Chicken-Seasoned Salmon

Yes you read that correctly. I did the unspeakable – flavouring fish with seasoning meant for chicken.

I realize that I’m absolutely terrible at keeping this food blog alive, so I thought I’d make it up to you guys by sharing one of my favourite dishes of all time. My mom used to make this for me all the time back home, and before moving out, I demanded her to share this recipe with me. I was shocked at how few ingredients composed this recipe, so it has become almost a staple of mine when there’s no time to cook!

Ingredients:

• De-boned Salmon (300 grams)
• ClubHouse Montreal Chicken Seasoning
• One clove of garlic
• 1 tbs of lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Generously shower the salmon with Club House’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning
2. Using a garlic press, distribute the mashed garlic evenly
3. Squeeze/pour about 1 tbs of lemon juice evenly
4. Sprinkle 1 tsp of salt on the thicker portion
5. Cover with aluminum foil and let marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature

Using a conventional oven:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until there’s very little trace of dark pink salmon

Using a toaster oven:

1. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, or until there’s very little trace of dark pink salmon

And that’s it! DONE.

This recipe is so easy yet satisfying, it’s near impossible to go wrong unless the salmon is over-baked.

I hope you give this recipe a try! If you do, please let me know how it went, what could be improved, or any spice variations you tried in a comment below! 🙂

Enjoy!

– Jess

Sautéed Peach and Orange Glazed Pork Chops

Last year I had a week-long obsession with combining fruit and meat together. I would constantly be on YouTube browsing various recipe videos and came across one that used orange marmalade, brown sugar, apricots, and Dijon mustard (and pork chops, of course). Curious, I decided to try it out myself, but instead of apricot, I simply used canned mandarin oranges. A year later, after experimenting several times and putting my friends through forced taste tests, I’m excited to share this recipe with you!

Ingredients:

• 1 thick cut pork chop
• 1/2 cup of peach wedges
• 2 tbsp vinegar (black or white)
• 2 tbsp honey Dijon vinaigrette
• Slices of oranges for decoration (optional)

*Note: the honey Dijon vinaigrette can be substituted for Dijon Mustard. If Dijon mustard is used, vinegar should be replaced by 2 tbsp brown sugar.

Tip! Use tongs for easy flipping of pork chop 🙂

Directions:

1. Heat a non-stick medium skillet on high heat. No oil is needed because the pork chop already retains enough oil.
2. Place the pork chop in the pan. Hear the sizzle. Enjoy the sizzle 😉
3. Turn the heat down just a notch and let cook for three minutes per side. The high heat should have seared the outer edges of the pork chop to a beautiful golden colour and sealed the juices in.
4. Flip the chop over and cook an additional three minutes.
5. While waiting for it to cook, purée the other ingredients in a blender (or other kitchen appliance).
6. Sear the pork chop on its shorter sides, often there is a lot of fat in this area and crispy fat is probably the best thing in the world.
7. Lower the temperature to medium if insides are still pink.
8. Once cooked, transfer to a plate while we make the glaze.

I cut my pork chop in half to check for tenderness. Make sure the meat is in the margin of medium-well; don’t want to poison yourself before finals. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

To make the glaze:

1. In the same skillet over medium-high heat, transfer the purée to the pan and let simmer until thickened a bit. Stir occasionally.

Drizzle some glaze on a plate, add the pork chop, and drizzle the remaining glaze over.

(For photography purposes, I wanted it to at least look like pork chop so did not add all the glaze over until it was time to eat!)

I find that the tangy flavour of the vinegar and Dijon vinaigrette is balanced by the sweet peaches and mandarin oranges.

Thanks for checking this recipe out! If you have decided to try this out, let me know in the comments below what you thought, whether it tickled or prickled your taste-buds, and any suggestions or modifications you have made!

– Jess

Kung Pao Chicken

I think it should be mandatory that all students absorb family recipes like a sponge while on break, for the benefit of those long, hungry hours of failing to study because of an unsatisfied stomach.

This is then, of course, one of the points on my summer bucket list!

From my experiences, home-cooked recipes are paramount to super greasy take-out food. In this post I’d like to share with you one of the many recipes I have learned since coming home for break!

Ingrediants

• 4-5 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
• one stalk of green onion, chopped into inch size pieces
• 2 tbs light soy sauce
• 1 tbs dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-2 dried red pepper (the more the spicier of course)
• 2 tbs cooking wine
• about 6 rough slices of ginger root
• about a tablespoon of szechuan peppercorns (optional)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup of peanuts

For the nuts, I’m using fried peanuts made by my grandfather; the extra crunchiness gives a nice contrast in texture with the tender chicken.

Procedure

Set aside the peanuts and dried red pepper. Also set aside a few pieces of chopped green onion to garnish.

Step 1:

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, ginger, green onion, light and dark soy sauce, salt, szechuan peppercorns, cooking wine and cornstarch.

Step 2:

Once it is combined well, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or an overturned plate and let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour. For a stronger flavour, you could lengthen the time, though I wouldn’t suggest leaving it overnight.

Step 3:

Remove the chicken from the fridge and generously pour some cooking oil (about 2 tbs) into a heated wok. Add in the dried red pepper (here you have the option to halve the pepper for increased spiciness), and the chicken. Stir fry on medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add in the half cup of peanuts when the chicken is cooked through, stir to combine well, taste and adjust with salt to your liking, and turn off the heat. With the final touch of peanuts, the dish is almost complete.

Transfer the kung pao chicken to a plate and garnish with the chopped green onion we set aside earlier. I chopped the green onion into finer pieces for presentation purposes.

And there you have it! A simple home-cooked recipe of a dish that often has many unhealthy variations. I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know how it turned out or if you have created a variation to this dish!

Cheers!

~ Jessica 🙂