Mustard Mayhem

This past week was a busy one for me in the kitchen. (Look for upcoming posts on Scotcharoos, Banana Nutella Bread, and Pudding Cookies.) But my first inspiration for the week was Mustard! My kitchen creations of the week lead to some very satisfying Mustard Glazed Salmon Fillet and some Mustard Maple Chicken. Yep- two recipes in this post, enjoy!

Chicken in a Mustard and Maple Glaze

Pecan crusted salmon with honey mustard glaze

I do not know the origins of this recipe, except that it was given to me by a co-worker whose husband really knows how to cook. This recipe was easy enough even I pulled it off.

Ingredients:

¾ cup honey

¾ cup dijon mustard

½ cup olive oil or as needed to thin glaze

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 ¼ pounds salmon fillets, boned and skinned

4 cups shelled pecans, finely ground

olive oil for cooking, salt to taste

Official Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In small bowl combine honey, mustard, oil, and lemon juice for glaze. Use just enough oil to keep the glaze from getting too thick.
• Coat salmon lightly in glaze, then cover with ground pecans. Salt and pepper to taste.
• In medium ovenproof pan, over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook fillets 2-3 minutes each side turning fish carefully only once until lightly brown.
• Finish cooking in oven about 5 minutes or until desired doneness is achieved. Brush fish once more with glaze before removing from pan.

Lexie's Directions:

I often let the cut of meat (or in this case fish) determine how I cook. For this recipe I bought a package containing two salmon fillets, however I only prepared one. I had to remove the skin myself. My advice, should you decide to buy fillets for grilling with skin on them is watch a video on removing the skin before you try and use a very SHARP knife. 

For the glaze I mixed equal parts honey and mustard to an amount that looked the right proportion for the fillet I had. I squeezed in half of a fresh lemon, and added only a small amount of oil. The pecans I used were much much less than 4 cups! I think I used approximately 1.25 cups. 

I started with a bag of chopped pecans from the grocery store and used a hand chopper to make them finer. (think Slap Chop! Yes, I'm scared too). I love a good crunchy texture so I stopped when the pecans were well chopped but not quite what I'd consider 'fine'.

I followed the cooking instructions to a tee, but always fine my oven undercooks. Therefore the salmon was in the oven for almost 15 minutes.

Summary:

I loved the earthy flavor the pecans gave to the salmon dish and will definitely be making this again. After all, I still have that second fillet. I was happy with the less than fine chop on the pecans and the mustard glaze was very good. I'd say the honey adds a bit of sweetness but do not expect a large amount honey flavor.

World's Best Chicken, aka Man Pleasing Chicken, aka Mustard Maple Glazed Chicken

This is a pinterest recipe. Funny enough, after I made this and I saw the source link to 'man pleasing chicken' I realize I'd made this once before. This seemed like a nature extension to do more cooking with mustard as the Salmon above left me with a large jar of mustard to use.

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts**
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt & Pepper
Rosemary

**If you'd prefer to make this recipe with dark meat, such as chicken thighs, please use the Man Pleasing Chicken Link above.

Official Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix together mustard, maple syrup, and red wine vinegar.
• Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste and place in 9x13 baking dish.
• Pour mustard mixture over chicken.
• Bake 30-40 minutes. Serve sprinkled with rosemary.

Lexie's Directions:

The first thing I always do is read the recipe comments, they provide so much important insight. I had about 1.25 pounds of chicken, or 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts. Because of the comments, I decided to fillet my chicken breasts first. Not only did the other author admit to filleting the chicken too, but due to inability to properly cook any meat on the first try, this seemed like a smart thing to do. 

The second thing I did was to set my oven to 350 degrees. This was also suggested in the comments. I believe the oven setting of 400 degrees would be correct if you are cooking dark meat which stays moister than white meat when being cooked.

The glaze was a simple mixture of all of the wet ingredients. One tip to keep in mind is to use REAL maple syrup. Make sure you aren't buying what is called 'pancake syrup', 'original syrup' or 'breakfast syrup'. I found that the best way to check this was to see if the bottle has an ingredients list beyond maple syrup. This produced a lot of glaze and when I make it again I will reduce it by one third. There is no need to marinate the chicken for any length of time, however if you do let me know how it turns out.

I am notorious for forgetting to season any and all meat I cook with salt and pepper prior to marinating, glazing, or cooking. This recipe was no exception and I ended up adding salt and pepper to my baking dish after pouring the glaze on the chicken. This did not effect my chicken at all.

I baked the filleted chicken for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. This chicken turned out PERFECT! That is a baking accomplishment that is rare in my household. Serve sprinkled with rosemary.

My finished meal. It looked so good I couldn't wait to take the photo before digging in.

Summary:

We loved this recipe and my fiance asked we put this into our recipe rotation as often as 'peachy porkchops' which is the standard by which all recipes are measured and a go-to dish in out house. Make sure to use REAL maple syrup and to keep an eye on the cooking time and temperature as it will very by the cut of chicken you use.