Summer Salmon Poke Bowl

Last week I was on vacation with my family in our happy place - Nantucket. It's our little slice of heaven where we reset, refresh and connect with family and friends is a special way.

We have been going to Nantucket for the past seven years and this year was just the best. We had the best weather - days filled with the sand and surf, lots of laughter and so fun among both the kids and adults - and for me personally, it was filled with the most positive and calm mindset that enhanced the experience of this vacation more so than ever before.

One of the highlights was this delicious poke bowl my friend and I were lucky enough to stumble across from Sushi Sean 11:11 Food Truck at Cisco Beach. From the very first bite we could not stop raving about how good it was. It was so fresh and delicious even my kids were like a flock of seagulls hovering over me on the beach trying to get the next bite. We seriously talked about that bowl for the remaining three days of vacation and I knew that I wanted to try to recreate it as soon as we got home.

Just 2 days after getting back home, I made my first attempt at recreating this dish and while nothing beats a fresh poke bowl on the beach in Nantucket - it was pretty darn close and immediately was given a spot in our standard rotation. I created this dish with eating the rainbow and EASY in mind and it was just that - not to mention refreshing, balanced and filling! There is a number of ingredients but all super easy to prep and put together.

The entire family ate up these bowls and we are already looking forward to the next round!

Here's my take on a combination of Sushi Sean's Mango Tango and Cisco Disco - I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Summer Salmon Poke Bowl (makes 4-6 bowls)

Ingredients:

1 c. sushi rice

1 c. water

1 small raw beet, spiralized (could also julienne if you don't have a spiralizer)

2 c. edamame

1 large cucumber, diced small

1/2 mango, cubed

4 c. arugula

1 avocado, diced

1 lb. fresh salmon (sushi grade is having raw)

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. rice vinegar

1 T. sesame oil

1/2 t. brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Rinse sushi rice, then combine with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat; once water boils, reduce to a simmer until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. Set aside and let cool (I made in advance to cut down on cook time at dinner. You can also use a pressure cooker to reduce cook time).

2. Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and brown sugar together. Pour 1/2 sauce over salmon and let sit for 10-15 minutes; set aside remaining 1/2 to dress the poke bowls.

3. Prep veggies - spiralize or julienne the beet, dice the cucumber, mango and avocado, heat edamame (if using frozen like I did).

4. I seared our salmon at 400 degrees on the grill for about 6 minutes; once done or if eating sushi grade raw, dice salmon and set aside.

5. Prepare bowls by adding 1/2 c. sushi rice to one side. Fill the other side with arugula (about 1 c. or more!), then top with cucumbers and beets (about 1/2 c each), mango, edamame and avocado (about 1/4 c. cup); add diced salmon and sprinkle remaining sauce over each bowl - add more soy sauce or coconut aminos as you'd like - enjoy!