A year or so ago, I had a wild hair that it would be cool to take my favorite sushi rolls and created deconstructed versions of them to serve as an appetizer before an Asian-inspired dinner or as a refreshing nibble at a spring or summer party. The idea of the ingredients I usually find in my rolls piled up on a cucumber slice just sounded fun. And well, the variations on the theme are just endless, making it my kind of food idea. Even with all there was to recommend trying this idea out immediately, somehow it took me much longer to act on this idea than on most of my wild hairs. Recently, I finally rolled up my sleeves and tried my concept out, and a fun time was had by all in the kitchen and at the dining table.

As the picture shows, I experimented with two standard rolls: California and spicy tuna.

Roll Equations

The California roll is pretty straight forward: cucumber slice + rice + avocado + crab + sesame seeds. There’s not really any prep for any of the ingredients beyond mashing the avocado up a bit so it’s easier to keep on top of the rice. For the spicy roll I had to do two things:

• Make the tuna spicy – hence the tuna tartare recipe you’ll find later in this blog.
• Whip up a batch of spicy mayo to top it all off. My spicy mayo recipe is 4 parts mayo, 1 part sriracha, and a drizzle of honey or agave nectar.

With that prep work done, the spicy tuna roll = cucumber slice + rice + avocado + tuna tartare + spicy mayo + thin slice of green Thai pepper.

What about the Rice?

For both rolls, I cooked a cup of short grain sushi rice according to the package directions and then mixed the finished rice with a couple of tablespoons of seasoned rice wine vinegar. The rice needs to be cool before you can pile it on the cucumber slices, and the fast way to do this is to spread the seasoned rice on a sheet pan and stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. This also helps dry it out.

Useful Things to Know

As I was making my deconstructed rolls, I learned some things:

• Just like sushi rolls, deconstructed sushi rolls are messy and time-consuming. This is not a reason not to make them, just a fact to consider. If you plan to make them for a crowd, enlist help and/or give yourself plenty of time.
• Sushi rice sticks to everything. Keep your hands damp as you work.
• Small cookie cutters or molds make it easier to stack and pack ingredients, just be sure you dip them in water so the rice doesn’t stick.
• Buy big cucumbers to use as the base – I mean really big. Little English cukes just don’t work.
• If the rice wants to slide off of the cucumber base, use a tiny bit of prepared wasabi as glue.
• These rolls are best served pretty quickly after you make them. You could probably hold them in the fridge for maybe 30 minutes, but no more.

Recipe: Tuna Tartare

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 4-6 as an appetizer
• Prep Time: 15min
• Inactive Time: 30 min
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 3

Ingredients

• 8 oz. yellow fin tuna, sushi grade, cut into ¼ inch cubes
• 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp. mirin
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 4 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. prepared wasabi (plus more to taste)

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to 3.
3. Serve on deconstructed sushi rolls, with wonton skins, in shooter glasses, or any other fun way you can come up with.

Recipe for Success

• High quality, sushi grade tuna is a must for this recipe, not only for safety but for flavor. Be sure to source your tuna from a fish monger that you trust.
• Freeze the fish for 15 minutes or so to make it easier to cut into cubes.

Learn more about ahi tuna

A few weeks back I made a Striped Bass with Corn and Jumbo Lump Crab Sauté that was just lovely and a great way to eat more fish. Interestingly enough, the best part of the dish was the corn and crab sauté that forms the base of for the fish. It’s a great combination of crisp, bright, and rich flavors that’s just right for a warm evening. After that meal I had this idea that the sauté would be a great base for other types of seafood like scallops and shrimp, and with a few more veggies thrown in it could be a veritable smorgasbord of seafood and veggie goodness. As I contemplated modifying the original recipe I was further inspired by another favorite recipe, Shrimp Boil Hobo Packs, which incorporates sausage into the fray with seafood and corn. The end result is this new dish that showcases fresh seafood and vegetables in a quick and healthy dinner just perfect for al-fresco dining.

Recipe: Spring Seafood Sauté

Details

• Difficulty: Medium
• Serves: 2 (double to serve four)
• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 9

Ingredients

• 4 large (U/10) scallops (about 6 oz.)
• 2 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 2.5 oz. light smoked sausage, thinly sliced
• 2 ears fresh corn cut from the cob
• ½ c. diced red onion
• 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini squash, diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 2 Tbsp. diced poblano pepper
• ½ c. white wine
• 4 oz. jumbo lump crab, picked through
• 2 Tbsp. minced chives
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
• Zest of 1 lemon
• ¾ c. chicken stock
• 2 tsp. cold butter
• 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Season both sides of the scallops and the shrimp with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a sauté pan over high heat and add 1 Tbsp. of olive oil to the pan. The pan should be very hot. Heat the oil until it smokes.
3. Add the scallops to the pan, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook without moving for 2-3 minutes until caramelized. Flip the scallops and cook for another 1-3 minutes until slightly firm to the touch. Move the scallops to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
4. Add the sausage to the pan and cook over medium-high heat until lightly brown. Move the sausage to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
5. Add the corn, onion, shallots, zucchini, and red and poblano peppers to the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté for 1 – 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften.
6. Deglaze the pan with white wine and boil for 1 minute, scrapping the bottom of the pan to loosen the brown bits.
7. Add the crab meat, chives, thyme, and zest to the pan, stirring just to blend.
8. Add the chicken stock to the pan and stir to combine. Whisk in the butter. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
9. Add the shrimp and reserved sausage to the pan and stir to combine.
10. Raise the heat back to high and boil until the broth reduces by half, the mixture is a sauce consistency, and the shrimp are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Check for seasoning one last time and adjust as necessary.
11. To plate, arrange the seafood and vegetable mixture in a shallow bowl. Top with the reserved scallops.

