Do-It-Yourself Sushi Rolls a la Cafe Japengo

Last night I helped my friend Julie Darling of Just Call Us Volunteers teach the last of a free, four-part healthy cooking class series for residents at the Escondido community built and run by Affirmed Housing Group, a wonderful, progressive company that creates green, low-income, multi-family housing. What did we make with the students? Sushi rolls and spring rolls. They were a huge hit!

Coincidentally, the day before I spent a couple of hours with Jerry Warner, Cafe Japengo's executive sushi chef of 14 years, getting a private sushi-making lesson. It came in handy for the class.

Cafe Japengo's been offering hands-on sushi-making classes for years and they have a line up of classes this spring, including a sold-out class on April 21 (Check the website for the ones being offered in May and beyond.). The two-hour classes are held in the restaurant's dining room. In that time Chef Warner teaches participants how to make and handle the sticky rice and seasoned rice vinegar mixture that goes into California rolls and hand rolls, and how to form them. He goes into a brief history of sushi and of the restaurant, which is a part of the Hyatt Hotel group. You get to feast on your creations--primarily California rolls and hand rolls--and two sake tastings. And you'll leave with your own sushi-rolling mat as well as a comprehensive guide to ingredients, local Asian markets, and a sushi-making tutorial.

Like many cuisines that evolved before refrigeration, sushi began as a method of preserving proteins. In Southeast Asia keeping salted fish between layers of naturally fermenting rice to preserve the fish was the start--and only the fish was eaten, while the rice was discarded. The practice migrated to China and then Japan, whose people preferred eating the partly preserved fish with rice. In the Edo era, vinegar was added to the rice and combined with vegetables and other preserved foods, and, well, a cuisine was born.

Today, of course, Americans have taken the basic concept to a place that many Japanese wouldn't recognize. But rolls are a staple in American sushi restaurants--and you'd be surprised at how accessible they are to the home cook if you haven't tried making them already.

Warner's mise en place for our California roll session included a bowl of water for dipping that keeps the fingers moist, a bowl of prepared wasabi (the green spicy horseradish), an English cucumber, and an avocado.

Warner was using English cucumbers, but of course you can use conventional cukes or Japanese ones, which you can find at Asian markets like Nijiya and Mitsuwa.

You'll want to cut the cukes into thin strips. To get the length right, Warner suggests measuring it again the nori--the thin seaweed paper that holds the roll.

Prep the rest of your ingredients, including the avocado (slice in half lengthwise, then use a large serving spoon to scoop the meat and then slice like a fan).

The rice is key. It's your basic plump, medium grain, washed and then added to a rice cooker--something Warner says is essential for the kitchen. When the cooked rice is just slightly warm, you add seasoned rice vinegar and mix well.

Warner had already prepped the crab mixture, so we were ready to build a roll. The steps are pretty straightforward, but it's clear that there's an art to it. There's a reason there are sushi masters. But you can't go too wrong even as a novice. So, here we go:

Place a sheet of nori on a clean, dry surface with the shiny side down.

Grab a mound of rice about the size of a baseball with wet hands. Using your fingertips, lightly spread the rice on the sheet.

Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds on the rice. For an inside-out roll, flip the rice-covered nori over. Then add your ingredients (cucumber, avocado, and crab mixture), leaving about an inch of the nori exposed along the bottom. Don't be tempted to add too much or it'll bulge.

Gently pull up the edges of the roll on one side and roll, winding up with the seam on the bottom. Then place the sushi mat (wrapped in plastic wrap) over the roll and gently squeeze evenly.

 

See, even a child can do it!

 Remove the mat and cut the roll in half with a sharp, moistened knife. Then move one half to be in tandem with the other and cut again until you have eight equal-size pieces.

When plating, Warner said, consider color, shape, and height to create interest.

Warner also taught me how to make a hand roll, which requires some dexterity but isn't impossible. These below are what I made.

This is great fun; I imagine the class is a blast. The cost is $60 a person. You can make reservations at 858-450-3355.

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In a Pickle at Tender Greens

Pete Balistreri and, uh, Pete Balistreri. Cousins.

Tender Greens, a chain of casual organic restaurants, is the best sort of chain--each location has its own local style intact. And, by local, I mean truly local. The San Diego Tender Greens buys produce from local farms; in fact, one of their vendors, Pt. Loma Farm, is literally across the street. They also whip up their own unique creations. The chefs Pete Balistreri (they are cousins who share the same name) are currently in the final stages of securing U.S.D.A. approval to sell their handcrafted salamis. You can enjoy them at their Liberty Station location on the charcuterie board, but soon also at other locations via retail.

