Maple BBQ Salmon and Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to receive a request to host a dinner party featuring True North Salmon as the main course.

As I'm living away from my friends and family while I complete my internship, any excuse to spend time with them is hard to turn down. My family and I are also huge salmon fans, so there was no way I could turn down the request! It would have been salmon-lover-sacrilege.

I travelled to London on the weekend of June 5, a huge box of three freshly-delivered salmon halves in tow, to host the party. The afternoon of the party, my boyfriend and I spent some time portioning out the salmon into individual filets. Actually, my boyfriend was kind enough to do the portioning, while I put the excess salmon into freezer bags for our future enjoyment.

My niece was up visiting my brother and sister-in-law that weekend, so they suggested that we hold the party at their place. They're both fantastic cooks, so I knew that though we were bringing the salmon, potatoes for baking, and dessert, they'd probably put together some awesome side dishes.


For their part, my sister-in-law made a nice side salad with homemade vinaigrette, while my brother made spicy, Asian-inspired Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms.


We made Maple BBQ Salmon, a recipe from True North. The salmon marinated in a mixture of maple syrup, fresh garlic, and garlic salt for over 30 minutes. When it was done, we put it on the barbecue until it was light pink and flaky. It was perfectly tender, if a little bland (extra salt really made a difference). My three year old niece, who I don't think has had salmon before, loved it. She doesn't usually have much of an appetite, but when she began to get full, we asked her to eat more potatoes -- instead she finished her salmon. A girl after my own heart.


All in all, it was so much fun to have an informal dinner party with family. All of the elements - the salad, baked potatoes, grilled mushrooms, and of course, salmon - made for a well-rounded and extremely filling meal. We barely had room for dessert (peach cobbler), but somehow we were able to polish that off, too.

Maple BBQ Salmon
4 servings

4 Fresh Atlantic Salmon portions
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. ground pepper

1. Mix the maple syrup, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper.
2. Place salmon portions in a shallow dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon portions in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning over at 15 minutes.
3. Drain the salmon fillets and discard used marinade.
4. Season salmon with salt and pepper.
5. BBQ the salmon portions over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked to taste.

Here's a link to the mushroom recipe we used from Off the Broiler - keep in mind it was very spicy, so you may want to use less ginger or hot pepper:
Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms