Recipes

Lettuce Rolls

Battleship rolls can be made with lettuce leaves instead of nori. Use flexible leaves from Boston lettuce or leaf lettuce as ribbons, and small inner leaves from an iceberg as cups.

Makes 12 pieces

Seasoned sushi rice (see Michael Schulson’s recipe)
4 frilly lettuce leaves, such as oak leaf
4 Boston lettuce leaves
4 small iceberg lettuce leaves
Japanese soy sauce, to serve

Hand Vinegar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
toppings
3 oz. smoked fish, such as trout or haddock
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. sugar
3 oz. smoked salmon, finely chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 – 1/3 cup black lumpfish caviar
1 tbsp. caperberries or capers, drained?

Procedure
Mix the hand vinegar ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Put the smoked fish and bay leaf in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, return to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes or until cooked. Drain well.

Remove and discard the skin and all the small bones. Put in a bowl and flake finely with a fork. Stir in the sugar and let cool.

Sprinkle the smoked salmon with lemon juice.

Cut a 1-inch wide strip crosswise from the top of the frilly leaves and Boston lettuce leaves. Make a small cup, 3-inches in diameter, from the inner iceberg leaves.

Make 12 rectangular mounds of rice. Instead of wrapping in nori, wrap 4 in frilly lettuce leaves, 4 in Boston lettuce leaves, and 4 in iceberg lettuce cups. Put 1 to 11/2 tablespoons of fish flakes on top of the rice in the frilly lettuce.

Put about 1 to 11/2 tablespoons smoked salmon on the rice in the Boston lettuce, and about 1 to 11/2 tablespoons caviar in the iceberg cups. Top the smoked fish with a little caviar, the salmon with a caperberry or caper, and the caviar with a few flakes of smoked fish.

Arrange on a platter or small plates and serve with a small dish of soy sauce.