Grilled Salmon with Brown Sugar & Mustard Glaze

Finally some pictures of the new house (backyard and kitchen)! Being injured has not been fun, but it has allowed me to enjoy being at home. Usually I am off hiking, biking, running etc... and things around the house do not get done. It has been nice getting things in order and brainstorming about how to decorate the place with photos and paint colors.

This weekend was also fun in the fact that Westboro Beach, the nearby beach, was having its annual "movies at the beach" night. The vote that won was for the movie "Cars." First I dined at my sisters place who made these awesome Korean barbecued ribs with an orange ginger marinade. We then walked down to the beach at dark sat on a blanket, poured some wine and watch the movie. It was a lot of un and really cool to see the river behind the screen and the city lights on the horizon.

The next night the weather was still perfect so we decided to yet again dine outside. I decided to grill a nice fillet of salmon. Rather than use the blackening spice I use perhaps too often, I decided to change it up with a nice tangy glaze. I must give credit to my husband for this glaze as he makes it by taste (thus hard to provide any concrete measurements). Depending on how you adjust your flavors the glaze can be sweet and tangy with a hint of heat. I am kind of getting tired of the same old side dishes of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, rice, potatoes or salad. Therefore I jumped ahead a season and bought an acorn squash and roasted it with indirect heat on the bbq for about 50 minutes.

Glaze

3 T brown sugar
1 T honey
2 T butter
1/4 cup grainy dijon mustard
T olive oil
2 T soy sauce
1 T grated ginger root
pinch of cayenne (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1 large fillet of salmon or 6 (6oz) pieces

Melt the brown sugar, honey and butter in a small saute pan oven med high heat. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard, soy sauce, oil, ginger. Let cool.

Preheat the grill to med heat. Brush salmon with glaze. Place the salmon skin side down on the oiled grill. Grill for 6-8 minutes (turning after 5 min) and baste through grilling time.



For the squash this should be placed on the grill well before the salmon. Heat the grill to high and then turn off once side of the bbq to grill using indirect heat. Brush the squash halves with a mixture of melted butter and brown sugar. Grill meat side up for 50 mins.

Loving the backyard with a patio, herb garden and garage.

Kitchen exits nicely to the patio, making it nice and easy to entertain guests, as well as nice to have natural light for food photography.

BBQ Chicken in Bourbon Sauce & Corn

One of my favourite summer time meals, is corn on the cob. When it is in season it truely is so flavourful. I recently picked a dozen up at the Parkdale Market and served it with chicken legs. The chicken was basted with my father in laws homemade bourbon bbq sauce. This sauce has a really nice tangy flavor. I am still keeping my typing to a minimal, so this will be a short post.

2 T butter
1 large shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 ounces of bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of honey
1 T ancho pepper, finely chopped
8 ounces of chili sauce
8 ounces of barbecue sauce
3 ounces of wing sauce


In a large saucepan, melt the butter, add the shallot and garlic cloves and saute for 2-3 mins. Stir in the bourbon, sugar and honey. Heat through for about 1 minute. Add the pepper, chili, bbq and wing sauce. Cook stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes.


Baste chicken with this sauce and let sit for about 15 minutes prior to cooking.


Preheat grill to med high and cook chicken (can baste with more sauce if you like your chicken saucy) until chicken is cooked.

Lemon Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

It has been over a month since I have been able to blog. I have been busy with the move into the new house, had no computer and also have been tending to injuries. I see I missed a ton of great blogs and new recipes while away and can't wait to catch up with your posts. Also in my absence I was surprised and very pleased to see some awards sent my way. Thank you so much to More Than Burnt Toast for awarding me with the Brilliant WebBlog award; La Cuisine d'Helene for awarding me with Kreativ Blogger award and Kimi from My Plate my World for awarding me with El Premio Arte y Pico. These awards are so appreciative, once I get my act together I will certainly be passing these on to others.

With respect to the move it went well. Thanks to the help of some friends we had everything moved into the place in one night. We have been enjoying sitting on the patio and watching the wildlife our backyard has to offer. Small little backyard, but home to rabbits, cardinals, blue jays, squirrels, raccoons... it is hard to remember you are living downtown with so many animals.

Of course other than the patio and backyard, I am loving the new kitchen. So much more room with loads of counterspace, double sink, gas stove. I also took out the new cuisinart stainless steel pot set that I have been storing for 2 years since my wedding. They just were not worthy of the apartment I was in. I will post some pics of the apartment vs home soon.

With my injuries I have not been able to type much or to cook much. However, I wanted to make some muffins for breakfast. My mother in law baked these for us and provided me with the recipe. They were so good and fresh tasting I had to make them again.

1 3/4 cups oats (quick cooking)
2 T packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbaking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup 1% milk or buttermilk
2 egg whites, slightly beaten
2 T vegetable oil
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a 12 med muffin cup tray with non stick spray.

Topping: Combine 1/4 cup oats and the brown sugar, set aside.

Muffin: combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. In a small bowl combine the milk, egg white, oil, lemon peel and vanilla. Mix well. Add to the dry ingredients, stir until moistened. Gently stir in blueberries. Fill the muffin cups almost full and sprinkle with topping.

Bake 20 mins. Remove from oven and let cook on wire rack for 5 minutes.