Copy Cat

Last week Kymber had a craving for sushi, so 45er made her some, kind of.  His creation looked so yummy, I decided that would be our Friday night treat.

I like raw fish, but I don't trust myself to select and care for it properly, so when we make sushi at home, it is always with cooked fish, thus we have never had Salmon.  I don't know why I didn't think of it, but 45er used smoked salmon...brilliant.

During a chit chat with North about my dinner plans he brought up asparagus...I am border line addicted to that particular green veggie, so I decided to add that ingredient as well. We have a variety of pallets in our house, so I made several different kinds.  Follow 45ers instructions on exactly how to prepare if you interested in making it, but here are a few other things I did.

I thought I had shrimp in the freeze, but didn't.  I did have bay scallops, so I sauteed them in a pan of olive oil and finished with a squeeze of lemon. This is not authentic sushi.  This is food I like wrapped in rice and seaweed.

I let it cool and then chopped it up in fairly small.  For the asparagus, I doused it in good olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted it at 450 degrees until charred and a little on the crispy side. As an aside that brown goo in the pan, my daughter eats it by the spoonful.  She calls it scallop pudding.

Combinations I made...
snowcrab & avacado
smoked salmon & cream cheese
asparagus and cream cheese
scallops, asparagus & cream cheese
scallops & avocado.

I served it with a home made sauce of mayo, Sriracha sauce & lemon. I also made a sauce of Tamari, rice wine vinegar(equal parts), red chili flakes, chopped scallions, honey and chopped cilantro. Wasabi and pickled ginger on the side. 

If you are talented like Brigid then you take lovely, mouth watering pictures to showcase your work, if you are me with a family of 9 and 3 extra guests your son invited over, you get this...

and this...

Not pretty, but even the youngest in the group devoured it...

While I was stealing, being inspired by 45er, my daughter was ripping off, borrowing Jalissa's muffin recipe.  This is the wife of our own Kirk.  They have a blog called The Lowry Place.  It's filled with all kinds of interesting info from gun stuff to yummy treats.  We have made several of her dishes to include lasagna soup.  Crazy good! 

My daughter making the muffins...

Again, not as aesthetically pleasing, but they were mighty tasty.

I think they say imitation is the best form of flattery. Thanks guys for giving us wonderful ideas for a fabulous family meal!