The Daring Cooks November 2009 Challenge: Sushi!

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax
Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.
Sushi (寿司 or 鮨 or 鮓) is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi
actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is
simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left
overs.
Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was
invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a 'hand-formed' sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was
eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw
and cooked.



Although I have made sushi numerous times before, this was my first attempt at a decorative style.  It was great fun and much easier than I expected.  The first one was the Dragon Roll:

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="800" caption="Dragon Roll"][/caption]

It is supposed to be covered in avocado, but I was unable to buy any, so I just sprinkled Nigella seeds on top instead.  the filling was cucumber and smoked salmon.

The second style we made was spiral sushi.  It has 6 different fillings.  I used inari, blanched carrot, cucumber, smoked salmon, red capsicum and fresh asparagus.  Finally, we had to have a go at the hand shaped nigiri.  These I had made before, not that you would guess by the dodgy shaping!!  You can get a printable copy of the recipe here.  Don't be intimidated by how long it is, they are just detailed instructions, the actual process is surprisingly quick and easy.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="800" caption="Nigiri on the top, and spiral sushi below."][/caption]

All in all, a delicious challenge as always.  Both daughters loved it and it made a lovely dinner for a mild spring evening, eaten out on the front verandah watching the sun set over the hills surrounding our little valley.  Aaaaaahhhh!

Daring Cooks July Challenge - Skate, traditional flavours powdered (slightly altered)

I have just joined an online group at the Daring Kitchen called the Daring Cooks where each month they post a new recipe and everyone makes it, then publishes the results on their blog all on the same day.  Today, the 14th of the month is Reveal Day!!, so here it is...Skate with traditional flavours, powdered by Grant Achatz from his Alinea Cookbook (page 230).

I think that one of their aims in the challenge is to extend your repetoire of both cooking and flavours.  This certainly did both!  I was really dubious when I first read the recipe as it sounded like alot of work, and some crazy ideas...like powdered sauces!!!  I thought it was going to be a really dry, bland dish that would be hard to eat, but boy was I wrong!!!!  It was FANTASTIC!

I had to make a few minor changes as some ingredients weren't available (I live in a rural area).  I couldn't get skate, so I had to opt for goodness only knows what it was from the supermarket fish counter, and they only had green bananas on my shopping day, so I had to substitute avocado instead.  Also, I added a few veggies from the garden to the side of the plate (I'm one of those mums that insists the children have vegetables every night).  It was a huge hit with the family.  The kids loved the novelty of brightly coloured powders on their plate that they could swirl around to make new patterns and flavours (yes I know, usually I would call it playing with food, but on this occasion, I told myself they were "exploring new horizons" lol!!)  I wasn't sure how hubby would take it either as he can be a bit "traditional" in his tastes at times, but we must have spent the next hour discussing different flavour combinations that we thought would be great.  He also said it was definately a dish to be made for visitors!

I must apologise for the lack of photos in the construction phase, but I have had sick kids and hubby all week, and my shoulder has been playing up so I pretty much just wanted to get it done and dusted.

The beans under the fish were simply divine.  They were cooked in half water, half beurre monte which was reduced right down, resulting in a beautiful buttery coating that wasn't the least bit greasy.

All in all, for my first attempt at Molecular Cuisine, I would say it was a resounding success.  I am definately going to make this again, but will travel to get decent fish that is worthy of such a magnificent recipe.  I also reckon fruit powders would be delicious served up with home made vanilla ice cream.  Might have to try that one out too!

Finally, I really must extend my thanks to Sketchy of Sketchy's Kitchen who hosted this month's Challenge.  Please check out his blog and see what other delectable delights he has been up to!

Fishing Boat Cake

My friend's daughter turned 11 the other day and I offered to make her a cake.  It turns out she is saving up to buy herself a little fishing boat, so naturally, that is what the cake had to be! I made a 23cm square mud cake and covered it with Fluffy Frosting which has a lovely smooth and almost shiny finish - not matt like most icings.  I then made up some Piping Gel from caster sugar, cornflour, lemon juice and water and dyed it with blue and green colourings for the water.  All the other decorations were made from fondant.  It ended up being a really easy cake to make and transport, and a quick dusting with silver lustre on the boat gave it a nice metallic effect.  Needless to say, she loved it!!