They also are terrific picklers. Recently Pete -- on the left -- taught a pickling class at the Fashion Valley Williams-Sonoma. I couldn't make it, so I was invited for a private session in the restaurant's kitchen. Two chefs, three types of pickles. An irresistible offer.

Most people who shy away from home pickling do it because they're intimidated by the canning process. Now, with these three recipes, no canning is involved--although you could do it if you wanted. These are basically meant to be eaten quickly and within a week. Here, we used conventional cucumbers, cauliflower, and onions--but you could select other vegetables to great effect. In fact, the cauliflower recipe was originally written for fennel. For the cucumber, you can substitute with Japanese or English cucumbers. For the onions, go for white, yellow, or red onions--or garlic or shallots, or a combination. This is easy stuff and wonderful to snack on to add a little acid to a meal to cut the fat in a charcuterie or cheese plate, or a fatty protein like pork, salmon, or lamb.

Asian-Style Pickle
from Pete Balistreri

Sliced cucumbers
Rice wine vinegar
Red peppercorns
Sugar

How easy is this. Just mix all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for an hour. Eat. Serve with fish (how about sashimi?) and a salad. Mix the liquid with olive oil and create a vinaigrette. Or heat the liquid and pour over tougher cucumber varieties like lemon cukes, wait till they cool, then eat. (Note: I make these all the time but use red pepper flakes instead of the whole peppercorns. They're my perfect quick and refreshing snack on a hot summer day.)

Pickled Onions
from Pete Balistreri
Yield: 3 quarts

3 cups red wine vinegar
7 cups water
1 cup red wine (like a Pinot Noir)
1/2 cup sugar
1 bunch thyme
6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
4 onions (yellow or red), julienned

Mix together all the ingredients but the onions in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over the onions. Let cool. Give them 24 hours to develop their color and then serve. Try these inside a beef taco or to top a salad.

Pickled Cauliflower
from Pete Balistreri
Yield: 2 quarts

3 cups champagne vinegar
8 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 bunch thyme
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 head cauliflower

Mix all ingredients but the cauliflower in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over the vegetables. Let cool, wait 24 hours for the color to develop, then serve. You can save the liquid and reheat for another batch.

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Mama's Bakery: A Quick Course on Hummus 101

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the series of cooking classes being offered through the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association. I attended one of them recently--the class offered by Mama's Bakery owner Edward Haidar. This means I got to learn how to make their light and tangy Lebanese hummus.

Mama's has been around since 1988, but Haidar took it over from the original owners in 2004. A longtime customer, Haidar actually had no cooking experience--he was a computer guy--but he put in 15-hour days, seven days a week, using cookbooks and the guidance of his five sisters to learn the recipes that have made Mama's a favorite hangout in North Park. Clearly, he's up to speed.

My favorite dish is the fried eggplant wrap, which incorporates fried eggplant, luxuriant baba ganoush, and bright Lebanese pickles in the restaurant's homemade sajj flatbread. Then I alternate squirting on their tingling hot sauce (turns out it's just Louisiana brand Cajun Sauce) with taking big dripping bites until I reach the messy end. I also enjoy their chicken wraps and the crunchy falafel, served with a traditional garlic paste. In fact, Haidar explained how he makes this simple dip--boil potatoes until soft, let them cool and then peel, put in a blender with a lot of garlic cloves, mayonaise, and salt, then puree.

Eight people attended the class, which was held in the tiny house adjoining the restaurant. We squeezed in and Haidar gathered us around a little space where he had laid out his "mise en place."

He had already soaked and prepped dried garbanzo beans so all he needed to do was crush the garlic and add all the ingredients together in the robot coupe to puree the mixture. It took all of about five minutes and we had plates of hummus with warm sajj bread at tables in the restaurant patio. Haidar brought out little samples of the garlic paste for us to taste and big pots of tea with mint. So, a quick class, but fun--and tasty.

Mama's Bakery's Chick Pea Puree
(Hommus bi-Tahineh)
(printable recipe)

Hommus bi-Tahineh is one of the staples of our mezze and is served with a variety of toppings that distinguish our hommus from that of other Middle Eastern countries. In order to get the required smooth ivory mixture, cook the chick peas until very tender and grind them very fine.

Serves 4

1 cup dried chick peas
1 teaspoon baking soda
Scant cup of tahini
Juice of 2 lemons, or to taste
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
Salt to taste
Paprika, Cumin, and olive oil for garnish

The night before:
Put the chick peas to soak in three times their volume of water as they will double in size. Stir in one teaspoon baking soda; this should soften them and therefore help reduce the cooking time.

