Aji Sai Plus Resto Lounge

Last night, a small group of us got together at Aji Sai Plus Resto Lounge, located at 637 Yonge Street for drinks. Six girls and we were all thirsty. We started off with mojitos - which were VERY good - and then moved onto sake sangrias and spiked lemonade (also good, but alas, my heart has a special place for the mighty mojito). 

Kimchi beef fries

To break up the drinks, we ordered an array of appetizers, ranging from kimchi beef fries (the toppings were yummy, but the fries would have been better if they were fresh cut and not frozen, though to be honest, I picked at it until it was all gone), to baby mushroom beef rolls to bbq squid (SO good) to takoyaki (I think squid balls) to chicken skewers (meh) and crab cakes (intriguing). And of course, you cannot go to a Japanese restaurant without having sushi, edamame beans and vegetable tempura (yum!). 

But the most surprising treat of all? The freshly shucked malpeque oysters. From 3:00 - 7:00 p.m., Monday-Wednesdays, Aji Sai offers $1 oysters, half-price appetizers and $10 pitchers of mixed drinks (see above). It's definitely an affordable choice for a week-night get-together.

What started as after work drinks turned into a two-and-a-half hour dinner filled with laughter and great conversation with very good friends. 

Special thanks to JW for organizing. Looking forward to the next one!

Restaurant rating: Would go back occasionally.

Pan-seared and roasted duck breast in a balsamic honey reduction

Weeknight dinners at our home range from controlled chaos like Iron Chef – i.e. rushing to quickly get home and use ingredients we already have, or desperately hitting the supermarket on the way home while coming up with a recipe on the fly – oddly enough, also like Iron Chef.  Fun, but definitely stressful.

But cooking on the weekends or on vacation days?  A relaxing activity, because I can take the time to not only plan and grocery shop at a leisurely pace, but also use multiple cooking methods if needed.

I took advantage of my time off earlier this week and decided to embark on a culinary adventure: cook something based on what was on sale at the grocery store…and lo and behold, duck breast was on sale.

An easy dish to make

For the record, I have NEVER EVER worked with duck before.  The closest I’ve ever come to cooking duck is reheating it in the microwave (sad but true).  So, with the Chairman’s voice in my head, “With an open heart and an empty stomach”, I cooked duck for the very first time.

One thing I quickly learned about duck is that it is often paired or cooked in something fruity, a little sour and most definitely sweet. I’m guessing the sweet and sour help to cut through the rich flavour of the duck.

I finally settled on a balsamic vinaigrette and honey reduction.

Another thing I learned (especially about duck breast) is that, like beef, the perfect way to cook it is medium rare.

And the third most important thing? Duck tastes great when roasted and or seared. So I decided to do both.

Here are my ingredients and cooking notes.

(And P.S. this turned out waaaaaay better than I could have ever hoped for.  There was even enough for J’s lunch the next day).

INGREDIENTS

-          3 TBSP honey

-          3 TBSP balsamic vinegar        

-          1 TSP ground cinnamon      

-          1 TSP ground cumin         

-          ½ TSP coriander seeds, coarsely ground or crushed  

-          ½ TSP black peppercorns, coarsely ground or

-          1 TSP of olive oil (I used EVOO)

-          2 duck breasts

-          Salt and pepper to taste

COOKING NOTES

-          Preheat the oven to 230°C /450°F.

-          Make sure the duck breast is dry before you begin cooking

-          Make crosshatched incisions in the skin of the breasts

-          Season the duck breast with salt and pepper

-          Heat the oil on a pan (that can eventually go into the oven) over medium-high heat

-          Put the breasts, skin-side down, into the pan and sear for about 2 minutes

-          Flip the breasts over and sear for another minute

-          Flip the breasts over again so that they are skin-side down again

-          Turn the stove off and remove the pan from heat

-          Heat the honey in a saucepan over high-heat, for approximately 2-3 minutes, until it is slightly caramelized

-          Pour in the vinegar and mix well

-          Add the spices, turn the heat to low, letting the sauce reduce for about 4-5 minutes, until it has reached a coating or watery caramel-like consistency

-          Pour the honey sauce over the breasts then cook in the middle of the oven about 7-8 minutes

-          Take the duck breasts out, flip them, and roast for another 2 minutes

-          Take the pan out of the oven, move the breasts over to a plate, cover with aluminum foil and let the meat rest for about 5 minutes

-          Slice the duck breasts, spoon some sauce over the duck and then…#nomnomnom

Peanut butter and banana muffins

Life has been amazing the last several months, but it's also been incredibly busy, leaving less time for things like baking...or rather, experimental baking. I had a few extra hours earlier today and with 2 super ripe bananas originally meant for peanut butter and banana sandwiches, I decided to take it a step further and instead of sandwiches, made muffins.

I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was doing, but I lucked out and managed to make something yummy. Hopefully my taster agrees too. Here are the ingredients and instructions:

Ingredients

- 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour (whole wheat flour would probably work too)

- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

- 2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/4 tsp. baking soda

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 1/2 cups melted butter

- 2 extremely ripe bananas, mooshed up

- 2 eggs (room temperature)

- 1 cup of whipped peanut butter (I used Kraft Whipped peanut butter)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 C

- Combine all dry ingredients (including sugar) into a big mixing bowl

- Combine all wet ingredients into a big mixing bowl

- Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients

- Oil muffin pans (makes 6 jumbo ones or 9 smaller ones)

- Bake 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the muffin tray you use

- Let muffins rest in pan for 5 minutes

- Remove and place on cooling rack

These turned out really well...the peanut butter really helps keep the moisture in. Enjoy.

