Here in Vancouver, we’re SPOILED with fresh seafood, fruits, veggies and just all around nomalicious food! Our local Fresh Street Market had a hard-to-resist Salmon Festival where they sold amazingly fresh and good quality sockeye salmon at a very affordable price this past weekend! I walked away with a few large fillets (my mum was smart and mass-purchased then fresh-froze ’em!) I couldn’t help but try different marinades on these fillets and boy did they turn out YUMMY!

One was a brown-sugar glaze which turned out pretty good. But the other was a mustard based marinade sweetened with a bit of maple syrup and a touch of apple cider vinegar to round out all the flavours. With just 30 minutes in the marinade, the salmon soaked up all the powerful flavours without masking the fresh salmon taste. Not only is this recipe ridiculously easy, but our meal was made in less than an hour (from start to finish including flavour-marrying time!) but can take less time if you cook it right away. I chose fresh local yellow/green beans and corn as the side since it was also on sale at the market and it was worth the purchase – they were so sweet and crunchy. Mmmmmmm! Time to whip out those grills, friends. Summer has finally arrived!

Ingredients:

• 1.5-2 lb fresh salmon, skin on – I chose boneless fillets
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) maple syrup
• 3 tbsp (45 mL) Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp (5 mL) melted butter – optional, but does help the marinade to stick to the fillet
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

What to do:

1. In a small bowl, mix together maple syrup, mustard, vinegar, butter, salt and pepper.
2. Place salmon in a large bowl. Add marinade to fish. Let sit for 30 min (optional but recommended).
3. Pre heat BBQ to medium-high temperature (approx 400 degrees F). Oil the grill to prevent sticking. Place salmon skin side down and add remaining marinade from the bowl on flesh side. Cook for approx 5 minutes then flip the fillet. Cook an additional 5 minutes on other side, with BBQ lid open throughout the cooking process – this will give you a medium cooked salmon. Remove from BBQ.
4. NOM!

Serves approx 6-8 individuals.