Egg, Carrot & Kohlrabi Sushi

Japanese-style rolled omelet with farm share kohlrabi and carrots make a vegetarian sushi roll.

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This blog is about how I'm feeding my family from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share to encourage you to try a farm share in your town. Typically the recipes I share are uncomplicated and use ingredients and tools found in regular stores. The food is generally nutritious, filling, and uses up items from the farm share box--but it's not usually fancy pants type food.

As often as I am embarrassed by the many iterations of brown food or fast & easy food on this blog, every once in a while I'm really proud of taking the time to create something pretty using the produce from our farm share. Today's recipe is more elevated compared to my standard fare. This is a terrific Spring/early summer seasonal sushi roll, and since the tantalizing glimpse of sunshine and warmth has me [and the dogs] wanting to lie on the brown grass in the back yard and dream of summer days, I'm sharing it now.

In addition to being a fan of eating from the farm share, I'm also a pretty frugal cook. Since my spouse and I can eat our ages in sushi--and the kids could probably exceed our consumption--it makes sense to roll our own and have sushi at home.  Just like with pizza, something that we like to eat often but don't like to shell out $$ for, sushi at home can be a wonderfully special meal.

I learned to make my own sushi while in my early 20's, living in Washington, DC. I've got a sushi 101 tutorial from the first month of this blog for reference--you can see it here. If you are a hands on learner, I would recommend taking a class. It's fun to learn along with other folks and you can get immediate answers to your questions. I've seen sushi-making classes offered at community centers, grocery stores and kitchenware stores. If you're interested, find a class and try it--then branch out on your own. There's no rule that says you need raw fish to have sushi, you just need a willingness to experiment and some raw materials!

For other recipes using carrots, please see my Carrot Recipes Collection. For other recipes using Kohlrabi, please see my Kohlrabi Recipes Collection (I'm pretty proud of it). These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient--a resource for ideas of what to do with farm share produce. For even more ideas, please feel free to follow my Pinterest boards--this is going on Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks.

Unagi and Avocado Rolls with Carrot Sushi Rice

Barbecued eel and avocado rolled up in colorful carrot rice for an amazing sushi roll

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Sometimes you just have to scratch your head and ask yourself 'now why didn't I think of that?'.  I was uploading photos to the food porn photo sharing site Fridgg when I saw colorful carrot rice, and I mentally smacked my forehead and wondered why I'd never done that while making sushi.
After all, I put finely shredded carrots in my Maple Teriyaki Salmon sushi, though I layered them with apples before rolling up.  And I've tossed cooked rice with finely shredded carrot while making chirashi sushi, seen on the blog in my Spam Musubi Chirashi Sushi.  So it's not a giant stretch to think up tossing the carrot with the rice, then using the result in my sushi rolls.

I've talked about some of the ways I put up our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share vegetables during the growing season, to feed my family during the winter (talking about this is kinda the mission of this blog).  I roast and freeze my garlic crop.  I turn the tomatillos (and freshly roasted Hatch chiles from the grocery store down the road) into salsa verde.  I keep the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in a cold corner of my breakfast nook.  Carrots are a bit different.  I shred them using the fine shred disc on my food processor then freeze them in zip top bags.  I can take out just what I need and it thaws rapidly.  If you don't have a food processor with a fine shred disc--I'm thinking box grater?

What exactly do those spiky holes on the 4 sided box grater do, anyway?  I've only used the large shred hole side and the slicer side.  Those spiky hole things just snag my knuckles (or get gunked up with cheese when the kids are first learning to grate cheese) and are a pain to clean.  If you know, I'd love to hear it in the comments.  It's been a mystery to me for a while.

Next thing on my mind:  unagi.  Unagi, or barbecued eel, is one of my favorite items on the sushi menu.  When we lived in Hawaii, my daughter and I would splurge on a sushi lunch at the Aloha Sushi nearby.  I'd get a couple of unagi hand rolls--the combination of warm eel and warm sushi rice in a freshly-made hand roll is irresistible to me.  Getting cold, pre made unagi in the grocery store just doesn't cut it, and since I can eat my age in pieces of sushi it makes sense to make it at home.  For this reason I pick up packages of unagi from the freezer section of the asian market (you can see it below).  They are ready when I've got the rest of the ingredients on hand.