Recipe for Success

• Take some extra time to cut the onion, zucchini, and peppers into a nice, even dice. Not only will they cook more evenly, the final presentation will be prettier.
• I haven’t tried this recipe with frozen corn but it will probably do if you can’t get fresh. The sauté will be a little less crunchy and it may take a little longer for the final sauce to reduce because of the extra water from the frozen corn.
• Be sure your pan and oil are smoking hot when you put the scallops in for the first sear. If the pan isn’t hot enough they will stick to the pan.

This recipe is a riff on this Black Sea Bass with Corn and Jumbo Lump Crab Sauté from Food Network. The fish sits atop a bed of colorful, fresh vegetables that you cook just through so they keep their crispness. The crab gives the sauté a rich, decadent taste with absolutely no extra work on your part. All together, the combination of flavors is fun and in no way boring. Although the ingredient list is a little long (12 ingredients), the techniques involved are very straight forward. First you pan fry a fish and then you make a quick veggie and crab sauté to serve with it. None of these techniques is tricky even if you’ve been cooking for just a short while, so it’s a very safe recipe with beautiful results. It’s fast too. Chopping the veggies for the sauté is the most time-consuming part of the whole recipe.

My take on the recipe deviates from the original in four ways:

• I substituted striped bass for sea bass simply because striped bass is $10 per pound less expensive at my fishmonger right now. Until I’m really comfortable with any technique or ingredient I try not to splurge on the best I can buy. After making the dish I’m pretty sure you could substitute any fish you’d like and be happy with the results.
• I reworked the recipe proportions to be more practical for an at home meal for two. This recipe was created by restaurant chef at Doris and Ed’s Restaurant so it makes a huge single portion. I wanted something sized for a weeknight at home that would be filling but not overly so.
• I reduced the fat. One of the points of eating fish and vegetables is to be healthy and the original recipe had more fat than I really wanted. I used less of both olive oil and butter and the dish turned out just fine.
• I left out the potatoes. The original recipe recommends serving this dish with roasted fingerling potatoes. I did that and for whatever reason they just didn’t compliment the dish as much as I thought they would. Because the vegetable sauté includes corn and peppers it provides both veggies and carbs, so I’d stick to serving this as a meal by itself. Besides, when your main is this healthy, you can have dessert too.

I’m pleased with the outcome of the dish and my modifications to it. It was so great to look at when I first made it that I couldn’t wait to try it, and thus forgot to snap a picture. I’ll be sure to do it next time I make the recipe.

Learn morea bout striped bass

Recipe: Striped Bass with Corn and Jumbo Lump Crab

Details

• Difficulty: Medium
• Serves: 2 (double to serve four)
• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Weight Watchers ™ Points: 11*

Ingredients

• 2 5oz. striped bass filets, skin on
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 2 ears fresh corn cut from the cob
• ½ c. diced red onion
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1 Tbsp. diced poblano pepper
• 4 oz. jumbo lump crab, picked through
• 2 Tbsp. minced chives
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
• ¾ c. chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. cold butter
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Make 2-3 small cuts in the skin of the filets with a sharp knife then turn the fish over and season the flesh with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a sauté pan over high heat and add 1 Tbsp. of olive oil to the pan. The pan should be very hot. Heat the oil until it smokes.
3. Place the fish skin-side down in the pan, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook for 1 ½ – 2 minutes until the skin is crisp. Flip the fish and cook for another 3 to 3 ½ minutes. Move the fish to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
4. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil to the pan along with the corn, onion, and red and poblano peppers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute for 1 – 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften.
5. Add the crab meat, chives, and thyme, stirring just to blend. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
6. Add the chicken stock and stir to combine. Whisk in the butter.
7. Raise the heat back to high and boil until the broth reduces by half and the mixture is a sauce consistency, about 3-4 minutes. Check for seasoning one last time and adjust as necessary.
8. To plate, arrange the crab and vegetable mixture in a shallow bowl. Top with the warm fish filet.

Recipe for Success

• Use fresh fish if you can, not frozen. If you can’t get bass, or don’t like bass, pick any other white-fleshed fish; trout or snapper would work well.
• Take some extra time to cut the onion and peppers into a nice, even dice. Not only will they cook more evenly, the final presentation will be prettier.
• I haven’t tried this recipe with frozen corn but it will probably do if you can’t get fresh. The sauté will be a little less crunchy and it may take a little longer for the final sauce to reduce because of the extra water from the frozen corn.
• Be sure your pan and oil are smoking hot when you put the fish in for the first sear. If the pan isn’t hot enough the fish will stick to the pan.
• When you sauté the fish on the skin side, use a spatula to press the fish into the pan. This helps crisp the skin.

*Points Details

• Because this is a one-dish meal I’m okay with the double-digit points. However, if you want to reduce the points you can do a couple of things to get the points down to 7:
  • Reduce the olive oil to 1 Tbsp. total and cook the dish in a non-stick skillet. The skin on the fish won’t crisp up quite a much but it will still taste great. I wouldn’t eliminate the fat entirely because it is an important flavor carrier in the dish.
  • Cut the butter to 1 tsp. You’ll get some of the benefit of the butter finish but the sauce won’t be quite as luxurious.
  • Reduce the crab to 2 oz. You’ll still have a hint of crab. If you keep the crab at 4 oz. the dish is 8 points.

What to Drink
Any crisp white wine will go well with this dish. I would avoid a big California Chardonnay only because the butter in the wine will compete too much with the subtle richness of the crab in the sauté. I recently had a 2006 Willm Pinot Blanc from Alsace that would be a great match.