Today I wanted to play a bit and be creative with a bunch of wild asparagus I picked yesterday. Idea was to prepare them in a way that would least influence their own vegetable taste. So I created an istrian version of sushi that is at least visually alike, and maybe even tasty enough. Here is the recipe, still in work in progress state.
I had at home only arborio rice, but anyway it will be fine for making hand-formed clumps since the risotto rice contains a lot of starch. Indeed, it worked and the rice clumps were easy to model. Then, I steam cooked wild asparagus very shortly, just 1 min or so, and placed them on top of each clumps. To glue everything together, I mixed melted butter, olive oil and salt, cooled everything down until I got a creamy sauce that was poured over asparagus. The plate was then put in the fridge for few hours. Before serving I placed in between the clumps a cup of thick aceto balsamico, a gift from my friend Carlo from Modena, that was playing the role of soya sauce. The trick succeded completely, people were expecting the sweet and umami (glutammate) taste, instead they got sweet and acid.
Ok, you are right, it is not a real sushi since there is no raw fish, but still it was fun, it was delicious and refeshing as an appetitizer. What else do you need?
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