Grilled Birch-Glazed Salmon

One the things I love about spring is being able to enjoy the first run of salmon. That it coincides with warm out-on-the-deck weather and Mother’s Day is a bonus. So, dads (or sons), here’s an easy Mother’s Day salmon recipe that’s done on the barbecue. Start her off with an icy gin (Victoria Gin, natch) and tonic (don’t cheap out on the tonic – buy Fentimans if you can) while the Q heats up and enjoy the evening. This recipe is pure BC.

Ingredients

1/2 cup birch syrup*

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp light soy sauce

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1 tsp ginger root, minced

Four 6-ounce wild Spring (Chinook) salmon filets (skin on)

3 tbsp green onions, thinly sliced

In a small bowl, whisk together first 5 ingredients.

Place salmon in shallow, non-reactive dish and pour marinade over top, reserving 1/4 cup. Refrigerate for one hour.

Remove fish from dish and place skin side down on a medium hot grill, saving the used marinade. Cover and grill for about 4 minutes. Brush with saved marinade; cover and grill for another 4 minutes or until cooked through (fish should flake easily with a fork).

To remove the filets from the grill, slip a spatula under the salmon and remove, leaving behind the skin.

To serve, drizzle reserved (unused) 1/4-cup marinade over salmon fillets and top with scallions.
Serves four.

• Birch syrup comes from the sap of birch trees. For maple syrup it takes about 40 litres of sap to create one litre. To make birch syrup the amount of sap required is doubled or even tripled. The taste isn’t like maple syrup, more like molasses. While birch syrup is expensive a small amount goes a long way.

In Vancouver find birch syrup at Edible BC, and in Victoria try Plenty.

Click here to learn about making birch syrup.

Recipe by Gary Hynes