I had a sushi craving today.
This happens fairly often.
But I’m being good. I had yogurt and berries and homemade granola for lunch. I went to the gym after work.
I will not ruin this with sushi out. (I’d much rather ruin it with some of those funfetti cookies that are, surprisingly, still left).
I started thinking about the deconstructed spicy tuna roll salad we made recently and then I started thinking about the rolls we always order at Tenzan (our favorite sushi place that’s right in our neighborhood). There are two we always always get: avocado asparagus cucumber roll and spicy crunchy crab roll. This is the only sushi place I’ve had asparagus in a maki roll. It’s amazing. And unexpected and pairs so well with the cool crunchy cucumber and the soft, creamy avocado. And spicy crunchy crab? Crab meat, spicy mayo and crunch? In. All in.
I thought about the flavors and textures of the rolls and broke them down to their parts.
I started with the spicy dressing from the tuna roll salad. (Recipe here)
For the salad part you will need:
- baby spinach
- avocado
- shredded cabbage
- scallions
- baby bok choy
- asparagus
- cucumber
- crab meat
We decided to eliminate the rice from the salad this time to keep the meal cleaner and as plant based as possible (minus, ya know, the crab. But crab’s super good for you- packed with protein!)
So I decided to add another dimension to the salad by roasting the asparagus and the baby bok choy so that there’s a mix of temperatures and textures.
Preheat the oven to 400.
This meal gets made in a large bowl and on a foil-lined baking sheet. So there’s only one pot to clean. There’s minimal cooking here, too, as we’re only roasting up some veggies.
Chop up the asparagus into bite size chunks, trimming and discarding the woody ends.
Dump on the foil-lined cookie sheet, spreading the pieces out. Drizzle with olive oil, some salt and some pepper.
This is where most Food Network chefs tell you to put the vegetables in a bowl and toss them with the oil and the seasoning. Who has that many bowls? Who wants to clean that many bowls? Who has enough counter space for a bowl AND a cookie sheet?
So drizzle with olive oil, give the asparagus spears a little toss and pop them in the oven for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile make the dressing in a big bowl.
When the dressing is blended, add the baby spinach, the diced avocado, the shredded cabbage and the chopped cucumber to the bowl.
At this point, the asparagus should be almost completely roasted. They should be brown but still a little bit crisp, not completely cooked through. Pull the pan from the oven, push the asparagus over to one side of the pan and add the baby bok choy, ripped into pieces to the other side of the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and pop back in the oven. The bok choy will roast quickly, maybe 5-7 minutes.
When the bok choy is wilted down, remove the pan from the oven and add the asparagus and bok choy to the salad bowl.
Mix it all up so the dressing coats all the veggies.
Plate up the salads on nice big dishes. Top the greens with the crab meat.
My grocery store always has jumbo lump crab meat, cooked, picked over and ready to eat. If it’s not readily available by you, you can change the crab for shrimp, or you can use your favorite fish and cook it simply by broiling it with a touch of oil.
But you can’t beat spicy dressing, avocado and crab. You just can’t.
Sprinkle with some chopped scallions and you are good to go.
Another deconstructed sushi night at home.
And, you don’t have to feel guilty about going for seconds.
Or about eating two cookies for dessert.