Maple and Soy Sauce Salmon

Looking for a great marinade for your salmon. This recipe adds a sweet and salty dimension to your salmon.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 pound salmon

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

Smoked Salmon Spread

This is a great appetizer and I recommend serving this a bland cracker so as to not overpower the wonderful taste of of the smoked salmon.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 12 ounces smoked salmon, chopped
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 3 drops hot pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill weed
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, stir cream cheese until it is no longer in a hard form. Add salmon, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, dill and onion; mix well. Serve.

Notes

• If you would like to add an extra dimension to the taste, you can add chopped capers to the spread.                

Balsamic Glazed Salmon

I think you will really enjoy this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

8 fresh salmon fillets, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 1/2 pounds)
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp. olive oil
4 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. grated orange peel
Orange slices for garnish

DIRECTIONS:
Place the salmon in an 11 x 8-inch (2-quart) shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with black pepper and drizzle with oil. Bake at 350°F. for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Stir the cornstarch, stock, vinegar, brown sugar, orange juice and orange peel in a 2-quart saucepan over high heat to a boil. Cook and stir until the mixture boils and thickens.

Place the salmon on a serving platter and serve with the sauce. Garnish with the orange slices.

Campbell's Kitchen Tip: When grating citrus fruits you'll want to avoid rubbing too deeply into the peel. There's a white layer between the outer peel and the flesh, called the pith, which can be bitter.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a brown and wild rice blend and steamed cut green beans. For dessert serve vanilla ice cream with almond cookies.

Serves 8.

Cooking Salmon Saturday Night!

My wife loves salmon. So, when I find it on sale, it is a special night for cooking. Salmon is a fatty fish and stands up very well on the grill. When I say fatty, I'm talking about the good fat, the omega-3 fatty acid.
There are a number of ways to cook salmon on the grill. There is direct grilling. When I do that, I leave the skin on so I can easily flip it. Another method is plank cooking. I enjoy that if I want to add a smoky taste to the salmon. I use cedar planks especially created for this. Don't buy just any cedar for this. If you go to a home improvement store, you will find cedar, but it has been treated for outdoor use. DO NOT BUY IT! It is not for cooking. Another favorite method of cooking is pouch cooking. It is a very good method for cooking salmon and it guarantees a moist salmon.
When you grill salmon, I recommend having the salmon cut into steaks. Alton Brown, one of my absolute favorite chefs, has an episode of "Good Eats" which shows you exactly how to make a salmon steak. I have included a link to the video for your convenience. The actual segment is about 5 minutes into the video. Click here for the link. Once you get your grill up to temperature and oil the grates, you are ready.
As for cooking a fillet, I recommend flesh side down first to give your salmon great grill marks and then flip over to the skin. Yes, I said, "Skin." I recommend that you leave the skin on the fish for a couple of reasons. The first is that most of the omega-3 fatty acids are near the skin. In fact, it is in the layer between the skin and the fleshy part of the fish. The second is when you cook fillets with the skin with the flesh side down first, when you flip the fillet, you are now cooking the oil into the meat. That's right. The fat is begin pushed up into the meat due to the heat. The third reason is that the skin keeps everything intact. You don't want your salmon falling apart.
What about seasoning? I am a purist when it comes to seasoning. A little salt, pepper, maybe some dill. My wife likes her salmon with lemon pepper. That's why I buy a whole fillet. I cut it to sizes for my wife and myself.
Safety tip. Before you cook, check for bones. Small bones called pin bones are sometimes messed. Just use a small pair of CLEAN needle nose pliers or a hemostat (you can buy them at tackle stores and most culinary stores). Pull them out and you are done.
As for sides, I prefer to saute some green beans in REAL butter with garlic and server with grilled new potatoes.
As I always say, no matter how, what or when you cook, it's all good.

Lunch with a Friend at the Saltgrass

A friend of mine and I had lunch yesterday at the Saltgrass in Round Rock, Texas. She had the salmon and I had the chopped sirloin steak cooked to medium rare. It was very tasty. The chop was made from Certified Angus Beef® fresh ground steak and topped with sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions & a Cognac Pepper Sauce.
It was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. As my side, I picked the garlic mashed potatoes.