Sushi

When we lived in Pensacola, we used to make sushi at home about once a week.  Pensacola has a great fresh fish market called Joe Patti's.  While in Mississippi we really missed this tradition.  Mississippi doesn't exactly have fresh fish.  Not sure why we didn't bring it back in Corpus.  I guess because our sushi stuff was in storage.  Either way, today we brought the tradition back.  We made a trip to Welton's Seafood Market.

They have two locations, one in Ghent and the other in Oceanfront.  We bought tuna and salmon.  

Then made our way over to an Asian grocery store near our house, and Fresh Farm.  There we bought Sushi rice, seaweed, lemons, cucumber, wasabi paste, ginger, and mirin (sweetened sake).  We already had avocado on hand.

Sergio likes the raw fish, I like it cooked.  And Hannah can only eat cooked because of her age.  So first I prepared the seared salmon.  Place butter and the salmon in the skillet.  Squeeze some lemon over the salmon and sprinkle some pepper.  On Med-High heat cook the salmon for about 2-3 minutes on one side, flip over and cook another 2-3 minutes on the other side.  It cooks fast so don't walk away.  The result

Since I was using the salmon for rolls and feeding a toddler I chopped it into smaller pieces.  It's so tender it doesn't even require cutting.

Raw fish does require a little prep.  Because fish have parasites, you can't just eat it.  Rub either lemon or wasabi over the fish.  The acidic of either will kill the parasites.  A little trick we learned from the fish market.  Sergio also wanted some fish seared on the outside only, so he flash seared some of each.  Once the meat is prepped, you'll need to decide if you want the rice on the outside of the roll or the seaweed.  I chose rice on the outside and Sergio chose seaweed.  When doing rice on the outside, place saran wrap or foil down on your sushi mat.  Then a layer of sushi rice, and the seaweed on top of it.    

 

Then put the fish and whatever you want in the roll down the middle.  We do cucumber and avocado.  

Next roll the mat.

We haven't figured out where to get or how to make some of the special sauces that restaurants use.  But a good sweet sauce is mirin.  It's mainly used to marinate or in tempura.  But we have found a little drizzled on top is yummy.  Place some wasabi and ginger on the plate.  Pour a little soy sauce, and enjoy.  

 

Our salmon monster. Yum Yum Yum.