Fairy Tale Sushi

Snow White Sushi Roll

I'm no sushi expert by any means, but Tony and I do enjoy it every once in a while for a special dinner. We were out for a date and I was thrilled to discover something I had never seen before: a Beauty and the Beast roll! Of course I had to get it.

Most sushi menus will feature a Snow White roll, with snow crab and white tuna, also on the menu above. I liked that this restaurant also topped it with "cherry kiss cream" which I don't think is usually part of the description.

I thought that the BATB roll would be only a local specialty but it turns out there's a somewhat standard recipe for it-this picture is from a restaurant in Orlando.

I did find one restaurant, Thelonious Monkfish, that has a specialty fairy tale sushi roll section. It's fun, and although mostly random, you can see some connections between the tale and the ingredients. The menu even includes little descriptions/snippets of the tales too. Fairy tale menu below.

Has anyone else come across any fairy tale rolls?

Sleeping Beauty Roll $18.95

Like Princess Aurora asleep in her chamber waiting to be woken with a kiss, this blonde roll is prepared with white tuna (escolar)*, crushed pineapple + tempura flakes wrapped in yellow soy paper + sushi rice, draped with salmon, sliced ripe mango + drizzled with refreshing pineapple-lime mayo. (Ten pieces.)

Red Riding Hood Roll $18.95

Ambling through the dark forest with innocence as her only weapon, she leaves the trodden path and encounters the blackest, hungriest of wolves. Our roll is reminiscent of this ancient folk tale: spicy tuna, shrimp tempura + cucumber ensconced in sushi rice + green soy paper, draped with pared scallop + strawberry medallions, topped with black tobiko + drizzled with red berry coulis. (Ten Pieces.)

The Frog Prince Roll $18.95

In one version, the princess flings the frog against a stone wall; in another, her kiss precipitates its transmogrification into prince; but what to do if your prince is actually a frog and not the other way around? The interior:salmon, mango + tempura crunch; the exterior:layered with avocado + crowned with spicy snow crab + tobiko salad.

The Snow Queen Roll $16.95

Benumbed & blue in the ice palace, Kay feels nothing, for his heart’s a lump of ice; only Gerda’s tears can warm his frozen heart. Our roll evokes childhood memories of grandmother’s tales. Shiitake, green apple, cukes & asparagus wrapped in seaweed & rice, draped with young coconut meat, drizzled with pineapple mayo, garnished with coconut flakes. (8 pieces)

The Rumpelstiltskin Roll $18.95

Three times, he spun straw into gold, then awaited his prize. Under a coverlet of dark branches, round a smoky fire he danced a jig. “Today I brew, tomorrow I bake; then the Prince child I will take; for no one knows my little game: that Rumpelstiltskin is my name!”Inside: wok-roasted balsamic-glazed shiitake,yellowtail, asparagus tempura + green apple. Outside: fresh tuna, drizzled with wasabi mayo; topped with spring onion confetti; crowned with crispy yu mein noodles.

Recipe For Murder

Usually a fairy tale cookbook is a fun way to get kids to experience fairy tales with multiple learning styles, but this cookbook is clearly aimed for more mature audiences. Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction, by Esterelle Payany and illustrations by Jean-Francois Martin, features recipes inspired by morbid parts of literature, not just fairy tales. It features a recipe for Pigs in a Blanket inspired by "Three Little Pigs" and of course, the poisoned apple from Snow White.

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Once Upon a Grind by Cleo Coyle

Spotted this book in the mystery section of my library, Once Upon a Grind by Cleo Coyle. Book description:

"When coffeehouse manager turned amateur sleuth Clare Cosi serves "magic" beans for a Fairy Tale Fall event, she brews up a vision that leads to a sleeping beauty in Central Park; a big, bad wolf of Wall Street; and an East Side enclave with storybook secrets... 

