Note: Substitutions don't always work as planned.

I think my mouth is still on fire from this one.

While on my marathon Cooking Light recipe search this week, I found this recipe for spicy salmon that looked like a winner...It calls for 2 tbsp of chili garlic sauce, which we don't have…so I figured I'd just use 2 tbsp fresh chili paste (Sambal Oelek) mixed with 2 minced garlic cloves. Um, no. I'm pretty sure that was a dumb assumption on my part. I know CL recipes, and they tend to lean on the bland side, so I can only assume their version is not supposed to be so. ridiculously. spicy. Eh. You live and learn. Substitutions don't always work.

The flavor was delicious, yes, but so incredibly en fuego that I ended up having to scrape most of it off before I could eat. (I can handle heat, too, so this amused Hubby to no end...he totally iron-stomached it.) So if you do need to go this route and substitute, just brush the glaze on ONCE, not twice, or just use garlic plus one tbsp chili paste instead of two.

I served with CL's recommended Sugar Snap Peas.These were meh. Fine, not OMG Best Peas Ever!, but easy, especially when you buy the steam-in-the-bag peas. (Which admittedly may have had something to do with their meh-ness, but come on. So much easier.)

I also threw together some couscous at the last minute-1/2 cup couscous, 1/2 cup hot water, which I covered and let sit about 4 minutes, then stirred in about a tsp of butter, a tsp or so of orange zest and a squeeze of orange juice, a sprinkle of chopped green onion I had been saving to top the salmon with, and salt and pepper.


Chili Garlic Salmon
2 6-8oz salmon fillets
2 tbsp chili garlic sauce
one green onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp marmalade
Squeeze of orange juice (about 1/8 of the orange I used for the zest)
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Rinse salmon and pat dry. Cover broiler pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. Arrange salmon, skin side down. Turn on broiler (Or you can grill this, if you prefer)

Mix remaining ingredients in small bowl. Brush about half the mix over salmon. Broil for 5 minutes, then brush on remaining mixture. Broil another 2-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve hot.