Sushi Sunday

I love making sushi.





I am especially crazy for handrolls.

Ice Cream Cake (the princess goat)

My son really wanted a "princess cake" for his "goat themed" birthday party. Why he'd want either a princess cake or a goat themed party is another story for another day. This is about the cake.

Putting the ice cream on the bottom layer

Smoothing the sides


The princess goat

A slice of ice cream cake.

Yellow Gazpacho

Soup:
1-1/2 c chopped yellow heirloom tomatoes (only the best, ripest, sweetest ones!)
3/4 c chopped yellow bell peppers
1/2 c chopped yellow onion
1 c chopped English cucumbers (peeled and seeded)
1/2 c french bread (white part only) cut into small pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t ground cumin
4 T white wine vinegar
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 sprig of fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper

Garnish:
1/4 c chardonnay (frozen)
2 t red tomato, seeded and cut into brunoise
1t chives, finely minced
1/2 t jalapeno, seeded and cut into brunoise
Hawaiian alaea sea salt


1. Pour chardonnay into a bowl and place in the freezer to make ice.
2. Place all soup ingredients except thyme, salt, and pepper into a food processer and blend until liquified. Pour mixture into a non-reactive bowl, add thyme, then salt and pepper(You'll want to undersalt it a little because you'll be garnishing with sea salt later. If you skip the sea salt, then season to taste).
3. Cover and place in refrigerator for a few hours or until cold.
4. While the mixture is cooling and macerating, prepare garnish by chopping tomato, jalapeno, and chives and mixing them together.
5. When ready to serve, force mixture through a fine-meshed seive
6. Garnish with 1t chardonnay ice, 1/8 t Alaea pink sea salt, and 1 t of the brunoise "salsa." Serve cold.

Makes four 1/2 cup servings

Apricot Orange Scones

My friend Darren really loves the scones I make. They are basically the classic, super-simple recipe from the Joy of Cooking. He came over and I taught him how to make them.

Darren making scones

Apricot Orange Scones
2c AP Flour
1/3c sugar
1T baking powder
1/2t salt
6 T (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 c dried Turkish Apricots, cut into raisin-sized pieces
1 egg
1/2 + 3T heavy cream
1t orange zest
3T cinnamon sugar (mix cinnamon and sugar together to your own taste. My ratio is usually around 1:4 cinnamon: sugar)

Preheat oven to 425F
Place dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor
Drop the cold butter in and pulse until mixture resembles brown sugar or bread crumbs. Do not over mix!
Add wet ingredients, apricots, and orange zest all at once (except that extra 3T of cream - reserve that for later) and pulse until dry ingredients are just moistened. Again, do not over mix!
Dump mixture into large metal bowl and knead a few times to incorporate all the crumbs together and form a nice ball of dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface and pat into a disc about 8" wide and 3/4" thick. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges and place about 1/2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Brush the tops with the reserved 3T of cream and dust with cinnamon sugar.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.