 Fairy tale fever has descended on New York City. Broadway fans are flocking to Red Riding Hood: The Musical; museums are exhibiting art inspired by the Brothers Grimm; and Clare Cosi and her merry band of baristas give their coffee truck a "Jack and the Beanstalk" makeover for a Central Park festival. Clare's coffee hunter ex-husband contributes a bag of African beans with alleged magical properties. His octogenarian mother entertains customers with readings of the grinds, but Clare remains skeptical--until she receives a vision that helps her find a young model's body in the park's woods. 

 The police dismiss "sleeping beauty" as the victim of a drug overdose. Then Clare uncovers evidence that points to a list of suspects--from a New York Giant to quite a few wicked witches--and a cold case murder that reaches back to the Cold War. Now Clare is really in the woods with a dangerous predator on her heels and an investigation that leads from a secret Prince Charming Club right back to her own NYPD detective boyfriend. If she doesn't solve this mystery, those magic beans predict an unhappy ending." 

I'll be honest, it's not the best writing ever (although pretty typical for most current mystery novels), but for a book that features three of my favorite things-murder mysteries, coffee, and fairy tales, I was willing to give it a chance. The book begins with the main character serving coffee at a Fairy Tale Festival, and the fairy tale references don't end there. In fact I was pretty impressed at how the author was able to incorporate so many fairy tale characters and motifs into the story. It was a fun, easy read. And, as the cover promises, there are recipes in the back, although I can't say whether or not they're "wicked good" as claimed, since I didn't try any. But some are fairy tale themed! Snow White Chocolate Mocha, Cinderella's Pumpkin Cake, Poisoned Apple Cake, etc.

Also on the subject-this sign is on the coffee maker at my office. I love those fairy tale connections that help to show how enchanted real life is too-coffee is pretty magical, when you think about it!

Fairy Tale Food

This illustration is from the book Fairy Tale Food: Enchanting Recipes to Bring a Little Magic To Your Food, which includes a recipe for Beauty's Plucky Chicken Burgers. Not sure what chicken burgers has to do with Beauty and the Beast, but it's a nice illustration by Yelena Bryksenkova. Discovered this via (Inside a Black Apple)

If you like the idea of fairy tales as inspiration for recipes, I also recommend Fairy Tale Feasts, a collaboration between Jane Yolen, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, and Phillipe Beha

Fairy Tale Feasts

So I found this book at my library, and I'm always trying to find new recipes since I'm still a bit of an amateur cook, and obviously relating cooking to fairy tales appeals to me. It's "Fairy Tale Feasts," by Jane Yolen (fairy tales,) Heidi E.Y. Stemple (recipes), and Philippe Beha (illustrations). And it's a really great book for a child who knows nothing about cooking, or for an adult who might already know something about fairy tales and/or cooking. The book is filled with tales that are each connected with a recipe, which is a great idea because it gives kids (and...adults like me) motivation to cook, while at the same time helping the story to come alive and become more personal. I liked that, along the edges of the pages, there were fun facts and trivia about each of the tales and recipe ingredients.

The tales are a good balance of well-known tales, and lesser known tales from various cultures. (Of course, that's a Western version of well-balanced...that's probably a whole future post.) Many fairy tale lovers have pointed out the relationship between fairy tales and food, but food is a main feature of many tales, well-known and lesser known, or the absence of food leading to hunger, so the theme for this cookbook is quite appropriate.

And the recipes that I tried were all good. Below is a picture of my apple cinnamon oatmeal-another example of how the book is great for any level cook-it includes the recipe for basic oatmeal, which might be good for little kids who have never made oatmeal, but also includes several variations for a more adventurous cook. (I'm really excited to try the holiday oatmeal suggested, involving eggnog, once the holiday season starts). And the porridge recipe is actually NOT from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but a story about a magical pot that cooks sweet porridge, but won't stop unless it is told specific words. And of course, one day the heroine's mother tells the pot to start, and before the daughter comes back, the whole town is filled with porridge...

I've also provided a picture of my lemon chicken for your viewing pleasure. And I'm always on the lookout for gluten-free recipes, since one of my good friends is on a gluten-free diet, so I was able to make her some carrot soup (associated with the story of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby) and Snow White's Baked Apples. I did not get pictures of them because I made it for company and would have felt weird taking pictures of my cooking in front of them.