Pulpo al Olivo
Once again, I will use a recipe from Art of Peruvian Cuisine - what an amazing book! And once again, this particular recipe is available online: click here. This is probably the easiest of today's preparations. I bought already cooked octopus. So all I have to do is prepare mayonnaise, from scratch, with addition of olives.
Start with egg, some salt, and some lime juice. Blend.
Then slowly pour in olive oil, while blending.
Then add olives. I used Kalamata olives instead of regular black olives because I love them so much, but I think that affected the color of mayo a bit - it is lighter than it would have been with black olives.
Then slice the octopus. Sharp knife is a must here.
Arrange on the plate, serve with olive mayo. And while original recipe called for parsley, I used some chives. This is one amazingly simple yet delicious dish!
Sushi
Now on to the hard part. I have never ever ever made sushi before. I have done plenty of reading before embarking on this adventure - reading on both sushi preparation and more generic food safety. If you are going to prepare a meal with raw fish, food safety is essential. Modernist Cuisine, volume 1, has an amazing chapter on this and I highly recommend to read it before trying to do sushi at home, although the information contained in that book is valuable for any food preparation.
First, start with preparing sushi rice. We use rice cooker. So measure out a cup of rice and corresponding amount of water, press ON button, and wait. Once rice is cooked, it needs to be mixed with sushi vinegar. From what I've read, it is my understanding that traditionally sushi is fermented rice. Mixing vinegar to rice is a kind of substitution to actual fermentation process. I could be wrong on this, and if anyone out there knows better, please do share.
Prepare wasabi. Wasabi is Japanese horseradish. It is actually quite rare and expensive, and although most of us are familiar with that green paste that comes with every serving of sushi and sashimi, most of us actually have never tried real wasabi. What is being passed for wasabi in the West is horseradish with green coloring added. Tastewise, it is supposed to be close enough to the real thing.
Finding fresh wasabi root is nearly impossible here in the States, at least not in regular stores, or even those targeting more Asian population (here in Denver it is H-mart: website - click here, location - 2751 South Parker Road, Aurora, CO). However, wasabi powder and wasabi paste are available. Of course, just like with the green paste you get in sushi restaurants here, what is being sold to you as wasabi paste/powder can still be only basic horseradish. So pay attention to the ingredients. Today I will be making my wasabi from powder I purchased. I really doubt that this contains real wasabi. But taste-wise, it was exactly as the stuff we get in a sushi restaurant. To prepare, mix powder with hot water.
As far as fish goes, I have salmon, tuna, and yellowtail - all were purchase fresh (pack date states today) and are sashimi-grade, from H-Mart.
I am going to start with an easy item - nigiri roll. First, shape the rice.
Then slice the fish and arrange on top of rice. Serve with wasabi and soy sauce and enjoy.
Next I moved on to something harder - a maki roll (rice inside). My roll is with salmon and avocado, one of my favorite combinations. First, cut avocado in half, remove the pit, then I have a very cool tool to get the flesh out and in slices in one convenient step.
Next, you'll need a bamboo mat. Place a sheet of nori (seaweed) on the mat. Then spread rice on top of that in an even layer. Use your hands to do that. I've read that wetting hands in mixture of water and vinegar will prevent rice from sticking to your hands, but for me it only worked to a degree.
As I was adding the rice, I realized that I was making the layer of rice too thick, and I only will end up having enough rice for one roll (I made 1 cup (dry) of rice initially). Next time I will know to control my quantities better. Apparently, even the nori sheet was supposed to be cut in half - that certainly would have made a smaller roll.
Now arrange avocado and salmon on the rice.
And then roll the roll. It is a bit hard the first time, at least for me, but once I got the hang of it, it is actually easy.
To seal the roll, use wet fingertips on nori's edge and then press it to seal. My roll came out a bit sloppy, but it is my first roll ever. I promise to do a better job the next time.
Then all you need to do is slice the roll, and serve.
As I mentioned before, I run out of rice. And even though I wanted to do few more rolls (I had other ingredients ready, like cucumber), the rest of the meal was all sashimi. We did need to finish the fish right away. It was deliciously fresh. Keeping it for another day would have meant having to cook what was left, and it was just too good of a fillet to not enjoy it fresh.
Roll actually came out very well. Shyam claims mine is better than other ones he had elsewhere. This certainly was a new experience for me, and I really enjoyed it.
The main point when making sushi at home is to ensure that food is fresh and that it is prepared properly - that is, no contamination occurs. And that is harder than it looks. Do wash your hands, do wash all your cutting boards (add a bit of Clorox to help disinfect), knives, etc, and be aware of cross-contamination during preparation. There are many details to food safety - read appropriate materials in detail to find out more.
Also, I do appreciate the skills of the real sushi-chefs. Maybe there isn't any cooking as far as heating is involved, but just cutting things right and rolling those rolls, and shaping that rice - it does take skill. And now that I've tried to do it on my own, I do appreciate so much more what they do.
Exciting news from TAG
Next brewery dinner will take place on March 20th, and will feature Great Divide Brewery and M.T.H. Farm lamb. Menu is absolutely exciting. I can hardly wait!
And with this delicious slice of news I wish you all a good night.
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