Meeting sushi master Hisashi Kumagai

Last month I went to Galway to spend time with Hisashi Kumagai (Kuma) who is the head chef of sushi restaurant "Raw Sushi in the Sky". It's located on the 4th floor of the Radisson Hotel in Galway city with amazing views of Galway Bay.

Kuma kindly let me spend the day with him in his kitchen to learn about the art of sushi making from a professional chef's perspective. Kuma has worked in restaurants all over the world in countries including Japan, Austria, Canada, America and Ireland for over 35 years. 

 

Although I only spent one day with him I learned so much in that short space of time. While we were prepping the food for that night's bookings we chatted about Japanese food and culture and how one can't be separated from the other. We talked about sourcing ingredients in Ireland for Japanese dishes. I had lots of questions for him throughout the day and he was very patient answering them all.

At the end of the day, my family and I sat down to enjoy Kuma's sushi with miso soup and a really cold Japanese beer! If you're looking for a place to eat sushi in the Galway area I would highly recommend it. You'll see Kuma at the sushi counter freshly rolling your sushi as you order it.  

People often ask me about raw fish on my blog and at my cooking classes. So I had to include this as a point to talk about with Kuma. I've listed some important points below to remember when buying, preparing and eating raw fish. Kuma serves salmon, tuna, seabass, seabream, swordfish and halibut as sashimi in the restaurant.

Buying fish suitable to eat raw as sashimi:
- Try to buy from a reputable fish monger and call them in advance so they can pre-order fish that can be eaten raw or tell you in advance if they have any in store
- Be aware that staff in some shops may not be trained to advise what fish can be eaten raw and therefore in some cases can tell you it's ok when they don't really know!
- Find out as much as you can about the fish you're going to eat raw i.e. where the fish came from, when it was caught and how old is it now
- If in doubt, use a few simple checks to make sure the fish is really fresh i.e. the fish should smell pleasant and not foul, the fish skin should be shiny and the fish eyes bright 

Preparing raw fish:
-  If you are concerned about eating fish raw then you should freeze it as this will get rid of any harmful bacteria etc
- Kuma told me that all restaurants are required to freeze fish for at least 24 hours and then defrost before serving to customers to eat raw in order to meet EU regulations
- Use a very sharp knife to cut the fish

Eating raw fish
- Serve with soy sauce and wasabi
- A Japanese vegetable called daikon goes really well with sashimi as it helps to cleanse your palate

Raw Sushi in the Sky also provide a local sushi take-away service.

Raw Sushi in the Sky contact details

Notes: I was not asked by the Radisson Hotel or Raw Sushi in the Sky to write this post. I wrote it because I wanted to share my experience with you.

Ballymaloe Cranberry Sauce & Soy Glazed Cocktail Sausages

I got inspiration for this recipe from Nigella Lawson's Christmas book called "Nigella Christmas". However, I'm just using three ingredients for the glaze. Try to source good quality sausages if possible with a high meat content (usually over 80%).

This is a great recipe for entertaining at home.

Ingredients:
25 cocktail sausages
50ml soy sauce
2 heaped tablespoons Ballymaloe Cranberry Sauce
1 tsp brown sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat a fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2. Line a baking tin with tin foil.

3. Mix the cranberry sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar in a large bowl.

4. Toss in the cocktail sausages and make sure to completely cover all the sausages in the sauce.

5. Place in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes tossing occasionally.

Tips:
Make sure to line your baking tin with tin foil as the sauce will really stick to the baking tin and it's a nightmare to clean!

Sushi - the ultimate Christmas canapé

Every year I love spending time in the kitchen creating Christmas themed recipes. This year I was delighted to be able to demonstrate some of these recipes at the Food & Wine Christmas Show in the RDS.

At my Masterclass, I demonstrated a few different types of sushi rolls and added a Christmas twist by filling the sushi rolls with ingredients that are typically eaten during Christmas time and also using colours associated with Christmas such as red and green.

I made a very simple temaki roll filled with fresh green lettuce, wasabi mayo prawn cocktail topped with Goatsbridge Trout Caviar.

Everyone at the class got to taste my hosomaki roll made with cucumber and red pepper.



