Last night my husband and I staged, what we would modestly describe, as a rather successful dinner party for four in our new (almost finished) kitchen. It involved my best friend (Emma) and I using our sushi making skills honed one afternoon around two years ago when we went on a Groupon sushi course at Yo! Sushi restaurant.
The course was great fun and, as often happens in situations like this, we complimented ourselves on our “amazing” food and agreed that making sushi was actually pretty easy. Bubbling with enthusiasm and pride at our new found skills, we pledged to rustle up some sushi at home on a regular basis and impress our partners and friends with our delicious Japanese cuisine.
I promptly went out and bought the ingredients – sushi rice, wasabi, rolling mat, sheets of nori (dried seaweed) – fully intending to practise my skills and wow my hubby.
That was two years ago. I used them for the first time yesterday.
Here are the results. Not a bad effort, ay? We made some maki rolls with tuna, cucumber and yellow pepper and some nigiri with salmon and tuna.
As we were dealing with raw fish* the important part was to get hold of some very fresh seafood. We chose to use salmon and tuna as it is the easiest fresh fish to get hold of in the UK. Emma flirted with the idea of getting up at the crack of dawn to go to London’s Billingsgate fish market. That enthusiasm lasted about as long as our initial sushi-making plans and Cal and I used our local fishmongers instead – which has an excellent reputation. Figures crossed I haven’t given anyone food poisoning. So far so good.
The rest of our menu included lamb cassoulet and chocolate and coffee pots (Gordon Ramsay recipe). All went down pretty well.
Now we have a baby (and a new kitchen) dinner parties will inevitably become more commonplace. Mrs T gets a bit of entertainment from friends before she goes to bed and then we can relax and enjoy the evening without rushing back for babysitters.
It is likely then that my skills could make an appearance again. I certainly don’t intend to wait another two years before I whip out my sushi rolling mat.
*You don’t have to use raw fish, other meat or cooked fish and vegetables can be added to the sushi rice.
