Of my friends that don't know me personally, I work at a college on-campus dining facility that happens to have decent quality ingredients on a regular basis. I'd like to say that I'm hard at work serving customers and being the best employee EVER...but that would be a lie. INSTEAD, I manage to concoct little creations like the one seen above. I have no idea what to call it, but I'm still proud of it nonetheless.

Ingredients:

2 oz. of broiled freshwater eel (unagi) cut in small strips to 2-3 in. in length
2 oz. of thinly sliced ripe avocados
2 oz. of raw Ahi tuna minced
2 oz. of sushi rice
Unagi sauce for garnish
Siracha sauce for garnish

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
One small half sphere bowl
Plastic wrap

I'm fortunate enough that many of the ingredients that I used for this was already prepped and ready to go at the time of creation, so all I had to do was assemble and put my creativity on the plate. The inspiration behind this dish was based off of a slightly similar dish I saw at a renown sushi bar here in San Diego called Sushi Ota. A picture of said inspiring dish is...

"Green Apple- Avocado stuffed with spicy salmon sashimi- Excellent!"
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/3S6VtYgcXL8lRic0iV5GYQ?select=bycaMVvEqA6tTySrqcIrmg

I still haven't figured out exactly how to get it into a perfect sphere, but I'm about halfway there.

To start, be very patient as this dish requires tedious finger work in order to get a proper end result as is with anything sushi related. Turn oven to broil. Start by lining the inside of the bowl with a generous amount of plastic wrap so the inside is completely lined and slack sticking out from the sides that is easily grasp-able. Once the plastic is flush against the inside of the bowl, take your thinly sliced avocado and start lining the inside starting with one end of the avocado in the center of the bowl fanning out to the edge. Follow with a slice of broiled eel and alternate around the entire bowl. Towards the end you may have to make small adjustments to the size of the slices so as to completely line the interior while maintaining a perfect spiral.

Once the spiral is complete, take your minced Ahi tuna which can be substituted for any version of spicy tuna filling (which is what I actually used), and fill the bowl with that about half way up. pack it down lightly, being careful not to disturb the spirals of avocado and eel.

Fill the remainder with the sushi rice and make flush to the top of the bowl. Invert onto plate. While inverted, use any fingers that you can and try to secure the plastic wrap against the plate, while simultaneously slowly pulling the bowl away from the plate. You should then end up with your creation covered in plastic wrap. Peel away.

Pop in the oven to broil the top and warm the eel and caramelize the sauces for about 3 minutes or until eel is tender. Remove from oven, and drizzle with unagi sauce and Siracha sauce.

Done.

Butternut Squash Risotto

FINALLY...making my first post. This first dish I actually made about a month ago, but never got around to posting it. Luckily I took pictures to post when I eventually got around to it.

I've kind of been in an Italian or risotto phase as of late and thought I'd step it up from a simple traditional risotto with just peas, to a more complicated one such as a butternut squash risotto. It didn't prove too difficult at all, the only hump that proved a small challenge was getting the butternut squash puree to add to the risotto fine enough so as to thoroughly incorporate throughout the risotto towards the end of cooking.

As an accompaniment to the rice dish, I was craving some simple sauteed scallops. I thawed overnight some jumbo scallops I bought from Trader Joes a few weeks back and decided it would compliment the risotto dish rather well.

Both counterparts came out well, although my only complaint would be the deterioration of some of the chunks of butternut squash I mixed into the risotto at the end. The scallops were sauteed perfectly with a deep brown color and seasoned simply with my Hawaiian rock salt and black pepper.

Butternut Squash Risotto

1 medium butternut squash
1/4 cup minced shallots
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups Arborio or other short grained rice
2 Tblsp butter
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Oregiano
2 Tblsp heavy cream (optional)
5 cups of chicken stock (may be substituted for vegetable stock as well)


First, prepare the butternut squash by spliting in half lengthwise and removing seeds and any stringy membranes. For one of the halves, peel the skin off using a vegetable peeler making sure to get peel thoroughly through its skin past the green flesh. Dice into quarter-inch pieces and sautee lightly in olive oil just until fork-tender. Reserve, and set aside for later use. For the other half, place cut-side down in a baking pan and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for at least 40 minutes or until a knife penetrates its thickest region with ease. Remove from oven, and carefully peel outer skin off and discard. If it does not peel off easily, I found that running a sharp knife and guiding it along against the skin does the trick. Next, MASH. I unfortunately did not have a potato masher, so I improvised using a big spoon in a big bowl using the walls of the bowl. Set aside for later use.

Before making the risotto, be sure to heat your stock up to a boiling point in a separate pot and keep at a low simmer throughout the risotto making process. By heating the stock prior, it keeps the cooking process rolling without reducing the temperature of the entire mixture when it is added.

Usually bottom-heavy pans are the best for making risottos because it retains heat extremely well when adding numerous ingredients, but I settled for a big wok pan and tried to counter any temperature differences by letting any ingredients that can be left out at room temperature. Heat your pan over medium heat and melt 1 Tblsp of butter and then add minced shallots and garlic once the butter's foam has subsided. Sautee lightly until garlic and shallots are transparent. Do not brown. Add the rice and sautee lightly while mixing well and coating grains with the butter. After a few minutes, add the dry white wine (best if it has come to room temperature so that it does not shock the rice), and sautee until the rice has absorbed most of the wine and become slightly pasty. I then use a small measuring cup as a means to add a cup of stock at a time to the risotto. Mix throroughly and then repeat once the rice has absorbed most of the stock. As you repeat the process, the mixture will become more and more sticky. You do not need to use up the entire amount of stock you have--only use enough as needed to cook the rice. After about 20-25 minutes in the cooking process, taste the rice, if it is still slightly crunchy, it's almost done. At this point add in the diced and pureed butternut squash. Mix well, but gently so as to keep the diced butternut squash in its form. Turn off the heat, add the cheese, the last tblsp of butter, and cream cream if desired.

I found out that when I make risotti, from the point I sautee the shallots and garlic, it's a solid 30 minutes by the time I finish.

Sauteed Scallops

1 lb jumbo scallops
2 Tblsp rock salt
2 Tblsp cracked black pepper
1 Tblsp butter

Clean scallops and make sure no extra muscles are on the sides. Pat dry and lay out on a large surface. Season lightly with salt and pepper on side facing you.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan to medium heat and melt 1 Tblsp butter. Once the butter's foam has subsided, gently place 5-6 scallops seasoned side down in heated pan. Make sure you hear it sizzling--if you don't--take it out and let the pan continue heating. Once you have your scallops in the pan, season the other side. Each scallops only needs about 1-2 min each side or until you see a deep brown color.

Once complete, plate 3 scallops next to butternut squash risotto in center of plate.

Done.