Spooky Sushi

This Halloween we decided to stay in and if I do say so myself, it was one of our better ideas.  We decided to make sushi, deep-fry every possible thing we could find in Spencer's house, and watch the ever famous… Hocus Pocus.  Best night ever.  

If you haven't made sushi I highly recommend you do.  Even if you don't enjoy sushi there is something so liberating about making a perfectly rolled roll that looks just like the sushi chefs' creations.  Although not everyone in the group had faith… (everyone ate before except me… such doubters)… it turned out fabulous and it was fairly easy.     

All you need is…

 >> white rice <<

>> a little bit of vinegar to make the white rice sticky<<

>>bamboo rollers<<

>>seaweed paper<<

(bamboo rollers and seaweed paper can be purchased at any Chinese market)

>>fish, vegetables, mayo, and lots of sriracha sauce<<

First cook the rice.  I recommend doing it in a rice cooker.  Then add just a little bit of vinegar.  Mix it in while the rice is still hot and make sure it covers most of the rice.  After the rice has cooled a bit pack down a thin layer of rice on your bamboo roller.  The rice should be about the size and shape of your seaweed paper.  Make sure it is a THIN layer.  Too thick and it will all fall apart.  If the rice is still really sticky, wet your hands with a little bit of water and continue packing.

  

Next place the seaweed sheet on top of your rice.  Then place your fish, vegetables, and whatever else you want in your roll near the edge of the seaweed paper.  You probably want to leave about an inch between the edge of the seaweed paper and where you place the filling.  Then roll.  Roll tightly.  After each roll carefully peel off the bamboo roller and continue until completely rolled. Top with a mixture of the mayo and sriracha sauce.  Then cut with a sharp, wet knife.

  

The sushi was fabulous but the deep-frying was even better.  Deep fried bananas topped with ice cream and carmel,  deep fried oreos (they may sound gross but they are TO DIE FOR… I am now a firm believer in them and I am looking forward to Sporty's Sweets that will be selling them next summer), and ice cream.  Yes, deep fried ice cream.  Healthy?  No.  Delicious?  HECK YES.  

Fabulous food.  Fabulous people.  Best night ever.   

Homemade Orange Rolls

A couple weeks ago one of my mom's good friends, Kathrine Perry, taught us how to make orange rolls.  If you know Kathrine Perry then you already know that these rolls are to die for.  If you don't know Kathrine it will suffice to say that the first time I made them I ate three... within the first half hour that they were out of the oven... SOS

This weekend is one of my very favorite weekends of the year.  General Conference weekend.  And the fall session is my very favorite one.  Solely because fall is my favorite season and Conference gives me even more of an excuse to cuddle up in a blanket.  Conference weekend always means good food and so this morning we of course made one of our new favorites... orange rolls.  

This recipe makes two dozen... There are now only two left.  So clearly they are a HUGE hit.  And they are surprisingly not as hard to make as I thought.  Below is the recipe and some tips from Kathrine that made them all the better.  

DOUGH:  

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup margarine (Kathrine recommends Western Family)

1/2 cup sugar

2 t. salt

3 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup warm water

2 packages of yeast

4 1/2 - 5 cups of flour 

DIRECTIONS:

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Dissolve sugar, salt and margarine with hot water.  Stir in 2 cups of flour.  Beat eggs well and add to mixture.  Add yeast and stir in remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Refrigerate two hours OR let raise one hour, stir down and refrigerate overnight.  Three hours before serving divide dough into three parts.  Roll on floured board.  Roll dough into a large rectangle.  Spread with 1/3 of the orange filling.  Cut into eight slices. Roll like a jelly roll.  Place in greased muffin tin and let raise a couple hours.  Bake at 350 for ten minutes.  Turn pan and bake until they are light brown on top.  (About eight more minutes)  Immediately frost with glaze.  Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

ORANGE FILLING: 

1 cup sugar

scant cube margarine

grated rind of 1 large orange

GLAZE:  

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons juice from orange

1 tablespoon butter 

  

Tips from Kathrine: 

1.  The biggest issue with homemade rolls is too much FLOUR.  Too much flour on the kneading surface.  All that extra flour on your hands.  Just too much flour.  So be careful with the flour.  Lots of flour means dry flaky rolls.  No thank you.  

2.  Yeast keeps best in the freezer.  Storing it in the freezer ensures that you will never have a dough that doesn't rise.

3.  When it says grease your pan.  GREASE your pan.  They tend to get really stuck in there especially if the filling oozes through.

4.  When your rolls are rising instead of placing a towel over them place a piece of greased plastic wrap.

5.  Before frosting them you may want to push down some of the rolls with a fork.  Sometimes they get a little big and outta shape in the oven. 

6.  After frosting your rolls pop them out of the tin ASAP.  If you let them sit the frosting gets hard and they get hard to pry out.