My first sushi post details a lot of the steps involved in making sushi, complete with step-by-step photos.  I'm not trying to rack up additional page views when I refer you to it--I'm trying to keep this post as concise as possible while showing off the neat photos I took (because I am absurdly pleased with them).  You can check out my How to Make Sushi at Home post here.


For more recipes using avocado, please see my Avocado Recipes Collection. For more recipes using carrots, please see my Carrot Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Pick a Veggie Sushi Rolls

This is the third time I've written today's post, and no matter if it's the charm or not I'm going with it.  First, I was going to share kohlrabi, egg, and Spam sushi rolls.  Then a post about gyro sushi rolls, then unagi, green onion, and salad mix rolls.  Finally I just decided to combine a bunch of sushi photo collages and call this Pick A Veggie From The CSA Farm Share Box and Roll Your Own Sushi.  However, many of the food porn photo sharing sites I submit to have character limits on post titles, so a bit of editing happened.

I started sharing sushi posts soon after I started this blog, with a smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber sushi.  Later I shared my #strangebutgood maple teriyaki salmon sushi.  Today I'm going to illustrate how I take a (usually leftover) protein and combine it with on-hand vegetables to make sushi.  Sushi makes a great portable lunch when you are outside enjoying nature during warm days.  It's a real treat to open up your lunchbox and pull out more than a squashed sandwich.  I love to send my kids a 'disposable lunch' on field trips (disposable required by the school) using up leftover containers filled with whatever I had on hand, rolled up sushi style.

If you're looking for recipes featuring sushi-grade raw fish, look at some of my links below--I'm in the middle of the country and cooking for my family--you will not find me buying blocks of sushi grade tuna, though if you'd like to send me where it is, I'd be delighted to eat it. :)

My daughter and I have enjoyed lunch together a lot.  When she was a preschooler, she'd have school a couple of mornings a week and come home for lunch/nap.  Later, it was lunch before getting on the bus for afternoon kindergarten.

We'll gloss over the crowded, noisy cafeteria and lunch starting at 10:40am in our last district.  Here in Ohio the kids get an hour(!) lunch break and my daughter usually comes home for lunch.  My son usually finds something worth staying for  at school.

 My favorite lunches-with-my-young-daughter were in Hawaii, picking up a to-go order at Aloha Sushi.  There, my daughter would get tekka maki and I'd have unagi hand rolls.  The warm grilled eel, warm sushi rice, and delicate nori wrapping utterly satisfied me in a way that no store-bought box of sushi can.

When my son asked for unagi sushi for his birthday supper, on a night coinciding with our first CSA farm share pick up, I knew I'd be rolling up some farm fresh produce with our eel.  I just didn't know what it would be until I got the box (I've mentioned I like the Iron Chef aspect of CSA subscriptions, yes?). My possibilities were varied--salad greens, kale, Swiss chard, asparagus, green onions, garlic and strawberries.  I opted for onions and salad mix.  My son thanked me for not getting too wild for his birthday dinner.

I got wild later.  Since I had roasted asparagus, leftover roast chicken, and all the sushi fixings out, I rolled up some Roast Chicken and Asparagus rolls.

Leftovers from Gyro night in a sushi roll?  Why not?  Drain the tzatziki sauce really well (overnight in the fridge) for best results.

These meals follow the Theorem of Cooking Once and getting 2 different meals with the result, just like with my Chicken Adobo Summer Rolls.  The Food Blogger Corollary is simple--you've got the camera out and your kitchen is already messy, so why not get 2 blog posts for 1 kitchen clean up?  When I made Spam Chirashi Sushi I saved some slices of meat in stick form to use in these sushi rolls.  My daughter brought them to school for a food sharing event in her social studies class.  If you've never made sushi, refer to this post for more step-by-step instructions.  It's really fun once you get the hang of it, and even your failures taste delicious.

