Honey Mustard Glazed Grilled Salmon

Cooking on the grill outside is one of the best things in the world when it comes to cooking dinner.  The one thing I truly love about it is the simplicity of it.  You can heat up the grill, add some food, cook it and you are done and ready to eat.  Clean up is simple, it doesn't heat up your house and you can cook the whole meal on there.

All of tonight's meal was cooked on our grill.  In case you were wondering the grill is an infrared gas grill. 

Honey Mustard Glaze

This recipe came out of a cookbook that I picked up when I was in Alaska last year.  It is called Cooking Alaska's Wild Salmon by Kathy Doogan.  The cookbook has everything salmon.

1/4 teaspoon salt (I did not use salt, I didn't think it was needed)

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a bowl mix all ingredients.  

Grilled Salmon

2 salmon filets (Our salmon came from SeaBear)

Honey Mustard Glaze

Brush the tops of the salmon with the glaze.  Place salmon on grill  over direct heat that has been preheated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cook for 8 minutes, brushing with more glaze as needed.

Kale (cooked in a foil pouch)

1 large head of kale, washed, stems removed and torn into small pieces

Olive oil

Place kale on a large piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil.  Place another piece of foil over top, roll up the sides to create a packet.  Place kale on direct heat for 5 minutes, remove to indirect heat for 10 minutes. Remove and serve.

Sweet Potatoes (cooked in a foil pouch)

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks (we used a Japanese sweet potato)

Olive oil

Place sweet potatoes on a large piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil.  Place another piece of foil over top, roll up the sides to create a packet.  Place on the grill on direct heat for 5 minutes, turn, cook for another 5 minutes and then remove to indirect heat and cook for another 10 minutes.

Grilled Salmon with Corn and Grilled Romaine Lettuce

We got this fantastic salmon from SeaBear.  The salmon is Copper River Coho Salmon.  It was delivered fresh.  Copper River Coho has an orange red flesh which is firm and slightly milder, and delicate texture.  This is our favorite of all salmon.

Grilled Salmon
I used a local made barbecue sauce which has a little bite to it.  Place salmon on a platter and brush with barbecue sauce.  Heat the grill to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place a piece of foil (we used grilling foil) on the grill.  Place salmon on the grill skin side up, cook for 5 minutes and then flip, add a little more sauce and grill for 5-7 more minutes.  The size of fish we grilled weighed about 6 ounces each.

Corn on the Cob
I cooked my corn in a pot of water on the stove.  The amount you cook it will depend a lot on how long the water boils for etc.  You want the corn to be tender but not mushy.  Serve with butter, salt and pepper.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce
Take 1 head of romaine lettuce, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper, sprinkle with garlic powder.  Place romaine on the grill over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Remove from grill sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve.  If needed add olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.

Grilled Salmon with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

I don't know what the deal is but I am trying to inspire myself for dinners and am not having much luck.  I guess I really haven't gotten back in the true groove of things since we returned from vacation.  I promise to do better, soon, very soon!  Tonight I decided to do salmon on the grill.

Grilled Salmon
Take 2 filets of salmon (we have wild Alaskan Coho Salmon from SeaBear), drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and I have a little of this herb mixture that is made for fish (contains: lemon peel, garlic, parsley, white pepper, chives, basil, cayenne).  Grill salmon over medium heat skin side up for 5 minutes, flip over and grill for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Sugar
Take 1 Japanese sweet potato (Japanese Sweet Potatoes are purple on the outside and white on the inside.  They are not the orange color you associate with American sweet potatoes), slice super thin (I used a mandolin, no not the musical instrument, but one of those slicers that you can slice stuff really thin).  Place slices onto a piece of foil, overlap the slices slightly.  Add a couple of slices of butter; place the slices throughout the top of the sweet potato slices.  Sprinkle the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (I used regular white sugar).  Place another piece of foil on top and turn up the ends so that you are sealing the potatoes into a foil packet.  Place the packet onto the grill over high heat, cook for 5 minutes, turn packet over and cook for another 5 minutes.  Removing to warming rack for 10 minutes.  (Once you remove the packet to the rack, place salmon onto the grill.  Remove from heat.

We had a small side salad to go along with dinner tonight.

Dinner on the Grill

Tonight's dinner is salmon, asparagus, peaches, salad of romaine - all cooked on the grill.

Grilled Peaches
If you have never had a grilled peach before I highly recommend it.  It is a easy and great thing to do with fresh peaches.  To get the peaches ready for the grill, cut the peaches in half remove pit, dip the cut half into melted butter, and then dip it into sugar.  Add the peaches cut side down to the grill.  The grill needs to be warm enough but not too hot, you don't want to burn the sugar only caramelize it.


Grilled Asparagus
Bend the asparagus so that the tough section will break off, discard.  Wash the top sections, place on platter and drizzle with olive oil.  To grill the asparagus we use a flat cast iron skillet that is put on the grill heated to warm then the asparagus placed on there to cook.   Cook to the desired doneness.  


Grilled Romaine Lettuce
I have to thank Tara a new friend of mine for putting this idea in my head.  Have had it grilled but have never done it myself.    I washed a head of romaine lettuce took the few outer leaves off the head.  The head I was dealing with was a rather large one so I just cut it in half (which would be plenty for both of us).  I drizzled olive oil, added freshly ground salt and pepper and a little bit of garlic powder, do this to both sides of the lettuce.  Place on grill for about 2-3 minutes per side with the heat being at about 400-450 degrees.  Remove from grill and in my case since this was such a large piece of lettuce I cut it in half.  Placed the lettuce on each plate and added a little more olive oil, a little bit of balsamic vinegar and added a little bit of blue cheese chunks.


Grilled Coho Salmon
The salmon came from Alaska.  This salmon has such a wonderful texture and is full of vitamins.  I used a Pampered Chef Spicy Pineapple Rum Sauce.  I brushed it onto the salmon before it was grilled and then brushed a little more on as it was cooking.  The salmon was cooked on the grill at 450 degrees for 3 minutes meat side down and flipped it over skin side down, re-glazed and cooked for about 10 minutes.  


The beautiful thing about this dinner is that there is hardly any clean-up at all.  Everything pretty much goes into the dishwasher.