I was recently sent two free samples of Annie Chun's Sushi Wraps: sprouted brown rice and sticky white rice. With both, you:
Microwave the rice for two minutes.
Spread the rice on each single-piece seaweed sheet that comes in the package.
Choose a filling for your roll from anything you have in your house.
Roll it up and dip it in the enclosed soy sauce.
I tried the brown rice variety and filled it with fresh asparagus from the farmer's market.It was surprisingly tasty.Be forewarned, though, that it is extremely salty.Seaweed is typically salty and this seaweed was more salty than normal.I thought it tasted good and helped give the rolls flavor.
My husband, however, thought it was a bit too much.
Too much preparation is involved for these sushi rolls to be a good take-to-work lunch item.I prefer a one step meal for a work lunch.However, I do think that this might be a nice item to have around the house for a quick after-school snack or an easy appetizer.
That being said, if you were going to make sushi rolls at home it might make more sense to just buy a big sheet of nori (seaweed) and use a bottle of soy sauce that is probably already in your pantry. I do love the microwavable brown rice though. It's easy, a huge time saver, and it came out perfectly.
Here's my question:I still have one sample left (the sticky white rice), what should I put in it?
The next time your puppy is pleading beneath the table as you devour chocolate and other dog-unfriendly treats, just toss him/her a doggy toy cupcake -- it's sure to distract for at least 3-5 minutes. Pampered Puppy offers an entire line of foodie-friendly dog toys, ranging from cupcakes to birthday cakes to beautiful plush bars of chocolate.
But maybe your dog doesn't have such a sweet tooth, and instead prefers, say, raw fish. In that case, check out these sushi dog toys from Sugar Charms. And for those with a romantic side, how about his chocolate-covered strawberry from Wiggle-n-Waggle? All are perfect for making your dog feel like the foodie he/she wishes he/she could be.
Not Eating Out in New York wrote a post a few days ago that cracked me up: She invented an Obama sushi roll. I don't want to incite political anythings, so I'll just say that I like Obama just fine, and I'd be happy to see him become President -- but I really, really liked the Obama rolls.
The rolls feature crispy fried eggplant and fresh spinach, with some cayenne pepper to capture the Obama spirit. I wonder what a Hillary roll would look like? Maybe some kampyo squash because its stubborn and gummy but also unique? It would definitely need some spicy sauce as well. What about a McCain roll?
Sushi has become so popular in the U.S. in the last few years that most people have at least some idea what nori seaweed is. It's that lovely green wrapper encasing your favorite maki rolls. For most Americans, this is the only place to use the delicate seaweed sheets. However, a group of chefs are creating a movement to use nori in a variety of new and different ways.
According to an article in this week's Dining Out section of the New York Times, a substantial number of chefs are thinking way outside the box when it comes to using nori. From an accent ingredient (nori stirred into black truffle risotto) to the main flavor (nori ice cream "sushi"), the seaweed sheets are appearing in more and more menus. Though low grade nori is generally used for sushi, high grade sheets are available and are generally preferred for these high end uses.
I must admit, I was a bit taken aback when I first read the article. But the more I thought about it the more intrigued I became. I always like to try new things and there are some pretty interesting things happening with nori seaweed out there today. So in the words of Chef Yasuda of Sushi Yasuda, "Please, eat".
When I was a kid, my grandmother had a basket full of fake sushi. My aunt is Japanese, and she brought back the plastic reproductions with her from a trip to Japan as a gag gift for Christmas one year. I loved playing with that fake sushi, setting it all up on a black lacquer tray and then pretending to serve it to my relatives. They were good to me and always played along.
This is the memory I immediately thought of when I saw the picture above. However, those rolls you see there aren't plastic and they aren't real sushi. They are cookies! If you look closely you can see that they rely on rice crispy treats as the base instead of sushi rice. I am always amazed at how clever people can be with food. I would have loved to have served these treats to my relatives back when I was a kid, for the surprise they would have shown when they realized they were sweets.
I play this game often when dining out with my foodish friends. After grossly indulging in whatever gluttonous gourmet feast was placed before us, deeply buzzed on wine and cocktails, sitting back in our chairs to wait out the digestion, we ask one another, "If you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want your last meal on earth to be?"
Strangely enough, even when the group of dining companions is a group of professional chefs, people in the food industry, or hard core "foodies," the answers are usually very similar. There is no answer of a fancy sit down dinner with multiple courses of preciously presented dishes. Almost always, people answer with favorite comfort foods, foods that remind them of home, family, and the experiences they've had in this life.
A few weeks ago, Caley from ChewonThatBlog asked us at Slashfood what we would want for our "Last Supper." We don't seem to have much variety on our team, with a fairly even split on only a few things: Mediterranean (since pizza is Mediterranean, right?), seafood, and Japanese food. Our individual answers are below, but we'd love to hear what our Slashfoodie readers would want as their last meals on earth, too!
When I first saw the headline for this AP story, "Danny Devito opens restaurant in Florida," my first thought was, wow, Devito's career sure has hit a bad patch.
