California Roll

I've eaten a lot of sushi in my time. One of the best experiences I've had was at yellowtail sushi in the Belagio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. I also really enjoyed Nobu at the Shore Club in Miami Beach.

I've made my own sushi a few times, but I've never prepared anything fancier than the California Roll. It's probably the easiest roll to make, but it still takes several tries to get it right.

I made some tonight for dinner. As you can probably see from the photo, the presentation didn't turn out that well, but it tasted great. It was actually my second serving and the first one was much better but I didn't think to take a photo of that one. The rice turned out perfect, but I had too much of it on the roll - which really filled me up! It should only be about one-eighth of an inch thick.

The filling was avocado, carrots, cucumber, sesame seeds, tuna and crab meat. And I had some tuna left over for a little sashimi. You can probably tell that I seared it first, which I recommend if it's been frozen and not totally fresh.

I tried a new technique for cooling the rice after it was cooked. I hooked up a hair dryer and used the "cool" setting and cooled the rice as I folded the rice vinegar, salt and sugar into the rice with a wet wooden paddle. It worked really well!