'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a...."Butters! Maggie! Stop It!" The two beasts apparently had ants in their invisible pants and were running all over the place, chewing on each other's faces and yanking toys away from each other. It was Christmas eve and this type of chaos was welcomed. Aside from the dog's gremlin sounds and panting, the house was quiet and peaceful. Both C and I were now off work for a week and finally starting to unwind. No more shopping, wrapping, decorating...just cooking was left.
C asked if I wanted to have my family over for Christmas morning this year (usually, my mom has my brother and I over to their place) and I jumped at the offer. C's family doesn't celebrate any holidays so they are never a big deal for him. While I've enjoyed Christmas since we celebrated it, C is more into personal events like birthdays and our anniversary. I think that C could take or leave Christmas. With our house under construction, we've never had a large family gather at our place and I have been DYING to host one of the huge holiday meals: Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving dinner with everyone. Having my parents, brother and his girlfriend over for Christmas brunch was just as good and I invited everyone a month in advance and agonized over the meal planning. Scrambled eggs? Quiche? Cinnamon buns are a must, but should we do other carbs like toast, bagels, muffins, potatoes...what about meat? Bacon, sausage, turkey bacon? Veggies? Fruit salad? Yogurt? Oh, decisions decisions!
After much careful thought and paring down (after all, we didn't want to have so many leftovers that our fridge was bulging out of control...along with our waistlines), we finally agreed on a menu: protein would be vegetarian and cheese quiche x2 (no scrambled eggs...Fact: I made myself scrambled eggs the morning of our wedding, at my parent's place, with my hair done, veil in, and comfy clothes on) as well as pork and turkey bacon strips. I would make the quiches and C would cook the bacon. Next. Carbs. Savory would be oven roasted potato chunks. Sweet would be homemade cinnamon buns (I'd make these) with plenty of cream cheese frosting (C would handle that). Veggies wouldn't be too plentiful for breakfast but there'd be loads in the quiche. Fruit juice. Tea. Coffee. Mulled wine. I tried this at a friend's Pirate Party for International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Fact: we were married on International Talk Like a Pirate Day) and loved the spicy, sweet, boozy taste. Menu complete.
'Twas the night before Christmas and we hadn't eaten dinner yet... I was getting hungry and so brunch prep was going to have to wait. To save ourselves time in the morning, we were going to prep the cinnamon buns and the quiche vegetable and liquid filling ahead of time. Right now though, I was craving something refreshing for dinner. Refreshing but filling without weighing me down: sushi! I had nori in the pantry and we had ripe avocados in a bowl. No salmon but that was ok. These wouldn't be vegan (I didn't use Vegenaise, I wanted to use up the last of the light Miracle Whip) but they would be tasty! I got C to make sushi rice in the rice cooker while I chopped the avocado and got the dough started for the cinnamon buns.
sticky rice in a bowl to cook slightly |
If you don't have a sushi mat, get one. This makes rolling sushi so simple. Place a piece of nori onto the mat, get a bowl of cool water and keep it nearby your mat and the rice. Roll up your sleeves, it's go time! Dip your fingers into the cool water so that the sticky rice doesn't stick to you. Grab small finger-fulls of rice and carefully spread a thin layer of rice onto the nori, leave an inch at the top end. Keep dipping your fingers into the water as needed.
sushi rice on nori |
For the filling, I had the fresh ripe avocado is, but I wanted to make the roll more like what we'd order from Sushi Cushi. I took some light Miracle Whip and mixed in some sweet chili sauce. While this was resting, I spread some panko crumbs onto a baking sheet, lighty sprayed them with Pam, and crisped them up in the oven under the broiler, carefully watching them so they don't burn. My idea was that these would be like a vegetarian Bakudan roll. The panko being a healthier alternative to the deep fried crisps they use at restaurants. I spread the sauce on the rice, layered on the avocado in the middle, and sprinkled on the panko.
sushi unrolled |
Rolling time. Start at the bottom and work your way up, using the mat to keep the roll even and together. When you get to the top without the rice, use your fingers to slick some water onto the area, then press the nori flap onto the roll and press until it sticks.
sushi being rolled |
Rolls, rolls, everywhere rolls! The dough was made in the breadmaker but didn't feel right. It wasn't stretchy or soft enough. It felts too elestic-y and hard. We rolled it out anyways and hoped for the best but I was stressed about it. Normally our dough comes out perfect but nooooo
cinnamon dough rolled out |
Begin rolling the dough from the bottom up, slowly. This will be a little tricky at first but once you get the roll going, it gets easier. Make sure the roll is tightly rolled, but don't force it.
rolling the dough |
Once the cinnamon roll is done, slice it into 12 equal sized pieces. I do this by slicing it in half, then thirds, then those into halves. Use a sharp knife. A knife-sharpener is a great tool in your kitchen arsenal.
cutting the rolls |
cross-section |
Again, I could tell that the dough didn't feel right but what could we do but just hope for the best? It was already getting late...
Sprinkle more brown sugar into the greased pan and lay the rounds out on top, three by four as shown. Our trick is to cover these in plastic wrap and let them rise overnight. This has always produced the lightest, fluffiest, airiest cinnamon buns ever.
finished rolls, waiting to rise |
nice tight rolls |
With the cinnamon buns prepped, the rolls of sushi that were holding together in the fridge were ready for us to eat. Have I mentioned how much I love sushi? I'm not super adventurous but I like the raw salmon, tuna, and scallop varieties and was very much looking forward to these vegetarian versions. Remember to sharpen those knives! You'll need a sharp blade to slice perfect rounds of sushi that don't fall apart.
sushi sushi sushi!! |
One of my favorite things about sushi, aside from the obvious fresh, clean and vibrant taste, is how pretty it looks. Black nori, clean white sushi rice...the perfect contrast to each other, a virtual yin and yang, highlighted by warm pink salmon flesh, bright green avocado, dots of red hot pepper sauce... Sigh, sushi is a masterpiece. An edible work of art almost too beautiful to eat. If it's true that we eat with our eyes first then sushi is the ultimate feast for the senses.
I arranged the sushi onto a square white plate to add to the stunning appearance of the bite sized delicacies and felt very spoiled. We were having homemade sushi for dinner on Christmas eve.
Christmas eve sushi |
our dinner |
Since we didn't have enough rice to make more than a few rolls, we supplemented this meal with more sushi restaurant inspired sides: shelled edamame beans and sweet potato, baked in the oven in some oil in a cast iron skillet. Perfect.
Christmas eve meal |
With dinner eaten and our bellies full, we sat and enjoyed some quiet time on the couch while the dogs napped on their blanket. This was going to be a good Christmas morning, I could tell.
um.... so whenever the urge strikes, you can come over with the above leftovers. for realsies.
ReplyDeleteThere were no survivors....I mean lefotvers ;)
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