Preparation:
Rinse the chick peas under cold water. Put them in a saucepan, cover well with cold water, and place over high heat. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for 1 1/2 hours or until very tender.

Drain the chick peas, keeping some of the water in case you need it later to thin the puree. Put the chick peas in a blender or food processor, reserving a few whole peas for the garnish. Process to a smooth puree and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Stir in the tahini. The color of the mixture will become lighter. Add salt to taste and blend well together. Pour in half of the lemon juice and add the rest gradually to reach the desired flavor and level of sourness. Add the crushed garlic and mix again.

If the puree is too thick, add in some of the soaking water to thin it down. The puree should be soft and creamy, but not runny. Taste, adjust the seasonings if necessary, then pour into a shallow round or oval bowl and spread across the dish, raising the puree slightly over the sides. Arrange the reserved chick peas in a little mound in the middle. Sprinkle the raised edges with paprika and cumin and trickle a little olive oil into the dip between the spices and the mound of whole chickpeas.

*Note: since posting this I got a request from a reader for Eddie's Baba Ganoush. He has generously given me the recipe and here it is:

Mama’s Bakery’s Baba Ganoush

(printable recipe)

 

Serves 4

3 large eggplants

3 tablespoons tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons salt

Prick eggplants in several places with a knife or a fork to stop them from bursting during cooking and cook whole on a hot grill for 30 minutes, turning them to expose all sides.

When cooked the eggplants should have shriveled to about have their size. They should be soft to the touch. You can also microwave them about 6 minutes, or in the oven at high 350 for about 45 minutes. However, if you use microwave, or oven you will not get the smoky charred taste of the open fire cooking.

Cool eggplant under cold running water, peel and discard skin. While they are still hot, put the flesh in a colander to drain for 10 minutes.

Cut off and discard the stalks before putting eggplant in wide mixing bowl and mashing them with a masher or fork.

(If you prefer to use a food processor, be careful not to liquidize the eggplant. That's where lot of people make a mistake. No more than 3 to four turn should be enough to get the right consistency.)

Put tahini and salt in food processor and turn processor. Or add tahini and lemon juice to the eggplant you’ve hand blended. For the food processor, you can add the eggplant at this point. You want to control the blender or food processor to no more than 3 to 4 turns. You want a thick texture with the eggplant seed showing.

Pour the puree in a serving bowl.

To garnish:

Add mint leaves, parsley, or pomegranate seeds.

Add paprika and olive oil.

Serve with pita bread.

 
Mama's Bakery is located at 4237 Alabama St., just south of El Cajon Blvd. To learn more about the series, visit the website. To sign up, contact Beryl Forman at beryl@theboulevard.org.

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Corned Swordfish and Cabbage: A New St. Patrick's Day Classic?

So, I write this piece on corned beef at Iowa Meat Farms and get a note from a friend who works with Sea Rocket Bistro. "You know, Chef Tommy Fraioli is making corned swordfish for St. Patrick's Day. Want to try it?"

Hmmm, it sounded both intriguing and a little off putting at the same time. Until I realized that I had grown up with and loved pickled herring. So, really, what's the big deal?

Today, I drove over to the restaurant and watched Fraioli, Sea Rocket Bistro's new executive chef, prepare the dish in its different stages.

First, he pulled out a glistening 10-pound piece of swordfish filet from Catalina Offshore Products. He trimmed it into smaller pieces that will sit for four days in a brine of water, pink salt, sea salt, brown sugar, and pickling spices. (Tough beef brisket, on the other hand, needs to be broken down--think six weeks bathing in brine.)

Fraioli mixes up the brine, brings it to a boil, then lets it simmer. It cools and is poured over the fish.

 
The fish bathe in it in the fridge for the four days. Then, Fraioli explained, it's rinsed off, placed in a pot filled with water that's brought to a boil, then reduced to a simmer. The fish cooks for an hour or two--until it's fork tender. Then it's removed from the pot and Fraioli adds sliced carrots, cabbage, and hunks of potato to cook.

The dish is plated and served with a whole grain and Dijon mustard mix that Fraioli is still messing around with. He's going to add some kind of beer to it, probably Rey Knight/Butcher's Brewing's Mucho Aloha Pale Ale, which has cloves and allspice in it to complement the pickling spices.

When Sea Rocket Bistro serves the dish ($16) on St. Patrick's Day, it'll be accompanied by Fraioli's freshly baked Irish soda bread, made with whiskey-soaked raisins, and whiskey butter. He's thinking of making soda bread pudding for dessert.

