Lemon-Cumin Marinated Grilled Salmon

I was at a food bloggers event, (Eat, Write, Retreat), in Philadelphia over the weekend and had a great time learning from the pros. There was so much knowledge at this event I feel like I learned as much in two and a half days as I have in my first 6 months of blogging. We were bombarded with good information and gifts from Kitchen Aid, Jarlsberg Cheese, Lentils CA, Safest Choice Eggs, OXO, California Raisins, United States Potato Board, Watermelon.org, California Ripe Olives, Canadian Beef, Gerolsteiner, California Figs, Attune Foods, In The Raw Sweeteners, and more. We were well fed and even had a signature cocktail hour the first night. One of my favorite talks was To-Jo Mushrooms featuring Tony and Joe D’Amico from Avondale, PA. I already know a bit about mushrooms from my many trips up to Kennett Square, PA the mushroom capital of the world, but these guys talked about how much work goes into producing the schrooms I love so dearly. It was at the end of their talk that I won a Kitchen Aid food processor by answering the correct mushroom trivia question, ”what is the proper temperature to store mushrooms at”? The answer is 35 degrees, which is printed on the bigger boxes of mushrooms that most people never see. Since most of us don’t buy mushrooms that are being displayed at this optimal holding temperature it’s best to eat the schrooms within a day or two of buying them for best quality.

Tony and Joe gifted all of us mushroom growing kits and fresh mushrooms for those who could take them home without having them spoil. I hope to start my mushroom kit tonight and grow some lovely oyster mushrooms.

Another one of my favorite sponsors was one I had never heard of. Gerolsteiner Mineral Water. They gifted us with pretty much all the good clean sparkling water we could drink at the event. I have been a fan of bubbly water ever since I was a kid and liked to drink plain old club soda from the can. I would even bathe in the stuff if I could only visit the Vichy Hot Springs in Ukiah, California more often. I was a Perrier drinker for many years, and drank lots of club soda with a lime when bar tending back in the 1980’s and 90’s at The Moose Jaw in Frisco, Colorado.

I do believe that Gerolsteiner has the others beat for taste, and I love the fact that they use glass not plastic bottles. Plastic bottles pretty much suck and are an environmental blight upon the planet since only about one in six get recycled. Gerolsteiner not only gifted us plenty of water, but they also gave us a booklet that talked about the source of this clean tasting mineral water. Even though I was way busy at the event I read some of this booklet that included many recipes from chef Kurt Gutenbrunner, and one caught my eye. Who knew there would be good looking recipes like Lemon-Cumin Marinated Arctic Char in this mineral water booklet? It looked like one I had to try at home soon.

I wasn’t going out and buying Arctic Char to try, even though I like that type of fish. No dear readers I have salmon in the freezer from last year’s Alaska fishing adventure that needs to be cooked up before this year’s fishing adventure in Alaska. Salmon is close enough to Arctic Char in taste and where they live for trying this recipe. I liked this marinade enough to do it again soon with fresh salmon, instead of frozen. I didn’t do the whole recipe that called for grilled vegetables, just the marinade part which I reprint from the Gerolsteiner recipe booklet, by permission, for your enjoyment.

Lemon-Cumin Marinade

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika

1 lemon zested and juiced

1 garlic clove minced

5 Tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 skin on Arctic char or salmon, 6 ounces each

Mix all ingredients, except salmon in a suitable container and add salmon or char. Let stand in refrigerator for 1-3 hours. Place fish on a well oiled grill skin side down and cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. The recipe called for grilled vegetables, and that looked like a good choice to go with this dish.

Even though I was gifted the little recipe booklet and some bottled Gerolsteiner Mineral water at the event I would have shared this recipe anyway because it’s a great recipe for salmon, Char or other firm flesh fish.