The Keto Roll

Japanese food - usually thought of as a lean choice, but that craving for sushi flavors could not be squelched.

We've posted before about low-carb sushi.  Where I come from, the strong Mexican influence means sushi contains many non-traditional ingredients like avocado, cream cheese, and spicy mayo (actually my three favorite sushi ingredients - guess I am not into authentic sushi!).  Do those ingredients sound familiar?

A crab salad is used to boost the fat and proved to be the trickiest ingredient.  Beware of canned crab (added sugar) or crab sticks (full of carbs!).


Ingredients:


spicy crab salad:

114 g cooked blue crab
40 g musa olive oil mayo
5 g sesame oil
5 g cholula hot sauce

50 g avocado
50 g philadelphia cream cheese (or waitrose)
2 sheets nori
rice vinegar

10 g soy sauce (carrefour)
1 g wasabi


Start with your cooked blue crab.  I buy Ocean Isle Premium Claw Crab Meat from Morrison's which is pre-cooked and very convenient.  Any cooked crab will do, so use what works for you!

Add the mayo, sesame oil, and cholula hot sauce.  Cholula hot sauce is an authentic Mexican brand of hot sauce.  I was shocked and pleased to find it in a UK supermarket.  Also one of the few hot sauces with detailed nutritional information.

Weigh your avocado and cream cheese.  Divide them in half, along with your spicy crab salad, since you are making 2 rolls.

Take one sheet of nori.  Brush on rice vinegar to moisten the nori.  This will make it easier to seal and cut later.  Make sure you do not use seasoned rice vinegar, this has added sugar.  Rice vinegar is similar to wine vinegars, but slightly less acidic.  Since you are using a small amount of something very low-carb, I considered it negligible in the calculations.

Spread your crab salad along the length of the nori down the center.  Place half inch thick strips of avocado and cream cheese down the center also.

Roll up your sheet of nori, sealing with more brushed on vinegar if needed.  I do this without bamboo sushi rolling mats, so it can be done.  It's not particularly easy though!  Don't over work the roll.  It is very soft and moist from the crab salad and will tear easily.

Repeat with 2nd sheet of nori.

Slice into inch thick slices.

In a small dish, put 1 g wasabi and 10 g soy sauce.  My soy sauce has 3.2 g of carbs per 100g.  If yours is more carb-y, try watering it down with a little water - it may just be stronger.  Or you can also use less soy sauce.  The roll does not absorb much when dipped, and invariably there is some left behind in the dish - so don't stress!

fat:  63.1 g, protein:  26.8 g, carb:  3.1 g

ratio: 2.1:1

Steak and Asparagus with Blue Cheese Sauce

We travelled to England this weekend and stayed with friends, where we needed more than just strawberry salad to feed our hosts (Tristan likes to force everyone to eat what he eats).  With only five ingredients, turns out this meal is equally perfect to cook for friends when you're at someone else's place.

Ingredients:

90 g ribeye steak (cooked)

130 g asparagus (raw)

5 g butter

Blue cheese sauce:

40 g double cream

20 g blue cheese

20 g butter

Pan fry ribeye steak in butter over medium high heat for 3 minutes on each side for medium-doneness.  Ribeye was chosen for having a high fat content.  It is also readily available and cheap!  Make sure to weigh the portion after it is cooked.

Sauté asparagus in pan with butter over medium high heat until tender and lightly browned.

For sauce, combine double cream, blue cheese, and butter in a sauce pan and cook over medium low heat allowing the sauce to come to a simmer to thicken.

Pour blue cheese sauce over steak and asparagus and enjoy!

fat:  67.3 g, protein:  29.5 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.1:1

Note: values will vary somewhat depending on the particular blue cheese used.  Make sure your blue cheese is .1 g carb or less per 100 g.

Strawberry and Goat's Cheese Spinach Salad

This salad is our go-to meal for eating out at a friend's house.  When someone invites us over to dinner, we offer to make them something at their place.  This salad works as a starter or main (after all, when we have it, it's our whole dinner!) and with a few tweaks, it is quite palatable to non-keto people as well.  'The acceptable face of keto' we call it.  Also, it is easy to put together in an unfamiliar kitchen with ingredients that are pretty easy to find.

Ingredients:

40 g baby spinach

25 g avocado

30 g strawberries

100 g Eroski goat's cheese

28 g olive oil

7 g red wine vinegar

2 drops stevia

Note on goat's cheese:  Make sure your goat's cheese is <0.1g per 100.  Besides Eroski's home brand, Capricorn goat's cheese (UK) is good (although you can't find the values on the outside of the package, trust me), and Trader Joe's (US) also carried some.

Cut the avocado, strawberries, and goat's cheese into thin slices and toss over your bed of baby spinach.

For the dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, and stevia and pour over your salad.  Adjust the olive oil as needed if you use a cheese with different values.

fat:  63.1 g, protein:  22.7 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.5:1

Variations:

Toasted pecans are another lovely addition to this salad, and allow you to cut out a bit more olive oil or cheese.  Make sure you adjust down your carbs elsewhere, such as by going down to 35 g of spinach.

Blue cheese also works well on this salad if you can't find an appropriate goat's cheese (like in south Texas).  It's too strong for my tastes, but Tristan likes it even better!  Alternatively, we've even used brie on this salad in a pinch, which is much milder.

Bacon!  I tried it on a strawberry salad in Austin and became a believer, so if you need a bit more protein in your diet, sprinkle some on.  Like the pecans, most bacon has carbs, so adjust your spinach (or other carb) down a bit to compensate.

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