As for the flavors? Surprisingly delicious. The swordfish is moist and tender, with a hint of cloves and a slightly pickled flavor. I ate it with whole grain mustard and the strong rustic, almost spicy, tones of the mustard married beautifully with the mild fish. And, the vegetables, which also cooked briefly in the pickling liquid, had a terrific sweet salty spice-laden flavor. Altogether, it's a great meal and a nice alternative to heavy and more caloric corned beef. It's really a dish all its own.

In addition to the corned swordfish, Sea Rocket Bistro will be serving a variety of Irish-themed small plates.

Sea Rocket Bistro is located at 3382 30th St. in North Park.

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Wine & Dine San Diego Radio: A Feast for Your Ears

Several years ago, I got my start on radio on The Gourmet Club, later named San Diego Gourmet. Ron James was the host with wine expert Robert Whitley. I came on as a guest several times. Then Ron would call me at the last minute to fill in if they had an open slot. Finally, he just got me a security badge at the U-T, where the show was produced and told me I was the new co-host. It was about the most fun I'd ever had professionally.

Then it ended because the U-T closed down the studio. But, hey, folks, starting March 10 we're back and this time on terrestrial radio, KFSD Radio 1450 AM. Called Wine & Dine San Diego Radio, the show will air every Saturday afternoon from 1 to 2. Ron, of course, is the host. Whitley and I, also joined by David Nelson and Frank Mangio, will be co-hosts. And, there will be a slew of reporters from Ron's Wine and Dine San Diego website calling in to report on items such as new restaurant openings, chef moves, and upcoming events.

Host and executive producer Ron James

For our debut show, we're featuring Jeff Rossman of Terra and his new Mission Valley burger joint Bunz, Hanis Cavin of Carnitas Snack Shack, and Dick Gilmore of Iowa Meat Farms and Siesel's Meats to talk about barrel aging corned beef--just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

If you can't listen to the show live on the radio, we'll be streaming it live on www.wineanddinesandiego.com and have a podcast available. Later on, we're also hoping to have a studio with a kitchen so we can do video. Grand plans, but Ron is a determined guy and I'm a believer.

Join us for the fun, send us show topic suggestions, and even call in. I'm planning on having some segments with chefs that deal with specific cooking issues so we can solve your pressing kitchen dilemmas.

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Anticipating St. Paddy's Day with Locally Corned Beef

When Richie Vought was a kid growing up in National City, he used to visit his dad's workplace, Stan Glenn's meat palace in Chula Vista. Two memories stand out: the hot dogs that Glenn used to give away to kids and the line of wooden barrels in a corner of the walk-in cooler in the back, all holding large pieces of meat brining into corned beef.

Decades later, Vought, a second generation meat cutter (Dad was a meat cutter and Mom was a "butcherette" during World War II), is master meat cutter at Iowa Meat Farms, working under Glenn. And, those barrels? They're no longer wood, instead your basic 32-gallon plastic trash cans, but inside is the beginning of a most delicious corned beef based on years of playing around with the brining recipe to replicate those flavors Vought remembers. Iowa Meat Farms and its sister shop, Siesel's Meats, sell between 5,000 and 6,000 pounds of corned beef a year, mostly around St. Patrick's Day but they do carry it year round.

Corned beef got its name because the beef was preserved with coarse grains--or corns--of salt, going back hundreds of years before refrigeration. The technique could also be applied to pork. Brining has since replaced salt cures, but the name remains. Now, is it truly an Irish dish when paired with cabbage? The website Irish Cultures and Customs provides research that they say shows that it's about as Irish as spaghetti and meatballs; beef was just too pricey and pork was the preferred meat, particularly bacon joints. Irish immigrants to the U.S. found that beef was cheaper than in the mother country. But the newcomers treated the beef in the same way they did the bacon joints, soaking off the excess salt, and then boiling or braising the meat with cabbage.

At Iowa Meat Farms, the process begins with trimming the large brisket of excess fat and separating the two overlapping muscles--the round and the deckle, or point.

The round (left) and the deckle, or point of the brisket

Then they prepare a salt brine that includes sodium nitrate, phosphate, pink salt, sugar, pickling spices, garlic, and water. In go the pieces of meat with the brine into those containers to brine for six weeks. This breaks down the muscle and lets the meat absorb the brine's flavors.

This is one of 10 barrels in the cooler at Iowa Meat Farms, each holding about 350 pounds of meat, and weighted down by water-filled containers.

