Paleo Sushi

Last weekend I bought some wild coho salmon from the Seward because it was on sale, and in deciding how to prepare it, My Charming Companion was urging sashimi. Which then created a desire for some sushi rolls to go with. The amazing thing was I had all my fave sushi ingredients in the cupboard and fridge - even some pickled ginger - so impromptu sushi dinner it was. In my pre-paleo days I ate homemade sushi pretty often. I had looked at various paleo sushi options online over the last few years, never seeing anything I was excited about. But Studio Snacks had a version recently that included a one-egg omelette-like layer in lieu of rice that I found intriguing. So that is what I tried - it turned out amazing! And was actually much easier than traditional rice sushi because the egg is way less fussier than the rice. This would work for all kinds of sushi rolls, but here are the two I made.

Paleo California Roll
Nori sheets
cucumber, sliced lengthwise
carrots, sliced lengthwise
homemade mayo (opt)
1 egg per sushi roll
coconut aminos
avocado, sliced
sesame seeds (opt)

Paleo Salmon Roll
Thin slice of quality raw salmon
1 egg per sushi roll
coconut aminos
homemade mayo (opt)
cucumber, sliced lengthwise
sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds (opt)





1. Prep all veggies/fish - slice them and have them ready to lay in roll.
2. Make egg "sheets":To prepare them you will need one egg per roll. Ideally you want a pan that is 8-9" wide that is either a well oiled cast iron, or a non-stick pan. Heat the pan on med, with just a bit of coconut oil on the bottom (I replenished the coconut oil for each egg sheet). While pan is heating, mix one egg with a splash of coconut aminos. When pan is hot, pour egg into pan and swish around so that the egg layer covers the entire pan. You want the heat setting so that it cooks the egg pretty quickly, but not immediately. I tried two techniques next: either flip the egg to cook the other side (this takes about 10 seconds since it will be mostly cooked through), or just cook it all the way on side one. Either method works - just be somewhat careful because the egg sheet is quite thin, and you want it mostly intact to lay on the nori paper.
3. Assemble rolls: Lay one sheet of nori down. Spread a thin layer of mayo (if using) along bottom half of the nori. Lay your egg "sheet" on top - it should cover much of the nori. Then make one layer of your veggies/fish. Experiment with how much to fill. Roll up, using a bit of water to "seal" the nori to itself. (Studio Snacks has some photos about how this looks step by step.)
*One note is that because the egg sheets are round they will inherently have a less tight roll at the ends. You could cut the sheets into squares, or just trim one part of the circle and place it on the edges of the roll to make this more even. I just used the egg as is and had slightly uneven ends!
4. Slice sushi rolls. If you made the raw salmon ones, drizzle some toasted sesame oil over the top. Sprinkle rolls with toasted sesame seeds if you want, and serve with coconut aminos, wasabi, and pickled ginger.

The photo shows the full spread, including the sashimi of salmon with ginger (beautifully cut and arranged by My Charming Companion). Another endeavor I hope to try is to pickle my own ginger, maybe with a little honey. I found a couple of fermented versions, so I'll post that when I get around to trying it.

Sicilian Dried Zucchini

I stumbled upon this dried zucchini recipe at Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook recently, and decided it would be worth testing out since I am always on the hunt for new ways to consume zucchini. (My fave way of eating zucchini lately is actually the Zucchini Noodle Bowl I posted a month or two ago - it's become a staple breakfast for me. Zucchini makes fantastic Asian soup noodles - I can eat this several mornings a week it is so good!)

I actually made this Zucchini recipe a couple of weeks ago, and am finally posting now as the weather is turning and the zucchini is waning. If you have any left, this is a nice way to use up a lot. It tastes delicious, and is texturally really different than you would expect. It's really dense and almost meaty - like vegetarian pepperoni (they are a bit salty too from the salt sweating). The recipe takes a bit of time...salting slices and dehydrating, but is somewhat novel - I wished I had dinner guests to share the dish with!

Post dehydrator zucchini - see how they are a little pepperoni like?!

I'm just going to send this recipe directly to his blog post because he includes lots of helpful tips. He gives an option for drying the zucchini in the hot summer air (he's in Northern California), but here in MN we are blessed with humidity, and that means air drying would definitely not be an option. You have to use a dehydrator here. I followed his directions and sliced my zucchini, then laid it out on trays with salt; I waited 30 minutes then patted the slices dry. I actually think you can easily just salt slices and put them in a colander for 30 minutes, swirl them around a bit, and pat dry. I've done this to "sweat" zucchini before and it works fine - using less space and salt. It also took closer to 4 hours in my dehydrator - though that may have been because I had a couple of trays of cherry tomatoes in there too.

The final cooking with mint, lemon, and chili pepper was delicious. Worth a summer day's experiment for sure!