Happy New Year!

I know I haven't been writing for the past few months but school and work has been keeping me busy and most of my holiday vacation was spent catching up with friends and family. I just wanted to wish everyone a prosperous new year that will hopefully be full of new adventures, new memories and delicious food. I will be posting regularly this year, and I hope you follow me on my culinary journey. Thanks!

School Update Month 9 Day 1

Today was an introductory class so we didn't do too much. This month is all about kitchen management and cooking and plating more expensive ingredients. It's basically preparing us for our final two months where we cook for our school's fine dining restaurant.

Going to be making pates, terrines and galantines tomorrow, which should be fun. We also have to finish some food and labour costing assignments, which should be easy. Last but not least, I have to create a themed restaurant menu. It's a bit odd, but I'm really excited about this assignment. I think it will give me a rough idea of a restaurant I'd like to own in the future!

Coconut Ice Cream with Blueberry Coulis

After eating the amazing Coconut Blueberry Cream at Miku, the combination inspired me to make it into an ice cream dessert. And it's really simple!

For Coconut Ice Cream (Makes 1L):

• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

For Blueberry Coulis:

• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• lemon juice to taste (a few drops will do)
• 1 tbsp water

Dissolve the sugar with just a little bit of the milk. Combine the rest of the ingredients and gradually add the dissolved sugar and taste. Depending on how sweet you like your ice cream, you may not need to add all of the sugar.

For the ice cream machine that I have, you have to freeze the chamber for over a day. When you're ready to make your ice cream, all you have to do is put the chamber on the motor, put in the paddle and pour in the ice cream mixture. As the motor spins, the paddle scrapes the ice cream that freezes on the sides of the chamber. This produces a creamy product. If you don't have an ice cream machine, you can try making it by pouring the mixture into a deep baking dish and scrape periodically as the ice crystals set. After the ice cream looks like soft serve, take it out of the machine and store it in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Coulis is pretty much a fancy French name for fruit or vegetable sauce that is pureed and strained. You can definitely substitute blueberries for any kind fruit, but keep in mind of the flavour of the fruit and how it will taste with the food you are serving it with. The natural pectin in the fruit will help thicken the coulis.

On medium heat, combine the blueberries with the sugar, water and lemon juice. Heat until sugar is dissolved (depending on the fruit, you may have to adjust the sugar and lemon juice). I used frozen blueberries and if you use those, heat the blueberries until they are thawed out and soft. Pour everything into a blender and puree (you can mash them up with the back of a spoon if you don't have a blender). Strain through a sieve and chill.

The coulis should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

And here it is! My coconut ice cream with blueberry coulis. It did turn out a tiny bit icy but that's probably due to the water content in the coconut milk. Aside from that, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. The slight acidity from the blueberry coulis helps cut the richness of the ice cream which is good because coconut milk is high in saturated fat. The combination is now one of my favourites. Try it out at feedback is always appreciated.

Miku

I was really excited to dine at Miku after hearing how great it was from other reviews. My classmates and I had night classes and we decided to try out Miku for lunch. As I walked in, I was amazed from the start. As soon a staff member walks you to your table, the entire staff greets you, it's almost like your walking into a family's house or a party. I also appreciate that the staff describe each dish as they bring it to the table. It just shows how knowledgeable they are and it does add to the experience. Miku also focuses on sustainability (with their own water filtering system and Ocean Wise) as well as supporting non-profit organizations like Growing Chefs! which teaches elementary students how to cook and eat healthy food.

The design of the restaurant is very modern and zen-like. It's definitely an upscale restaurant. If you reserve, try to request a seat at the sushi bar where you can watch the sushi chefs work their magic. Keep in mind that the dishes here are meant for sharing, which is great because you get to try more things. The sushi and gyoza come in 6 pieces per portion (which was perfect because there were six of us dining).

The sushi and hot food stations were open kitchens so you could watch everything being made.

Calamari (squid, bell peppers, tosazu sauce) $12

The first dish we got was the Calamari which was cooked perfectly. The pieces of squid were so tender with a nice light, crispy exterior. I really liked the tosazu sauce, which is a blend of soy and vinegar. Definitely a must try!

Soba Pepperoncino (pan-fried buckwheat noodles, jalapeno, squid, mushrooms, bell peppers, tempura bits) $15

The Soba Pepperoncino was good, but it's not a dish I would come back for. The heat from the jalapeno wasn't too strong but gave the dish a nice kick. The squid rings were tender and the soba noodles were al dente. 

Spicy Pork Gyoza (pork, cabbage, shiitake, welsh onion, garlic, ginger, shrimp, ponzu with shichimi) $10

Whenever I eat at Japanese restaurants, the one thing I never order is gyoza (probably because I would rather try other foods), but Miku's version of gyoza was fresh with the addition of basil.

Aburi Chicken (savoy cabbage, roasted onion, garlic soy sauce) $15

The Aburi Chicken was served on a hot, sizzling plate. It was executed well but it wasn't anything too special. The cabbage cooked nicely and the chicken was juicy. 

We got to meet the head sushi chef, Kazuhiro Hayashi, who's working the sushi bar in front!

Miku is known for it's Aburi sushi, which is sear-flamed sushi. Owner, Seigo Nakamura innovated the concept by making sauces instead of using soy and wasabi. Lightly searing the sushi releases the oils of the food which also releases the flavours of the ingredients.  It's truly outstanding. They use a piece of charcoal imported from Japan and it gives the Aburi sushi a slight smoky flavour. 

Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi (local salmon pressed and dressed with our Chef's own soy and MIKU sauce, topped with japapeno) $14

A close up!

If there is one thing you have to order, it's this! The Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi (that's a mouthful)! This box pressed sushi had two layers of buttery salmon and the Miku sauce was rich and buttery as well. I love spicy foods and this sushi had a really nice kick to hit with the freshly cracked black pepper and jalapeno. This was my favourite dish from everything we ordered. The rice for all the sushi was cooked well and very flavourful. No soy or wasabi is required or even given for that matter. The combination of all the creamy ingredients made a melt in your mouth piece of sushi.

Aburi Ebi Oshi Sushi (ebi pressed and dressed with house made ume sauce, lime zest) $14

The Aburi Ebi Oshi Sushi was my second favourite dish. The lime zest really popped and gave the sushi a nice tang to it. Another must order!

Aburi Saba Oshi Sushi (house cured mackerel, pressed & dressed with MIKU miso sauce) $12

I've never tired Saba before and it was really good. Not as good as the Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi and Aburi Ebi Oshi Sushi, but I really liked the miso sauce on top.

Red Wave Roll (crab, avocado, wrapped in red tuna, masatake sauce) $14

The Red Wave Roll was pretty much a California roll that got dressed in red tuna and a delicious masatake sauce. Masatake sauce is a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil and onions. It gave this sushi roll it's main flavour and texture.

Pacific Roll (albacore tuna, jalapeno, cucumber, wrapped in shiso and yellowtail, 
cracked pepper, avocado sauce) $12

The Pacific Roll was good. I really liked the avocado sauce they put on top. 

Saba Bo Sushi (house cured mackerel, chopped ginger, shiso leaf) $16

I really liked the sushi to fish ratio for this roll. The ginger and shiso went well with the mackerel and this roll was a winner in my books.

Sashimi Platter $60

Some of my classmates are sushi chefs and they wanted to see how Miku slices and plates their sashimi. Miku's sashimi platter is plated in a large bowl full of ice. The slices of sashimi were expertly cut and they were very fresh. We were given light and dark soy sauce which were also imported from Japan.

Coconut Blueberry Cream (coconut cream, blueberry & blackberry compote, mint glaze, blueberry sauce, sour cream chantilly sauce, whipped cream, coconut cookie, blueberry/lavender sorbet) $10

The Coconut Blueberry Cream was very delicious. I've never had coconut and blueberry together before and the combination was almost heavenly. The blueberry/lavender sorbet had a good balance of flavour and the lavender wasn't overpowering.

Green Tea Opera (green tea sponge infused with espresso and frangelico liquor, green tea butter cream, dark chocolate ganache, azuki bean cream, green tea sauce, green tea ice cream) $10

The Green Tea Opera cake was also very good. The pastry chef, Chris Janik, makes every dessert from scratch and I could see that this cake took lots of time to make with all of the layers it had. The green tea ice cream was very good and went well with the cake. Overall, both desserts are amazing in taste and appearance. You almost don't want to eat them. If you're too full from your meal, you can get just the ice cream/sorbet which I do recommend trying.

You know if you love a restaurant if there are over five dishes that you almost die for. Although it's on the pricey side, dining at Miku is an amazing experience. Definitely try the Aburi sushi. Miku understands the importance in fine details and it shows in their food and service and it's now one of my favourites.

La Belle Patate

One of my guilty pleasures is the great Quebecois invention, poutine. I believe it was first made when a customer wanted fries and cheese curds in a bag to go and the restaurant owner said "ca va faire une maudite poutine" which translates to "that's going to make a damn mess!" The addition of a gravy came afterwards and since then, Canadians have been enjoying this delicious mess of just three simple components of fries, cheese curds, and gravy. There's really just a few key things I look for when eating poutine; crispy fries, a well flavoured gravy, and a good amount of cheese curds. I remember as a child eating poutine with my grandmother every Saturday at the mall as a snack before we went home for dinner. Good times, good times.

I managed to purchase a coupon which allows me $20 worth of food for only $10, pretty sweet deal! La Belle Patate serves an array of authentic traditional and specialty poutines. They also serve Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, hotdogs, burgers and more. There's also an all you can eat option for $19.50 which sounds awesome, but I'm not sure if I'd spend that much on fries, gravy, and cheese.

Traditional Poutine (Large) $10

I got the large Traditional Poutine. It was piping hot with tons of delicious, squeaky cheese curds. The gravy was not overly salted (which I do find in lots of poutines). I should have ordered the small or medium size because the large can feed two in my opinion (and I came here on an empty stomach!).

The one thing that did bother me was the crispiness of the fries. I know that the gravy does make the fries soggy, but there was no crispiness whatsoever. I love finding the few fries that are untouched by the sauce and eat those first before digging into the fries that are smothered in gravy and cheese. I personally don't like using russet potatoes for deep-frying. I prefer kennebec potatoes which produce a crispier fry. It looked like the potatoes that were used had too much sugar and over browned without getting a proper crisp to them. I've tried cooking deep fried potato wedges at school and even though you go through the process of double frying them, by the time you get a crisp on them, they get too dark and a bit unappealing.

BBQ Chicken Poutine (Medium) $9.50

The BBQ Chicken Poutine was good too. The BBQ gravy went well with the fries and cheese curds. Again, the fries were the only concern.

The poutines at La Belle Patate are very good. I really enjoyed the fresh cheese curds and gravy and the portions were good. The staff was very friendly and I'm pretty sure I'll be back one day to try their other specialty poutines.