This marinaded salmon is delicious. And I thought I didn’t like salmon!
The other day I answered the phone and it was my son Logan. This is not unusual as we pretty much talk every day. What can I say – the boy loves his mother!
What was unusual was his question.
“Mom, where can I buy gin?”
Now this question may not be that unusual for some 25 year old men but for my returned Mormon missionary son who just graduated from BYU and lives in Provo, Utah – this was an unusual question!
First of all – I don’t even know if you can buy gin in Provo???
When I asked him why he wanted to buy gin he informed me he was making the salmon marinade recipe I had sent him and it called for gin. I had forgotten about that when I sent it to him.
I had goggled what to use as a substitute for gin and the answer was apple juice – so that is what I used.
Back to the recipe. I am not much of a seafood eater. I can handle shrimp and a nice light white fish but usually salmon is way out of my comfort zone. So when my friend Karen asked if we would like a piece of the very fresh salmon her husband had just caught I told her that I’m sure Jim would love it.
Karen generously shared with us and along with the salmon she gave us their favorite salmon recipe.
That weekend we were invited to a potluck BBQ and I knew that Jim would never eat all of it himself so I decided to fix it to take to the party. Now I wish I hadn’t!
Now remember, I don’t like salmon, but I LOVED this salmon. Several people at the party told me it was the BEST salmon they had ever eaten. Now I am sure part of it was the fact that it was incredibly fresh but the marinade was divine too!
Logan also got rave reviews from his dinner guests and impressed the girls they were cooking for so I think it is a keeper!! I guess I now like salmon!
The sauce that is served with it is a condiment or dipping sauce. I did not put it on top of the salmon, just served it as a side dish with it.
Thanks to Karen and her sweet hubby for not only sharing their salmon but their recipe too!
Marinaded Salmon and Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 lb salmon with skin on
- 6 T brown Sugar
- 1 T salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 T Gin or apple juice
- ¼ bunch fresh chopped dill - I used dry - about 1 tsp.
- 1 tsp crushed juniper berries optional - left these out
Sauce:
- 2 T brown sugar
- ¼ c Dijon mustard
- 1 T juice from marinade
- ½ lemon juice only
- ¼ bunch fresh chopped dill
- ¼ c Vegetable oil
- Tabasco sauce to taste
- 5 T Whipped whipping cream
Instructions
- Place salmon skin side down in baking dish
- Mix ingredients in bowl and spread evenly over fish
- Marinate minimum of 4 hrs.
- (I got a late start and only marinaded it for 30 minutes and it was divine but my salmon was very fresh. Maybe if it is not as fresh you might want to marinade it longer. Logan marinaded his the full 4 hours and the salmon did not have any skin on it and it still worked great)
- Pour off excess juices and reserve for sauce
- Pre-heat oven to 400 and bake 15-20 min maximum
Sauce:
- Mix brown sugar and Dijon mustard in a bowl
- Slowly mix in veg. oil.
- Add remaining ingredients saving whipped cream for last
- For additional recipes for Baked Salmon Steaks I found this great resource
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I’ll tell you this – no guy EVER made me salmon in college and I would have been super impressed if it had happened, so I’m sure your son has girls falling at his feet (as he should!).
I love salmon and am always looking for ways to prepare it. With your rave reviews, I’ll definitely be trying this!
Leigh Anne,
Your story cracked me up!!! Now I’m going to watch my mormom friends’ grocery carts to make sure they aren’t hiding wine or booz! ha ha ha (just kidding!) Down here you can buy hard liquor at the grocery store!
We LOVE salmon & buy it whenever it’s on sale at our local grocery store. We only get the wild salmon from Alaska, never farm raised from the Atlantic, which usually has color added. We usually barbecue ours on cedar planks that Costco used to sell, but it’s easy to do on foil. We prefer to barbecue ours with the skin on as it helps to retain the natural oils in the fish. My husband has been sprinkling brown sugar on top of the salmon along with fresh basil from our plant & a few other spices. Delicious!
Angela
Hi Leigh Anne,
Question did you serve the sauce on the side or pour it over the top before you served it? Also, did you use the apple juice instead of the Gin. Is one better than the other. Thanks for sharing it sounds great!
Angela – your salmon recipe sounds wonderful!!
Laurie – yes I did use apple juice and so did Logan instead of gin. I used the sauce as a side condiment, I did not pour it over the top. Enjoy!
Yum! Yum! This is definitely one I will do soon as I have some salmon in the freezer right now. THANKS! Way to go Logan in impressing the girls with your cooking!!!!!!!!!
I made salmon for my family awhile ago and was so disappointed in it that I haven’t used the rest of the salmon yet, I will now! Thanks for sharing, this looks amazing.
We love salmon! I’m always looking for a new way to cook it. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Can’t wait to give it a try.
I just moved with my family to Portland a couple of months ago and a friend told me about your blog. I love it! I have already tried some of your recipes, Bliss cupcake shop and fallen in love with the Crepe lady at the Beaverton Farmers Market and the Tart Lady at the PSU market. Thank you so much for such a fun and interesting blog! I can’t wait to try your salmon recipe this week!
This looks so delicious! I love salmon, and while I usually make it very light on seasoning (and grilled), I really enjoy a sweet marinade with it, too.
I’m definitely putting this on the menu for next week. Thank you!
HA! You are so funny and I do the same at the grocery store.
This morning I woke up thinking that I will make salmon for dinner. I was so surprised when I got on the computer and found your recipe. I am using your recipe tonight…with the apple juice. 🙂
Thanks!
Ha ha!! You crack me up! The only time I’ve ever come close to buying alcohol was for my extremely Molly Mormon friend who was breastfeeding and having supply issues, and begged me to go buy some near-beer for her after hearing that it could help. So I went through the U-scan lane to avoid any potential neighbor sightings and wound up getting carded by the machine!! For non-alcholic brew! Tiff told me it tasted nasty and it didn’t help, but at least I got a good laugh out of it.
I made this recipe tonight and my family gave it a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being the best. It was easy to make and I had all the ingredients on hand already. The family saw me adding the whipped cream to the sauce and asked, “Is that whipped cream you’re putting in there?” It does seem odd but it works well with this recipe. Thank you Leigh Anne for sharing this yummy
recipe especially for those that aren’t big salmon lovers. It sure was good.
I made this Wednesday night and the entire family loved it. My fish was frozen when I started marinating it and I wish that it had been defrosted so it had the glazed look of yours. We loved the dipping sauce as well. Thank you!
I like the new look of your blog!! Very cute..very pretty. Question about the sauce – It may be a silly question but do you heat up the sauce before serving with the salmon since you are using juice from the marinade that that the raw salmon was in? Maybe I am missing a step or something?
A few of you have asked – the sauce is used as a condiment or dipping sauce. I did not put it on top of the salmon. Also – you can use the sauce the salmon marinaded in without cooking it – it is safe. It is not like chicken where you need to cook it first. You can eat raw fish. Enjoy!
Trying out this recipe in November – can you share what was served as a side? Fish is sometimes difficult to compelement; I was thinking broiled or sauteed asparagus & maybe a potato? Just curious what the host served. Thx!
Love salmon anyway, but can’t wait to try this! BTW – I also have 4 kids, including an almost-25-yr-old son named Logan!