Sushi 101 – Dessert

This past Saturday wasn’t very fun… there was a lot of box lifting, a lot of running up and down stairs, pretty much all other non-fun activities associated with moving. There was however, a little bubble-wrap popping which is always fun, at least for the person doing the popping.

But lets talk about the prior Saturday which was way more fun and interesting… it involved, friends, food, and fun. I’m not going to lie, a little work was required, well… OK a lot of work was required, but it’s not really work when you are doing what you love and, when the work load is shared among some really talented friends.

Hopefully without giving away too much about the event, I’ll share a few details.


The mastermind and Sensei behind the event was my dear friend Rachael of La Fuji Mama.

Our partner in crime Greg of SippitySup was the most gracious and hospitable host.

Keeping spirits high, providing free steam facials in the kitchen, and in charge of quality control was the very funny and hard working Sous Chef Jenny of Devour the World.

I helped a little in the kitchen, took a few pictures, and brought dessert…

The event was a huge success if I do say so myself. It started off with a Sake tasting provided by Banzai Beverage (the Yuzu Sake was my favorite).

The Sake tasting was followed with a few appetizers prepared on-site by SushiZuri.

Next the class was invited to sit at the royal dining style table which was beautifully decorated by our gracious host Greg.

This is where the core of the class took place, after enjoying a few amazing dishes prepared by Rachael the class began with a live demonstration of how to make Sushi Rice, we also learned how to make a couple of different styles of sushi, Temake sushi (hand rolls) and Maki sushi (sushi roll).

In between sushi lessons Martin from I Love Blue Sea gave a brief presentation on sustainable seafood and what we can do to support it followed by a great Q & A. I was just blown away by the amazing, I mean truly amazing seafood the guys from I Love Blue Sea brought down with them from Northern California. The Albacore and Dungeness Crab were my absolute favorite!

After all that learning, and of course eating… it was time for dessert. Rachael let me borrow this really cool Japanese box set to display my Macarons, isn’t it gorgeous?

It just wouldn’t have been right for me to show up Sans-Macarons. So I decided to make my most requested Pistachio filled with White Chocolate Pistachio Buttercream, and one of my new creations, a very yummy Matcha (Green Tea) Macaron filled with a Mint-Matcha Buttercream.

I didn’t think a couple of Macaron types would suffice as the only dessert offering so I decided to also bring along, a Matcha (Green Tea Ice Cream), Fuji Apple Sake Zabaglione Ice Cream, and a Yuzu infused Rice Wine Granita.

Unfortunately after serving dessert my husband and I had to rush off to a Moenia concert at the House of Blues and didn’t get a chance to take pictures of any of the frozen desserts.

Matcha Ice Cream

adapted from Harumi’s Japanese Home Cooking

1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons matcha powder (green tea powder)
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar

1. In a medium saucepan warm the milk, sugar, matcha powder and 1/4 cup of the heavy cream. Once the milk is warm remove from the stove, cover, and let it steep at room temperature for at least 1-2 hours. The longer you let it steep the more intense the macha flavor will be.

2. Place the saucepan back on the stove and reheat. In a large bowl pour the remaining 3/4 cup of heavy cream, and place a large strainer on top. Slowly pour about half of the warm milk in a thin stream into the egg yolks while whisking constantly to warm the egg yolks. Now return the egg yolks back into the sauce pan.

3. Over medium heat stir the ice cream base with a wooden spoon making sure you scrape the bottom of the pan while you stir until the ice cream base thickens and coats the back side of the wooden spoon.

4. Pour ice cream base through the strainer and stir it into the heavy cream. Cool over an ice bath then finish chilling the ice cream base in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

5. Pour ice cream base into your ice cream maker and follow your manufacturer’s instructions. Pour ice cream into a sealable plastic container and place in the freezer until thoroughly frozen.

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Tagged as: Buttercream, matcha