The Culinary Center Welcomes Chef Kellie Evans

The Culinary Center recently welcomed one of our newest chef instructors, Kellie Evans, aboard Riviera. With a fascinatingly diverse culinary background, Chef Evans brings a wealth of knowledge to The Culinary Center and is very excited to join us. Most recently she created over 2,500 recipes for print, website and cookbooks as a food editor for Saveur magazine. Chef Evans is also the featured instructor in a series of technique videos for Saveur, which she produced. As Executive Chef for a catering enterprise in New York, Chef Evans headed a team that serviced the productions of “Boardwalk Empire,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Sesame Street,” “Blue Bloods” and “30 Rock.” She has also been a food stylist and is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York.

As Riviera arrives in Europe, Chef Evans, along with Chef Noelle Barille, have been busy teaching a number of new and fresh culinary classes, including Rock the Wok, in which you master high-heating cooking techniques along with some sushi-rolling tricks.

Below is one of Chef Evans’ favorite sushi recipes from The Culinary Center.

SPICY TUNA ROLL

(MAKES 2 ROLLS)

4 ounces sushi-grade tuna

1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

2 teaspoons green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 sheet nori

Tezu (handwater): ¼ cup water and 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

1¼ cups sushi rice

2 tablespoons sesame seeds         

Spicy mayo: ¼ cup mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon sriracha

Bamboo sushi mat covered in plastic wrap

Dice the tuna into ¼ inch cubes. In a glass bowl, add the sriracha sauce, 1 teaspoon of green onion and the sesame oil. Then add the tuna, and mix.

Lay a sheet of nori shiny side down on the prepared bamboo sushi mat. Wet your fingers with the Tezu and pat down ¾ cup of the sushi rice on nori. Sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Turn the nori and rice over with the rice side down and align the edge of the nori with the bottom edge of the bamboo mat. Place half of the tuna mixture on the bottom edge of the nori.

Grab the bottom edge of the mat, and begin to roll the sushi while ensuring that the filling stays inside with your fingers. Gently lift the mat off the sushi as you continue to roll the sushi into a tight cylinder. Keep a gentle pressure on the mat so the sushi forms a nice, tight roll.

With the plastic wrap still on, cut the sushi into 6 pieces – beginning in the middle. Serve on a sushi plate and dollop with spicy mayonnaise and a green onion ring or two.

Chef Evans looks forward to meeting you in The Culinary Center soon!