Finally, I made an uramaki roll with roasted red peppers, asparagus and wasabi mayo trout (poached in sake and water) garnished with Goatsbridge Trout Caviar. I also sprinkled chopped chives on the rice.

Sushi is the ideal Christmas canapé however if you're entertaining at home and serving sushi to guests make sure that you've practised a couple of times before you serve you own little masterpieces!

I hope this post gives you a little inspiration to start making sushi and other Christmas themed recipes at home!

Thanks to Food & Wine and photographer Paul Sheerwood for giving me the photos for this post.
 

 

Christmas Themed Bento Box Lunch Ideas

My little boy's reaction to this bento was just priceless. These animated bentos work really well for  special occasions or birthdays! This looks like a lot of effort but trust me it's not. The only thing that you need for this is Japanese rice which can be found in most large supermarkets (sometimes it's called sushi rice). Japanese rice is a short grain sticky rice so other types of rice won't work as well as the rice needs to stick together to create the rice balls. After following the instructions below and making the snowman you can use whatever ingredients you have at home for the rest of the lunch box fillings. Try to make the lunch box as colourful as possible and include ingredients from all the food groups to make a balanced meal if possible.

You'll need

Any type of kid's lunch box
Japanese rice boiled 
Bowl of water
For the lunch box fillings:
2 cooked cocktail sausages or slice of ham
2 strawberries
2 cherry tomotoes & cucumber pieces
Few pieces of steamed brocolli & carrots
Few peas/ and or sweetcorn
2 thin strips of green pepper

Nori (seaweed) sheet or sesame seeds

How to create your bento:

1. Click here to see how to prepare and make Japanese rice.

2. Dip your hands in the bowl of water. Then take a small handful of the cooked rice and form the shape of a ball using both hands. This rice ball can be used for the body of the snowman. Repeat again to make a rice ball for the snowman's head, this time take a little more rice.

3. Place both rice balls in the in the middle of the lunch box, the bigger rice ball sitting on the smaller rice ball to make the shape of a snowman.

4. To create the snowman, place 2 boiled peas on the lower rice ball as the buttons. Place the sweetcorn on the upper rice ball as the nose. Cut  two small pieces of nori in the shape of a smiling eye and place on the upper rice ball. Cut a long thin strip of nori and place on the upper rice ball as the mouth. Place the two thin strips of green pepper on either side of the lower rice ball as the arms.

8. Now you can start to filling the lunch box with other fruit, veg and meat to make a complete balanced meal. For this bento I've included cocktail sausages, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, boiled carrot pieces.

Tips:
I used nori for the eyes and mouth but there are lots of other fruit and vegetables that you could use instead if you don't have nori at home e.g. raisins, outer skin of a cucumber etc. 

Winner of the Easy Food Home-Cook Hero Awards 2013

I wrote a post earlier in the year talking about all the wonderful things that had happened since I started this blog. Now, a few months on I'm so happy to be able to tell you that I've more to share. My pandan roulade recipe reached the final of the Easy Food Home-Cook Awards 2013 in the Cáca Milis category. On Saturday morning I headed to Cooks Academy cookery school in Dublin city centre to take part in a cook-off with the other finalists. 

The judging panel included celebrity chefs Catherine Fulvio and Kevin Dundon along with Easy Food Magazine Publisher Gina Miltiadou. I was thrilled to reach the final and get the opportunity to make my recipe in front of the judges and tell them the story behind it. The judges were really intrigued by the Asian twist in my recipe - pandan! Easy Food quoted Catherine Fulvio as saying “It is so interesting to see how the standard in this competition is improving year on year.  The use of international ingredients in classic dishes is also very impressive. Overall, a fantastic standard”.

After presenting my recipe to the judges I headed home to get ready for the black-tie gala Awards in The Shelbourne Hotel where the winner of each category was announced. The Awards Ceremony was hosted by TV3's Martin King who I got to chat with during the day and at the Awards. He is great at what he does and helped calm our nerves throughout the day and on stage. The judges were so friendly and down to earth spending time talking to each finalist and listening to their individual food stories.  

My category was sponsored by Powerscourt Hotel in Co. Wicklow. After being announced as the winner of this category I listened in disbelief as I was told my pandan roulade recipe will be put on the menu of Powerscourt restaurant. Wow!!

