Italian Sushi — My All Around Kitchen

I love to have fun with food. I love to create funny, edible juxtapositions by smashing up two cultures or even just making a dish out of a pun. For example: that time I made a Spaghetti Western Omelette. Italian Sushi is my OG twist on food, and it makes a perfect hors d'oeuvres for a crowd (especially if said crowd doesn't like real sushi). My reasoning: It is something you can make ahead and don't have to heat up. It is conversational and can break the ice amongst guests while you're busy hosting and prepping. Lastly, A LOT of people like prosciutto and risotto, hence it is a crowd pleaser.

Italian Sushi looks a lot like sushi, but all ingredients used are Italian. The seaweed is prosciutto. The rice is risotto, and the filling is whatever you want it to be, but I usually stick to roasted asparagus or peppers. I like to serve it on Christmas day, so using asparagus or red roasted peppers sticks with a traditional red and green theme.

Italian Sushi topped with a Balsamic Glaze

So, how do you make Italian Sushi for yourself and others?

You want to start by making a simple risotto. If you haven't made risotto before, just follow the directions on any package of Italian Arborio rice that you buy. Once you make the risotto you want to spread it out onto a baking sheet and stick it in the fridge to let it cool and to stop it from cooking more. While the risotto cools, you can go ahead and roast the asparagus. Toss it in some olive oil and salt and roast for about ten minutes at 350 degrees. You want the asparagus to still have a bite to them, check while cooking that they don't get too mushy.

Once the risotto is chilled, take it out of the refrigerator along with the prosciutto, grab the roasted asparagus and create a workspace for yourself so you can begin the assembly process:

Since it is better to visualize, just do the above! Haha. What you want to do is take one of the plastic sheets that separate the prosciutto and use that to mimic bamboo used to roll sushi. Lay the prosciutto out onto the plastic sheet, as pictured above and then spoon some risotto onto it, making sure to press it down into the prosciutto so they adhere to each other. Do not use too much rice, you don't want these to be overstuffed, it needs to be able to roll up. Place your asparagus down onto the risotto and then it's time to roll! You want this to roll as tight as possible and use the plastic wrap to get it tight. Keep rolling and pressing until it feels like all of the air is out and you have a tight roll. Keep the wrap around the roll and keep making these until you run out of ingredients. Set them in the refrigerator until 1-2 hours before serving.

Take out the sushi rolls when it is time to plate them, and unwrap each one. Take a very sharp knife, cut the ends off (save these-the are delicious but not for presentation) and then cut 1" thick slices.

Italian Sushi cross sections, just ready to plate!

The last thing you need to do at this point, is find a nice serving platter and lay the sushi pieces out. I like to sometimes serve it with a honey balsamic dipping sauce, but I also like to use store-bought balsamic glaze and drizzle it right onto the pieces so your guests don't have to do any work.

I hope you try this recipe out, it's a lot of fun to make, to serve AND to eat. :)

Don't hesitate to ask me any questions!