the sushi was done.

We made it to the NYE Gala at 6:30pm, and were greeted by many hungry revelers. Warren immediately went to the kitchen to cook the gyoza and deep fry the shrimp. Once that was done (at 8:30pm), he sliced up the sushi and served it, much to the delight of everyone in attendance.



Only after reviewing these photos did I realize that I completely failed to properly document the gyoza making, which is my absolute favorite thing that Warren makes. (You can see one or two at the bottom of my plate.) Gyoza is a Japanese dumpling that is pan fried and baked. Warren filled these with pork and crawfish and they were fantastic.


I resolve to get Warren to make them again soon so I can give them their proper due.

Sushi, Take 2

Since the Thanksgiving sushi making was so well received (and he hasn't had to cook for two weeks thanks to Derby dinner deliveries), Warren decided to go all out for the family gathering at my mom's house on Christmas Eve. He basically planned a repeat performance (California rolls, eel and cucumber rolls, shrimp tempura rolls, and spicy crawfish rolls) but with one major change: more rice to make more rolls! Also, I asked for mango instead of cucumber with some of the eel, and he obliged.

Having found sashimi quality tuna at the Asian market, he also decided to try his hand at making tuna ngiri, spicy tuna rolls, and a replica of our favorite Sekisui roll, the Jacksonville, which requires a blow torch!






This time we all waited patiently in the livingroom for two and a half hours while chef Miki Moto made us a feast to end all feasts. Jiro was first on the scene, and I was close behind him. Despite everyone absolutely gorging themselves, we actually had leftovers.

"Hmmm...should we leave Santa cookies or sushi?" I asked Satchel.

Grilled Turkey and Sushi

This year's War of the Turkeys inspired Warren to cook his on the grill. He bought a 13lb turkey, borrowed a co-worker's extra large grill, consulted Alton Brown, and went to work.

In order for us to make it to my mom's by noonish, Warren put the turkey on the grill at 9:00am. He made a few "smoke bombs," grabbed some rosemary from the garden, and began what would prove to be a fairly simple process.


He did get a little tense at one point when I, his dutiful assistant, did not properly follow orders. "Look, don't ask questions," he said. "Pretend that you are working at McDonald's and I am your manager."

I, of course, looked at him and did my best not to completely crack up. "Okay, Bobby," I said.

"Bobby?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's your McDonald's manager name."

As you can see, the turkey turned out great.


The real fun came later at my mom's house when Iron Chef Miki Moto (that's Warren's bigtime chef name), set up his sushi making station.


Everyone hovered around as he made California rolls (with real crab), eel and cucumber rolls, shrimp tempura rolls, and spicy crawfish rolls.

We literally had to make rules for the sushi eating so that no one person got more than the others. No one was to be trusted. Warren kept the completed rolls in a safe area until everyone was present and ready to taste.



Everyone got 4 pieces to start and then we divvied them up from there. At one point, my nephew bartered with my mom in order to get a few of her pieces.

Once we had been through two rounds of eight rolls, we still wanted more. But there was a problem. We had plenty of filling, but very little rice.

"Make an everything but the kitchen sink roll," my brother-in-law suggested.

"Yeah, do that!" we all cheered.

"I don't know," Warren said. "It could get pretty messy."

"I can roll it," my BIL said. "I'll just pretend it is a big fatty."

Apparently all Warren needed was for someone to put it in perspective, because the Everything but the Kitchen Sink roll came off without a hitch. (It includes eel, crawfish, crab, shrimp, cucumber, avocado, masago (roe), hot sauce, and wasabi mayo.)




Here's my BIL "taking a hit."