A hidden gem: Utopia Cafe

The back seating area at Utopia

A few weeks ago, 2 of my foodie friends (C &S) and I went to Utopia Café , located at 586 College Street West, in Toronto. S promised an evening of amazing nachos and delectable poutine. Lucky for us, he did not disappoint.

Tofu Cream Croquettes

Small and very unassuming, Utopia looks like it would fit perfectly in an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Canadian edition, anyone)? From poutine to burgers to their version of Tex-mex, Utopia boasts a huge menu with lots of variety. Normally, I find big menus don’t always deliver, as most places only have a few dishes they really excel at.  Randomly trying a few dishes (and because S INSISTS that anything and everything he’s ever had has been pure genius), I was pleasantly surprised that Utopia does deliver.

We started the meal off with Tofu Cream Croquettes, crispy panko croquettes of fresh tofu and cream cheese served with a spicy chipotle BBQ sauce.  We ordered (well, I may have demanded) these on a whim, after all, tofu and cream cheese have drastically different textures…which means the croquettes had to be amazing or a complete train wreck. Luckily, they were amazing. The texture was soft and the taste mild, while the bbq sauce added just the right amount of zing.

Veggie Nachos

We then ordered the Veggie Nachos (freshly made corn tortilla chips piled high and topped with a blend of melted cheeses, spicy salsa, jalapeño peppers, white beans, tofu, corn and sour cream) – they didn’t disappoint either. The freshly made chips were definitely the star, and while I’m not a fan of white beans, they were actually quite tasty. Even the texture couldn’t weird me out.

Gourmet Poutine

By this point, we were full (but not FULL), so we pushed our luck and ordered one more dish: the Gourmet Poutine (sautéed mushrooms, goat cheese and veggie gravy). Now, I’m not a fan of goat cheese (or strong cheeses in general), but the cheese was very mild and gave some great flavour and texture contrast (I’m not a food snob at all).  It acted almost like a sour cream.

Let’s just say we made quick work of the poutine and then some.

S swears that everything on the menu is delicious…I cannot wait to go back and help prove him right.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym. 

County General

Cinnamon ketchup

Foodie friends are the best because you get to try new things together and break the dishes apart without fear of judgment (yes, this is actually when the words, "these flavours meld perfectly because of the cumin" actually make sense).

Tonight, lil' bro C and I went to County General (a.k.a Splendido's little sibling) on Queen Street West. Small, unassuming, but incredibly busy, Country General serves up some amazing fare. The menu is inspired by Asian and Southwest flavours, but with familiar comfort foods. C's been quite a few times (they knew him by name at the door!), so we ordered what he recommended.  And MAN, OH, MAN was it good.

Roasted bone marrow

We started off with a series of appetizers: roasted bone marrow, fries (because they were out of sausage poutine), jerk coleslaw and trio of steamed pork buns. (To be fair, the portions were REALLY, REALLY, SMALL).

The jerk coleslaw was good - I think I tasted a hint of curry and other familiar spices - but slightly warm. Great texture and flavours though. Must remember to add coriander and carrots to my own coleslaw.

And fries...how could you go wrong with fries? They were fresh cut, amazingly crispy, but the best part of it all? The homemade ketchup - flavoured with - you'll never guess - cinnamon. I NEVER would've thought cinnamon and ketchup would mix, but it does - and beautifully too.

The roasted bone marrow came with some toasted cheese bread - the marrow had strong, comforting beefy flavours, but it definitely needed the bread to cut through the fat.

Pork buns from heaven

But my favourite appetizer of all? The steamed pork buns. When I first saw it on the menu, I assumed it was similar to Chinese pork buns...but not at all. The buns are actually topped with different things: avocado chutney, kim chi and green apple slaw (I got to try the first two). But no matter the topping, the unifying theme was the pork belly that sat on each bun - which, but the way, were amazingly soft...but back to the pork belly. All I can say is: O.M.G. Never have I had such amazing pork belly. Perfect flavour, soft texture and amazing smoky flavour. I could've sat and ate another plate all by myself.

But there were still main dishes to be had. C ordered "The Verga", a sandwich served on pan fried sourdough bread, topped with scamorza affumicata, grilled poached pear, rosemary and house smoked bacon. All I can say is: mmmmmm. The poached pear balanced the cheese, and the salt from the smoked bacon balanced the sweetness of the pear. Had I not had a belly full of appetizers, I would have appreciated this dish more. As things stood, I was already full by the time our mains came.

Buttermilk chicken sandwich

I ordered the fried chicken thigh sandwich, which consists of buttermilk chicken, avocado chutney, coriander and green onion served on a milk bun. The bun was heaven and the avocado chutney brought a freshness to what otherwise would've been a very heavy dish (as things stood, I could only eat half of dinner...C stepped up and finished the rest).

But still...what an incredible dinner of comfort food. And through it all, I had nursed a drink called the "Intemperate Lass": Jim Beam, Martini Bianco, Campari Fielding Sparkling Riesling topped with a slice of orange zest. Very good, if a little on the strong side.

Food is amazing, but I also had good company, both of which when combined, made for good times and a truly remarkable dinner.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.