Lox Sushi

Another nice piece of sushi rolling from one of my students

Last "recipe" from this week's class: hand rolls stuffed with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and typical bagel & lox condiments. We used capers but you could use thinly sliced red onions, strips of cucumber, diced tomatoes, or diced avocado. Use what you have, use what you like.

You can find instructions on how to make a hand roll in the tuna poke post. You can find instructions on making a sushi roll like the one in the photo all over youtube. I like this succinct video best but you don't need to wrap the roll in plastic to cut it. Make sure to dampen your sharp knife before each cut and wipe off the blade after each cut.

To make a lox roll, you'll need:

• thin strips of smoked salmon
• small sticks of cream cheese (see below on how to cut it) 
• sushi rice
• sheets of nori
• toasted sesame seeds

Beyond these, you will want one or more tasty accompaniments:

• capers
• thinly sliced strips of red onion
• strips of cucumbers (peeled if you like and seeded if not an English cucumber)
• diced avocado
• diced tomato
• strips of pickled jalapeño (not traditional but very tasty)

It can be hard to cut up cream cheese. It's very sticky. The trick is to slightly freeze it before trying to cut it. Put a chunk of cream cheese in the freezer for 20 minutes before you want to cut it. If it softens up while you are trying to cut it, stick it back in the freezer for a few minutes and try again. Also, don't try to use reduced-fat cream cheese; it's much too soft and sticky to cut.