Sushi Matsuri

The whole week I had been craving sushi, so Friday I decided that I finally needed to celebrate the end of the week by treating myself to sushi!

In Gainesville, I always go to the same places, so I was really wanting to try something new. I asked for suggestions on Facebook and finally decided to go to Sushi Matsuri.

I looked up the reviews on Yelp and got really mixed reviews. It was pretty much 50-50. But I always try to take these reviews with a grain of salt.

And boy, am I glad I went. My fiance and I first ordered three rolls:

Volcano Roll (krab meat, cream cheese, scallions, fish eggs with avocado and baked spicy scallops on top)

Ochi-Ochi Roll (krab meat, cream cheese, fish eggs, scallions with salmon on top and baked with spicy sauce)

Dragon Roll **in the middle of the plate (shrimp tempura, cream cheese, fish eggs, avocado with eel on top)

Now for my review: Everything was AMAZING! I loved this experience because I never have gone out for sushi and loved every single roll I ordered. Usually there is always one that I wish I hadn’t ordered. This was not the case here. I loved all three. The Volcano roll was perfect. I love avocado, so it was perfect for me, it was so smooth and perfect for this roll. The scallops on top were also cooked to perfection. They were the tiny baby scallops and whenever I get them at a restaurant, they are always too chewy but they were so soft here. The Ochi-Ochi Roll might have been my favorite of the three because I love spicy food. It was hot when it came out and everything was so creamy and melded together. Eel is my absolute favorite fish in sushi because of the sweetness, so the Dragon roll was also awesome. The shrimp tempura was also perfectly cooked–I have never had tempura that tasted quite like that, but it was so crunchy and delicious!

I am embarrassed to say that even after scarfing down all three of these rolls, we were still hungry. So we proceeded to order another roll!

Here is the Candy Roll:

The Candy Roll has asparagus, avocado, shitake mushrooms and cream cheese, wrapped with salmon and tuna. At first I was really hesitant about this roll because my whole life I thought I hated shitake mushrooms. (I once ate them at another restaurant and I couldn’t even finish the dish–I have never eaten shitakes ever since, until last Friday!) I actually really liked the roll, as well as the mushroom! I was in complete shock. The tuna and salmon on top tasted extremely fresh. I also thought the presentation was very nice, it looked similar to a candy cane. The only thing I would change about this is that I wish they would have drizzled a sauce over the top, either eel sauce or spicy mayo because it was a bit plain and could have been kicked up a notch, but I still thought it was great overall.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend Sushi Matsuri in Gainesville because I have not been able to find a restaurant that has fresher sushi. The prices are great and the sizes are about average. The only negative is that they don’t have a full bar, so I just drank water. It’s a small hole-in-the-wall place but you should definitely check it out!

Here is their website for more information: http://www.matsuritime.com/home.htm

Happy Eating

Weclome! Here is my first recipe…Cheesy Roasted Red Pepper Chicken

Welcome to my food blog! I love watching Food Network, eating at delicious restaurants, going to cooking school and even cooking in my own kitchen. So this blog will talk about all of these topics.

Mind you, I am a college student with a limited budget and limited time. So some of my own recipes will be easy to make and easy on your wallet. But it’s my last semester, so soon I can get a little more creative in the kitchen

Today was a rainy day and I didn’t feel like doing anything very productive, but I was starving. So into the kitchen I go…looking for something already made that I could eat while I finished studying. Nothing really “pre-made” in the fridge. So I figured I would just defrost a chicken breast.

Once I put the chicken breast on the baking sheet, my mind started to wonder in all kinds of wonderful directions. So I searched the pantry and fridge high and low for a new concoction.

I found these items:

- Tyson Grilled Ready Chicken Breast Fillets

- Muenster Cheese

- Fire Roasted Red Peppers

- Southwest Chipotle Seasoning (Mrs. Dash)

- Parmesan Cheese

- Black Pepper

- Garlic Powder

First, I followed the directions on the back of the package to cook the chicken. They recommend using the microwave, but even THIS college student knows that using the oven will make it oh so much better. So I set my timer for 17 minutes (it recommends 18-20, but my oven is known to overcook).

As that was cooking, I took one huge red pepper and two thick slices of muenster cheese and diced it all. When the timer hit 15 minutes, I poured on the cheese so it could melt a little in the oven.

At 17 minutes it wasn’t completely melted, but I didn’t want to overcook the chicken. So I threw on the peppers, turned off the oven and put the baking dish back in the oven just to heat through a little longer.

I took it out about a minute later and it looked like this:

Which looked delicious already. I took a bite and thought it needed a little kick! So this is where all the spices come in.

I added the parmesan, black pepper, chipotle and garlic seasoning.

Here was the final product–Cheesy Roasted Red Pepper Chicken:

It was SO good and I would highly recommend this simple recipe to everyone. The chicken was super moist and easy to cut into and all the flavors melded together perfectly! It’s a good start for any first time chef and could always be altered to fit whatever you have in your pantry at the time

Enjoy!