Pick A Veggie From The CSA Farm Share Box and Roll Your Own Sushi

NOTE:  I created this recipe to be gluten free through my choice of ingredients (Spam is GF!). Check labels to confirm that your products (I'm talking about you, soy sauce) are also gluten free. Good sources for determining that your products are gluten free can be found here:

http://knowgluten.me/2012/03/31/other-names-for-gluten/

http://glutenfreedoctor.com/gluten-free/

http://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Gluten%252dFree-Food-List-%7B47%7D-Unsafe-Foods-%26amp%3B-Ingredients/ 

Using the recipe in this post for the building blocks listed below, for each 8 piece roll, you will need

1 sheet sushi nori

1 cup cooked seasoned sushi rice (1 1/2 cups if you want double rice inside out rolls)

a thin schmear of mayonnaise

Protein (see NOTE below)

Vegetable (see NOTE below)

With damp fingers, spread the rice across the sheet of nori on an Old Bamboo or the rolling device of your choice (I've got a New Pink Plastic, and while it's easier to clean than my Old Bamboo I like the hand feel of the bamboo better).  Spread a thin schmear of mayonnaise across the rice.  Top with the rest of the components.  Use the Old Bamboo to roll tightly away from you, stopping after one complete revolution to lift the mat so it doesn't get rolled up with your sushi roll.  Squeeze tightly.  Use a sharp knife to cut the roll into 8 pieces, wiping the knife with a damp towel in between cuts.

Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

NOTE:  Protein suggestions are 1/3 cup sliced Japanese Omelette (4 eggs, mixed with 1 teaspoon each sugar and salt, scrambled and chopped); 1/8 can of Spam, prepared per this post; 1/2 cup chopped roasted chicken, dribbled with teriyaki sauce; 2-3 slices prepared gyro meat, fried; 1/4 package marinated BBQ eel, or what else?  Vegetable suggestions are 1/3 cup finely shredded carrot, 1/3 cup peeled kohlrabi, sliced into sticks, 1/4 cup sliced spring onions, 2-3 pieces salad greens, 1/4 cup well-drained tzatziki sauce, or what else?

I've got some other ideas to tempt you:

California Roll at Just One Cook
Chirashi Sushi at Ninja Baking
Dragon Roll at Just One Cook
Festive Cucumber and Ginger Sushi at Ninja Baking
Ginger Cashew Nori Rolls at Spabettie
Jewshi with Caper Mayo at What Jew Wanna Eat

This post is shared on the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Tasty Tuesdays, Mostly Homemade Mondays, the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up Pot Luck Party, What's Cookin' Wednesday, What's In The Box, Food on Friday and the From The Farm Blog Hop.

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Maple Teriyaki Salmon Sushi w/ Apple and Carrot (Quick Take)

Sushi and summer rolls are a great way to take a small amount of leftover protein, some farm fresh veggies, and a carb like rice or rice noodles to make a quick, interestingly packaged snack or appetizer.  My family loves to eat something so visually appealing and it comes together super quickly if your pantry is stocked.

We eat rice a lot, so I always make a full pot in my 3 cup version of this rice cooker (the 3 cup size is great for our family, therefore 95% of my rice cooking needs.  It makes no sense to me to buy a giant rice cooker for the handful of times a year I need to cook more than for us).  We never finish the pot, however, so I wrap up the extra rice in single serving patties and save it in the freezer.  That way, I nearly always have cooked rice on hand.  With leftover rice, this rolls up fast and easy.  Get it?  Rolls up?  Back to the sushi, Kirsten.

I had a bit of salmon left over from this dip, and carrots, but right now I'm waiting for the CSA season to start and I had no cucumber or kohlrabi for crunch.  I like a bit of crunch to my sushi, don't you?  Looking through the crisper, I decided to try apple slices.  Why not?  I admit the thought crossed my mind that, if it worked, this could be a candidate for Laura at Sprint 2 the Table's weekly Strange But Good party.  I'd baked the salmon very plainly, with only a bit of Pampered Chef dill mix as seasoning.  That left it a blank canvas, so I mixed up a maple-teriyaki dressing which paired nicely with all 3 elements.

Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Cucumbers, and . . . sushi?

Smoked salmon, cucumber, and cream cheese in a homemade sushi roll.

It helps me to divide up all my ingredients by the number of rolls I am making.

My family isn't crazy about cucumbers.  But our farmers have always provided us with farm fresh cukes.  So when I'm not pickling them, or donating to the food bank, or keeping it simple, I do like to make sushi.  It keeps the kitchen cool on a summer day, it's a great portable lunch when we're out on an adventure, it makes a terrific lower-fat and messy hand free snack for watching football, and the whole family loves it.

For other recipes using cucumbers, please see my Cucumber Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. Want to know how to Use This Blog? Click here.