So I was a little nervous going on stage to receive the award but afterwards I had such an adrenaline rush that I didn't go to bed until the early hours of Sunday morning!

If you'd like to see the cook-off and the awards ceremony it will be aired on TV3 at 1:25pm on Saturday November 16th 2013. 

I'd like to thank the Easy Food team and all the staff at Cooks Academy for organising such an amazing event. Also thanks to Easy Food Magazine, photographer Robbie Reynolds, Nessa Robins and my husband Gilmar for capturing all these special moments on camera throughout the day and night so I can share them here with you. 

Goatsbridge Caviar Gunkan Sushi Rolls

Last month I visited Goatsbridge Trout Farm in Thomastown, Kilkenny as they hosted the "Focus on Fish" event as part of Savour Kilkenny Food Festival 2013. Goatsbridge Trout Farm was founded by Ger Kirwan's parents and is now run by Ger and his wife Mag. This couple's passion for what they do is like a tonic giving me a renewed sense of energy and passion for food (especially trout and caviar!) and local producers on my way back to Kildare. They have expanded the business with other products including smoked trout and are Ireland's first makers of caviar. They also provide farm tours and workshops where you'll get the opportunity to learn how to smoke your own trout http://goatsbridgetrout.ie/.

During this event Sally McKenna gave a very educational demo on seaweed talking about some of the recipes in her new book "Extreme Greens - Understanding Seaweed". Then, I gave a sushi demo showing the audience how to make a simple temaki (sushi hand roll) and uramaki (inside out roll) topped with Goatsbridge Trout Caviar which looked and tasted amazing. 

Goatsbridge trout caviar works really well for this type of sushi roll and it's surprisingly easy to make as the Kirwan's have done all the hard work making the caviar! Gunkan maki translates as war-ship sushi roll because it looks like a war-ship. It's very easy to roll only taking a few minutes or less once everything is prepared. It also looks very impressive when you serve it on a plate or platter especially if you use the caviar as a filling.

Ingredients:
Sushi rice (rice & sushi vinegar)
Nori sheets (roasted seaweed), cut into strips 1.5 inches
Goatsbridge trout caviar
Dill (to garnish)
Small bowl of clean water (use to wet hands)
Damp clean cloth (use to wipe hands)

On the side:
Soy sauce
Pickled ginger
Wasabi

Instructions:

1. Click here to see how to prepare sushi rice.

2. Get your nori strips ready in advance and store in an airtight container so they don't lose their crispy texture.

3. Dip your hands into the bowl of clean water and dry off excess water using the damp cloth.

3. Place a thumb-size piece of sushi rice in your hand and shape into an oval shaped ball using your hand.

4. Place the rice ball on a chopping board and then wrap the nori strip around the rice (face the rough side of the nori on the inside). The rice should be only half the height of the seaweed to allow for fillings.

5. Use a cooked grain of rice to seal the seaweed end when wrapping it around the rice.

6. Now place the caviar on top of the rice so that it's sitting above the level of the seaweed.

7. Serve on a plate or platter along with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

Tips:

- Don't get too stressed over the size of the rice ball and the strips of nori. This type of sushi can come in all sizes. The most important thing is to try and enjoy the sushi making experience and with practice your sushi will start to look better and reach perfection! 

- The fillings for the gunkan maki are limitless.

Goatsbridge Trout with Teriyaki Sauce Recipe

Here's a recipe from my demo at Savour Kilkenny

Ingredients:

Goatsbridge Trout Fillet

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Few handfuls of pak choi/ spinach leaves (blanched)

For the teriyaki sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sake

1 tbsp mirin

Half tsp honey (I used Fiona Dillon's honey from Hunters Lodge)

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil on a frying pan.

2. Place the trout fillet skin side down and fry on medium heat for a few minutes depending on size.

3. Whisk all the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce in a small bowl.

4. Turn the trout fillet and continue to fry to a minute or so.

5. Pour the teriyaki sauce over the fish. Try to spoon the sauce over the fillet to help the fish absorb the flavour.

6. The teriyaki sauce is ready once it starts to form small bubbles and thickens like syrup.

7. Take off the heat and serve on a bed of blanched pak choi or spinach.

Notes:

-       - Try not to overcook the teriyaki sauce as black bits will start to form.