First dining room dinner

My mom came in town yesterday and when I asked her what she wanted for dinner, she mentioned salmon.  Since it was on sale at Whole Foods monday, I bought 3 lbs of it...wild caught Alaskan king salmon.  Our friend, Trent, is going out of town today for the weekend and so I figured I'd have him and our friend Ryan, who's been out of town the last 2 weeks, over for dinner as well.  Our meal ended up consisting of grilled salmon, brussel sprouts, corn pudding, salad, ambrosia, brats, and grilled corn.

The day in cooking began a little like this:

I started by making a glaze for the salmon.  I did this early in the day so it could cool and thicken. I kind of just threw this one together with random ingredients I had around the house.  Luckily for me, it turned out well! The ingredients I used were:

green onions

garlic

serrano peppers

brown sugar

soy sauce

chicken stock

honey

brown mustards

I began by chopping up the peppers, onions, and garlic.  

I then heated up some olive oil in a small pot and cooked the peppers for a couple of minutes to release some heat.  I then added the onions and garlic and sautéed them until the garlic just started to brown. 

At that point, I added some chicken stock, about 1 1/2 cups, and the rest of the ingredients to taste.  I let this cook down for a bit until it came to a boil and thickened a little, whisking continuously.  It was still a little runny but I took it off the heat and poured it into a cup, covered it with foil and stuck it in the fridge.  

A few months ago, there were samples of this delicious "glaze" and cream cheese with crackers.  I bought a bottle that day because it was so good.  I decided to serve this as an appetizer.  It takes no time at all to make and is so good. All you need to make this are:

You simply pour the sauce over the cream cheese and cut it up to mix.  I put a little bit on each cracker and put them in a baking tray to serve.

I decided to grill the salmon on cedar planks.  You have to make sure to soak the planks in water for at least 2 hours.  I do this in a 9x13 baking pan.  I rotate them about every 30 minutes or so just to make sure they are all getting soaked completely.  

While waiting for the planks to soak, I started working on the corn and brussel sprouts since they take longer to cook.  I grilled the corn the same way as always, in foil with butter, salt, and pepper, turning about every 5 minutes.  

As for the brussel sprouts, I went the simple route and roasted them in a 9x13 baking pan lined with foil with some olive oil, salt, and pepper at 400 degrees for about an hour.  I tossed them at the 30 minute mark.  I put them in foil instead of directly in the pan simply for easy cleaning.  

Thirty minutes into cooking the sprouts and corn, I put the salmon and brats on the grill.  It was at this point that I glazed the salmon.  I also added a few rosemary sprigs to each piece for extra flavor.  

*side note* I love the smell of smoked cedar.  I remember the first time I used cedar planks and was constantly worried my grill would catch on fire because of all the smoke coming out but have since learned that that's a good thing! So if you ever use wood planks, don't be alarmed!  If you soaked them for a long enough period of time, they should be fine.  However, do keep a water bottle on hand just in case for small flare ups :) 

So 30 minutes later, all of my food was done and ready to come off the grill

I happened to have a platter from Thanksgiving last year so I felt it was suitable for the salmon.  Here are the finished products, including my dining table which was officially used for the first time