Once the meat comes out of the brine it's ready for cooking. Here's what you do:

1. Place the meat in a pot, with just enough water to cover. If you want, you can add a few fresh cloves a garlic, but that's really it.

2. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender. Tender = inserting a fork into the meat and trying to lift it out. If the meat comes up with the fork, it's still not ready. If it falls off immediately, it's done. Vought tells me that it should take about three hours for a two-and-a-half-pound point and two hours for a five-pound piece of round.

3. If you like to boil vegetables to accompany the corned beef, Iowa Meat Farms suggests that you cook the meat first and keep it warm in a low oven, covered with foil. Then layer the vegetables--potatoes, carrots, cabbage--into a pot with the potatoes on the bottom, covered by the carrots and then the cabbage. Then strain enough of the cooking liquid into the pot to cover the carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer, and cook until tender--perhaps 30 to 45 minutes.

The round, cooked and ready for slicing into a sandwich.

The point, also cooked, and perfect accompanied by boiled cabbage and potatoes, slathered in Irish butter. Be sure to cut against the grain.

Alternatively, you can cook the meat in an oven, placing it in a covered roaster and adding enough boiling water to nearly cover the meat. Tightly cover the roaster and place in a 350-degree oven. It should take roughly the same amount of time to cook. This is a good method if you have a particularly large piece of meat.

Now for serving. The smooth round makes for wonderful sandwiches. I pulled out a couple of slices of rye bread, slathered them with deli mustard mixed with horseradish and had a delicious lunch. At the shop, the folks used the point for their sandwiches and they looked equally good.

Vought told me his favorite way of preparing corned beef for his family is to blend together French's yellow mustard, a couple of teaspoons of horseradish, and honey. Then he smears it over the top of the cooked corned beef and runs it under the broiler for about three minutes. You pull it out just as it starts to bubble and glaze. Let it cool, then slice and serve with cabbage, boiled potatoes, and butter.

Iowa Meat Farms will have its first batch of corned beef ready March 9 and they're holding their 2nd Annual Barrel Festival to offer tasting the next day, March 10, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at both their store and Siesel's Meats.


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Grey Kabocha Squash Soup with Kaffir Lime and Ginger

Winter squashes are the perfect base for a winter soup--but they can tend to taste alike. I, at least, find it challenging to make them distinctive no matter what additional ingredients I add.

But when I came across kaffir limes at the Schaner Farm's booth at the Little Italy Mercato last week, I knew I had a match in the making. There's no disguising the powerful, astringent aroma and flavor of kaffir limes. In fact, you have to have a restrained hand to ensure that they don't overtake whatever else they're paired with. Kaffir limes are beloved in Southeast Asian and Thai cuisine. You'll find the leaves and zest used in soups, curries and curry pastes. Pair with ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and other regional ingredients to get the most out of them.

At home I had an unusual looking grey kabocha squash I'd gotten at OB People's Co-op. So, on a rainy evening I took a look around and pulled out a yellow onion, jalapeño peppers from my garden, garlic, chicken stock, fish sauce, spiced vinegar (easy to find at 99 Ranch Market and other Asian markets), and a chunk of ginger. I wish I'd had lemongrass and coconut milk, but no--and I wasn't about to go out in a big storm--so I made do.

The result was a thick, fragrant soup redolent of ginger and kaffir lime. Not too much. Just enough to give the mellow squash a terrific ping of flavor. A warming, spicy soup for a rain-soaked February night.

Grey Kabocha Squash Soup with Kaffir Lime and Ginger
Makes 10 cups
(printable recipe)

1, 3-pound Grey Kabocha squash (or other hard winter squash), peeled, seeded (keep the seeds), and cut into one-inch pieces
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 jalapeño peppers, diced
2-inch chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
1 kaffir lime, zested and then juiced (save the juice)
32 ounces of chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons spiced vinegar (available at Asian markets)
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a large pot and add onions. Saute until translucent, then add garlic, ginger, and jalapeños. Saute another couple of minutes.
2. Add squash chunks, half the kaffir lime zest, stock, fish sauce, and vinegar. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat, cover the pot, and simmer for an hour.
4. Remove from heat. Puree in the pot with a stick blender or carefully transfer to a blender to puree. Add the rest of the kaffir lime zest and all the lime juice. Add salt to taste.

Serve!

P.S. I always save the seeds from winter squash to toast. Just put them in a colander and rinse/pull the fibers off, dry the seeds, toss with oil and salt, then roast at 300 for about 15 minutes. (Check on them frequently; they can burn in a heartbeat)


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