Poke to Play Around With | Everyday Dorie

“Poke-ay” conjures up the image of enjoying a bowl of it in the open air by the ocean in Hawaii wearing flip-flops. The polarity between the real and the imaged can’t be more pronounced. Meanwhile, I’m coming in from the cold in the Green Mountain of Vermont — wearing ski boots. Guess what, this poke bowl is the best I’ve ever had. I play around making the poke bowl with what’s available. The beauty, if uncanny part of it: there is no poke bowls to be had anyway in the vicinity. This is not Aspen!

My job gets easier when I find all the marinade ingredients in the fridge. Shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), olive oil, sesame oil, fresh ginger, Sriracha, oyster sauce and rice vinegar. Surprised I don’t have to go looking for key ingredients to make the marinade. I even find sesame seeds laying around.

Call this a poke marinade, the only part of the recipe which has no room to play with — but takes up all the oxygen with a big personality. Put all the ingredients in a jar, covered and shake well. It’s more than a fish marinade. It dresses coleslaw, kale salad or raw vegetables (beets, cauliflower) equally well. The marinade is nicely balanced with savory, sweet and spicy notes with a distinct Asian twist, making it highly versatile and adaptable.

Given the $6/pound price difference between sushi-grade tuna and salmon, I picked salmon. That’s another easy decision since I happen to like salmon sushi better. Anyhow, expect to pay up for a poke bowl. In Aspen, Colorado or Vermont or Hawaii!

Choosing the sides to go with the salmon sushi is the fun but bewildering part. It’s like standing in line to order a poke bowl from a long list of side ingredients on the board. Decisions, decisions! Watermelon, Dorie’s choice, is more outside the box. I take a more conventional route with cherry tomatoes, scallions, jalapeño and avocado. Not on the list is the Wakami seaweed salad, which I picked up at the fishmonger.

In the end, I’ll be most happy with the marinated salmon, without the fillers!