But then I read the story and realized he's not cutting ribbons or having his pic taken with kids, he's actually the co-owner of the restaurant. It's in South Beach and is called Devito South Beach. It's described as an "Italian chop house," and has some rather nice steaks on the menu, but they also have sushi and pasta dishes.
Devito has a couple of movies coming out this year and is a regular on FX's It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
Seems that Chicago-area restaurants that serve red snapper aren't really serving red snapper at all, they're serving cheap substitutes! And it wasn't an isolated case. In fact, samples were bought from fourteen different restaurants in the city, and none of them were actually red snapper. They found this out by doing DNA tests.
Coming this fall: CSI: Sushi.
The FDA calls it fraud and they are investigating.
Think you can just walk up to the fish counter at your local grocery store, purchase a pound of fresh tuna, take it home, and eat it raw as sushi? Of course you know you can't do that. You need to look for "sushi-grade," right?
Not so fast, Slashfoodie-san. First of all, you want to be looking
Remember last year, or maybe it was even two years ago, when I did an "occasional" series called School of Fish wherein I waxed poetically about everything from anago (sea eel) to tamago (sweet egg omelet)? Were you were paying attention?
Well, now's a good time to test yourself! Jonesblog has put together a lovely post full of pictures of various types of sushi. It's not super-detailed, but the pictures are pretty and the descriptions are good enough to help you order when you sidle up to the bar.
Michelin's recent announcement that it would publish its first guide in Japan met with mixed reactions from the country's chefs. Some greeted the news with shoulders colder than a sushi case, while others were a little more open-minded about the arrival of the Michelin Guide Tokyo.
Among the naysayers was Yoshikazu Ono, head chef at Tokyo's Sukiyabashi Jiro who made his point clear: "The French do not understand anything about sushi and are so far behind in handling fresh fish." Other chefs feel that since sushi is so popular all over the world Michelin's review team should know the difference between top-notch sushi and bait.
Incidentally, the news of Michelin's new guide comes on the heels of the Japanese government's move to certify Japanese restaurants abroad as authentic.
The Japanese government wants to set up a certifying board to regulate sushi served in restaurants abroad. Japan's Agriculture Ministry has convened a panel of food experts who will establish certification standards for Japanese restaurants outside the country. The standards should be decided upon sometime in the next month or so. They will focus on all foods that are part of the Japanese cuisine such as sushi preparation and styles, noodles, teriyaki, etc.
The thought behind this is that by certifying restaurants as authentic it will raise the level of the quality of food prepared, and educate people as to what the food should be like when prepared properly. There are around 10,000+ "authentic" Japanese restaurants in the US, double what there were a little over a decade ago. This has led to a shortage of classically trained chefs, especially sushi chefs.
Becoming a sushi chef is a big deal in Japan. It takes many years of apprenticeship. First a few years learning how to make rice before you are even allowed to touch it, then learning about fish, types, slicing, arrangement, tastes, preparation, etc. Chefs of this quality are lacking in many Japanese and sushi restaurants abroad, leading to poor quality and "inauthentic" sushi.
In The US I have seen sushi chefs who have only a few weeks experience and don't know anything besides how to throw together a few messy maki rolls. They don't know the proper ways to slice fish to present it best and have it melt tenderly in your mouth. Instead you end up eating slabs of fish filled with tough connective tissue because it was cut the wrong way.
The next time your puppy is pleading beneath the table as you devour chocolate and other dog-unfriendly treats, just toss him/her a doggy toy cupcake -- it's sure to distract for at least 3-5 minutes. Pampered Puppy offers an entire line of foodie-friendly dog toys, ranging from cupcakes to birthday cakes to beautiful plush bars of chocolate. 
Sushi has become so popular in the U.S. in the last few years that most people have at least some idea what nori seaweed is. It's that lovely green wrapper encasing your favorite maki rolls. For most Americans, this is the only place to use the delicate seaweed sheets. However, a group of chefs are creating a movement to use nori in a variety of new and different ways. 
Boston chefs tell you the best way to prepare fried chicken in a pan. 
When I first saw the headline for this AP story, "Danny Devito opens restaurant in Florida," my first thought was, wow, Devito's career sure has hit a bad patch.
I don't eat sushi, so I'll have to take the Chicago Sun-Times' word on this.
Despite a global ban on killing whales, Japanese multi-national seafood conglomerate Kyouko has been selling millions of tins of whale meat in a partnership with American company, True World Foods in New Jersey. 
Michelin's recent announcement that it would publish its first guide in Japan met with mixed reactions from the country's chefs. Some greeted the news with shoulders colder than a sushi case, while others were a little more open-minded about the arrival of the Michelin Guide Tokyo.
The Japanese government wants to set up a certifying board to regulate sushi served in restaurants abroad. Japan's Agriculture Ministry has convened a panel of food experts who will establish certification standards for Japanese restaurants outside the country. The standards should be decided upon sometime in the next month or so. They will focus on all foods that are part of the Japanese cuisine such as sushi preparation and styles, noodles, teriyaki, etc.
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