Fish & Chips

I rarely cook fish at home.  I love to order it in restaurants, but I never feel I can do it justice at home.  And I almost never deep fry at home.  I don't like the mess and smell and danger, so I avoid it for the most part. 

So what am I doing deep frying fish in my kitchen?

I can tell you it was worth it!  

We had some wonderful beer-battered cod at Milos' Craft Beer Emporium this week that made me remember how much I love fresh fish when it's done well.  Then I saw some lovely haddock on sale at my local market so I decided to give it a try.

Frying both the fish and the chips was a little too ambitious for me.  The fish and fries cook at different temperatures, so I'd need two pots of oil. Instead, I used this smitten kitchen recipe for oven fries.  

Chiles Rellenos

Before I knew Matt, I'd never heard of chiles rellenos, stuffed, fried poblano chiles.  But over the years I've seen him order them any time he sees them on a menu.  It's not easy to find a wide variety of chiles where we live, so when I saw poblano peppers at the grocery store, I snapped them up and decided to surprise Matt with his favourite dish.  

I'm not going to say this was easy.  It's pretty ambitious, but you can prepare it in stages and fry the peppers in the batter at the last minute.  Frying indoors is one of my least favourite ways to cook; it's messy and hot and requires full attention.  But for some things - including this - it's worth it.  

I used this recipe from Chow which calls for an egg batter and claims to be the most authentic method.  Some recipes call for breadcrumbs in the coating.  This was an unusual batter but it tasted great.  

Pork Cutlets with White Beans and Collard Greens

I've never cooked pork tenderloin like this before and I was astounded at how far one tenderloin can go.  By pounding it into cutlets I ended up with 5 very large pieces of pork.  Plenty for dinner and leftovers too.

Here's what you need:

1 lb pork tenderloin
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard
1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons fresh sage or 1 tablespoon dried sage
2 tablespoons oil

1 bunch collard greens
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
1 clove garlic
1 small red bell pepper or hot red pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper

First, set up your breading station. 

Crispy Sesame Thyme Chicken

I'm not going to say this is an incredibly healthy dinner but it is so delicious. I love the crispiness of the chicken and the flavour of the sesame and lemon zest in the coating.  

It's based on this recipe from Chatelaine.  Here's what you need:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 1/2 tbsp thyme
zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil

Mix the sesame seeds and thyme. These are black and white ones but you can use regular sesame seeds.

Add the salt and lemon zest.

Then add in the panko and mix it all together.

Now you need to pound the chicken breasts a bit.  You're not pounding them thin like scallopini but they need to be the same thickness all over.  Place them between two long pieces of plastic wrap.

Pound them lightly with a mallet or heavy pan until they're an even thickness all over.

Crack the egg into a bowl and add a little salt.

Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the egg and scramble it up.

Coat the chicken with the egg.

And then coat with the sesame panko on both sides.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat.  I like to use grapeseed oil to cook at high heat but you can use olive oil if you want.

Once the oil is hot, add the coated chicken.

After about 4 minutes, flip the chicken and brown the other side for about 4 minutes more.

Drain on paper towels and plate it up. 

Look how nice and crispy!

I served this with (leftover) mashed potatoes and steamed green beans.

This tasted amazing and was so easy to make.  A great alternative to grilled or baked chicken.