California Barbecue Salmon

Though my hopeful plan to travel to San Francisco next week is now on hold, I'm delighted to have the chance to have a bit of Cali in my kitchen. Hannah, a new friend of mine, just went back home to San Francisco for Memorial Day weekend, and promised to send me a recipe upon her return to New York. I just found it in my emailbox, and it looks as delicious as she said it would be. Now if only I can find a way to get a grill up five flights of stairs and onto our precarious fire escape...




CALIFORNIA BARBECUE SALMON


1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon each honey and firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger or minced garlic
1 salmon fillet with skin (3.5 – 4.5 lb.; a 12-lb. whole salmon yields 2 about this size)
Lime slices and wedges
Whole chives (optional)

In a 6- to 8-inch frying pan over medium heat, stir butter with honey and sugar until butter melts. Remove from heat; add to pan the soy,mustard, oil, and ginger; mix well. Let sauce cool slightly.

Meanwhile, rinse fish and pat dry. To make fish easier to handle when cooked, set it, skin down, on a large piece of foil; trim foil (or fold under) to fit outline of fish. Set fish and foil in a rimmed pan large enough to hold fish. Stir sauce and spoon evenly over fish; let stand 15 minutes to 1 hour; frequently spoon sauce over fish.


Put salmon with foil on a grill over indirect heat. Cover barbecue with lid, open any vents, and cook until fish is opaque but still moist-looking in the thickest part (cut to test), 20 to 30 minutes.

To move fish onto a platter, support with 2 large spatulas, or slip a rimless baking sheet under fish. Set, or slide, fish onto a platter. Serve salmon hot or cold; if making ahead, cover and chill up to 1 day. Squeeze juice from lime wedges onto portions.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.