Quick Chicken On a Bun

BBQ season is fully upon us, and even for those poor schlubs like me who don't have a BBQ (not by choice I assure you), the thought of steaks, ribs, seafood, and all manner of bun-contained grilled meats sits quietly throbbing in the back of our brains. Even without a BBQ, all of the above summer staples can and must (the throbbing brain demands meat) be made.

First off, remember that chicken on a bun doesn't ever have to be boring. You can marinate the chicken, add tasty sauces (BBQ, Dijon, teriyaki, etc), or church it up with fresh summer tomatoes, avocado, cheese, or the king of condiments: BACON. Yeah that's right, I just dropped the B-Bomb. On that stuttering note, I give you this easy recipe for chicken on a bun.

Marinade

1/4 cup Olive oil

3 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

3 Tbsp Cooking Sherry (optional)

3 Tbsp White Wine

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon

Fresh Parsley

Fresh Rosemary

Fresh Thyme

Garlic

Salt and Pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Chicken

Score the chicken by making several diagonal cuts to allow the marinade to more easily penetrate the meat, and let the chicken sit in the marinade, totally covered, at room temperature for 30 minutes. Don't worry, chicken is fine out of the fridge for a bit, especially when it's sitting in an acid/ alcohol mixture like a marinade. Once you're ready to cook...

1. Heat a pan with oil, and once very hot, add chicken.
2. Sear chicken on both sides so it's nice and golden brown.
3. Finish in oven for 20 minutes, or until chicken is firm and juices run clear.
4. Place on a bun with your favourite condiments!

Note: For the marinade, I'm combining 4 natural marinading tenderizers: Alcohol (wine and sherry), vinegar, acid (lemon juice), and salt. At least 1 of these components should be present in any marinade to help break up the muscle fibres in the meat, making it tender while adding flavour. Also, mustard is a good addition to many chicken-related marinades, as it helps to emulsify the mixture and distribute everything evenly.

BEHOLD: The Cookie Cake Pie

via Reddit

I honestly cannot get enough of these dessert mashups.

http://www.cakespy.com/2009/05/triple-threat-cookie-cake-pie.html

Food Horror: Rachel Ray's Fishstick "Antip-achos" Barf

via Reddit
I don't even know where to begin with this train wreck of a recipe. It's the schizophrenic collision of 3 different recipes that form giant pile of soggy used-diaper-looking food waste. Rachel Ray is like the weird aunt that takes all of last night's leftovers and dumps them into a bowl, only to serve it the next night as a new dish.. hamburger chunks in Greek salad with macaroni and watermelon anyone?

My favourite part: "Arrange the fish sticks in a baking dish and pour half the sauce over the fish - reserve the rest to pass at the dinner table. Scatter 1/2 cup provolone cheese and the Parmesan over the fish and bake 18 minutes until fish is crispy and cheese has melted."

Right, Rachel. Crisp up that fish. Covered in tomato sauce.. and cheese. Facepalm.

Spinach and Chard Salad with Walnuts and Pumpkin Seeds with a Maple Vinegrette

I love adding nuts to salad; it boosts the flavour and texture, and transforms greens into a filling meal. Don't shy away from salads as rabbit food! Like anything, they're what we make them; so toss in nuts, fruit, fish, chicken, beef, veggies, and don't leave your salad as a limp pile of leaves on your plate. Salads are so fast, easy, and healthy, they're one of the prime reasons I don't believe anyone when they say they don't have time to cook or eat healthily.

Salad
1 Apple, sliced

2 cups cleaned spinach

1 cup Swiss Chard (Chopped)

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (roasted)

1. Add all ingredients to bowl; for presentation, you may want to form a circle using the apple slices on the top of the salad, then sprinkle with nuts.
   

Maple Vinegrette

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

5 tbsp maple syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine vinegrette ingredients in a shaker jar; shake, apply to salad.

Opah with Mango Salsa

Opah are large, red and silver tropical fish with dense, fatty, tuna-like flesh. The flesh is so meaty it's like the fish equivalent of a filet mignon, and makes an excellent healthy alternative to beef for a BBQ. If you don't have Opah, you can substitute any other kind of dense fish such as Mahi Mahi, Tuna, or Haddock.

Additionally, the mango salsa in this recipe is incredibly versatile as well as easy and fast to prepare. Pair it with fish or chicken and you instantly have a summer dish bursting with colour and flavour. You can also use it as a dip for corn chips, flatbreads, or pitas.

If you're not sure how to approach cutting up a mango, learn here!

Serves 4

Opah
4 Opah Fillets
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Mango Salsa
2 Mangoes, cubed into 1cm x 1cm pieces

1 Avocado, cubed into 1cm x 1cm pieces

1 Tomato, cubed into 1cm x 1cm pieces

1 bell pepper, diced
1/3 Red Onion, minced

1 small hot pepper, minced
Note: The more seeds you remove from the hot pepper, the less spicy the salsa will be. For instance, I removed 75% of the seeds in the pepper so the salsa had a bit of bite, but wasn't very spicy.

2cm x 2cm ginger cube, minced

1/2 cup chopped Cilantro

Juice of 1 Lime or Lemon
1/2 tsp cumin

Olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl 15-20 minutes before serving, allowing the flavours to combine fully.

Opah

1. To prepare the opah, salt the fish 15 minutes before cooking. This will remove excess water in the opah's flesh, allowing the outside to sear and seal rather than bubble out the water and boil.

Grilling

1. If grilling, brush opah with olive oil and add pepper to taste, add to grill.
2. To test for done-ness, use the tip of a small knife to test if the flesh is flaking and naturally separating - a sign that it's ready to serve. A good rule of thumb is 8-10 minute per inch of thickness.

Indoors

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Heat a pan with olive oil, and sear all sides of the opah as you would beef or chicken. When all sides have a nice golden brown hue, place pan in heated oven to finish. Again, 8-10 minutes per inch of thickness.

Serve with a simple salad of fresh greens, or rice.