Have you ever given up something you love because of someONE you love more? Some people quit smoking, drinking or gambling. Others become a slightly less obsessed sports fan because the knucklehead they are married to just doesn’t understand and can’t get on board. Not that I would know anything about that last one. My experience with sacrifice involves salmon. Delicious, flaky perfectly rich salmon. Oh how I love it. I could eat it just about every day and never grow tired of it. Honestly, it is my most favorite dinner.
However, my sweet precious daughter is allergic. Very. It’s ugly if she even gets a little bite of salmon. So, we almost never have it at home. Whenever my husband and I get a date night the first thing I look for is salmon on the menu. Almost exclusively, I choose restaurants that specialize in fresh local seafood. Luckily, I live in Seattle and delicious salmon is readily available. Here comes a shameless plug for one of my favorite places to get great food. If you live anywhere around north Seattle/Everett, try out Emory’s on Silver Lake. Terrific atmosphere, a HUGE gluten-free menu and some of the best food around. I love it. Especially their salmon. The chef always prepares it so perfectly.
However, date nights are hard to come by and sometimes, a girl just needs to bust out the grill and make some perfect fish herself. That’s what I did this week. I couldn’t wait the full month between date nights. I needed salmon in a bad way and my favorite recipe was calling to me. It called so loudly that I broke down and made a separate dinner for my munchkins and waited to grill this up for the adults after the children were snug in their beds. It is glorious. The glaze is a perfect complement to the fish. Sweet, with a little tang atop perfectly grilled flaky salmon. (happy sigh) Poor Zack got one piece and I ate the rest of the giant fillet all by myself. I love that you can throw just about any grain and veggie alongside salmon and it makes a deliciously balanced, perfectly simple meal.
Maple Grilled Salmon
adapted from Allrecipes.com
1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff…not pancake syrup)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon
Directions
- In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
- Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish, lined with foil and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Wrap foil into a packet around the salmon. and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.
- Preheat grill (or oven) to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place the foil packet in the preheated oven, and bake salmon 15-20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.
