Italiano
Two dishes of different traditions meet together: linguine with pesto and sushi … what do you think, do you want to try? I am attracted by harmony and beauty of all Japanese dishes. In any Japanese restaurant, dishes will always be served with great care and attention to beauty. This aspect interests me a lot, because as I said in one of the last posts, it is important to take care of aspects like beauty and harmony. Today I would like to combine two traditions: I was in Liguria and I was looking to a book specialized in Japanese cuisine; this is how “Mediterranean sushi” was born. The difficulty is quite high: you will need patience to learn how to make these rolls well … but if you like the idea, I hope you will be excited enough to try and try again until you will reach a good result. If I made it, you can make it. Enjoy the path 😉
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 250 gr whole grain linguine
- basil pesto (look to the recipe http://www.gustovegetariano.com/en/zucchini-white-parmigiana-with-basil-pesto/)
- 4 nori sheets
- 1 carrot
- 1 zucchini
- valerian salad
for the sauce:
- fresh ginger
- 1 lemon (only peel)
- 8 tablespoons agave syrup
- 8 tablespoon apple vinegar
- 1 pinch of salt
- extra virgin olive oil q.s.
- sweet paprika
Steps:
- Prepare the ginger sauce: peel the ginger and slice it finely.
- Lay it on a plate and sprinkle with salt: let it rest for thirty minutes; rinse and squeeze it.
- Cut it into very thin cubes.
- Put the apple vinegar, the agave syrup, the salt, the lemon zest and the ginger (about 1 tablespoon of lemon peel and three of ginger) in a jar.
- Add the same amount of oil and create an emulsion; add some sweet paprika.
- Bring the water to a boil; salt and cook linguine “al dente”.
- Drain and season with two tablespoons of pesto and one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
- Cut zucchini and carrots “julienne” and season them with oil and salt.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the bamboo mat to keep it cleaned.
- Place a sheet of nori over the plastic wrap on the bamboo mat; spread evenly ¼ portion of linguine on top of the sushi mat, leaving about 1 inch strip along the top of nori farthest away from you: you don’t put the linguine till the end because after you roll, the pasta could come out from the seam; proceed then with zucchini, carrots and valerian.
- From the bottom end start rolling nori sheet over the filling tightly and firmly with bamboo matt until the bottom end reaches the end of linguine sushi on top; use fingers to hold the ingredients when roll; close the roll reminding you to wet the free part of the nori so that it can stick well; continue to make the rest of the rolls.
- Cut each roll into two equal parts, then again into 4 parts to obtain 8 portions; use a very sharp knife and wipe it with wet kitchen paper so that you can cut nicely.
- Serve with ginger sauce.
