Chef Stuart Campbell

Chef Stu’s
Grilled Salmon with Wilted Spinach & Apple Mustard

Ingredients:

6 – 6 oz. Pieces of salmon

Wilted Spinach:

1 Bag freshly washed spinach
12 oz. Ground sausage
1 Onion, diced
Crushed Walnuts
1 tsp. Maple syrup

Marinade:

1 Bottle ale
1 C. Soy
¼ C. Canola Oil
2 Tbl. Onion
2 Tbl. Maple syrup
2 Tbl. Apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Dry mustard
½ tsp. Ginger
½ tsp. Cinnamon

Marinade Assembly:

Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender. Pour over salmon. Marinate for 3 hours in refrigerator.

Apple Mustard:

1 Apple, peeled & diced
(stir in 1 Tbl. lemon juice to keep apple from browning)
1 tsp. Fresh ginger, grated
1/8 tsp. Cumin
½ C. Applesauce (unsweetened)
¼ tsp. Paprika
1Tbl. Maple syrup
1Tbl. Honey
½ tsp. Ground oregano
1/2 tsp. Dried thyme
1 oz. Dried mustard
½ Tbl. Corn starch
1 ½ Tbl. Apple cider vinegar
1/8 C. Cold Water

Apple Mustard Assembly:

For the apple mustard, combine mustard & cornstarch in a mixing bowl. Slowly stir in 1/8 cup cold water. Let stand for 15 minutes. Transfer mustard to a blender. Add remaining ingredients to blender and pulse for 30 seconds. Then mix until smooth. Place mustard in an air-tight container and let set in refrigerator over night.

Grilling:

In a skillet, brown sausage and onion. Add spinach, just before service, cover to wilt, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp. Maple syrup. Take salmon out of marinade and place on grill, skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes and turn over and cook for 2 more minutes.

Serving:

Place spinach on center of plate. Top spinach with salmon. Put a tablespoon of the apple mustard on the center of the salmon and then sprinkle crushed walnuts over the dish.

We always appreciate the enthusiastic letters we receive from guests re-capping their fishing adventures at Waterfall. Captain Joe Cotter, a professional guide and Charter Captain, Miami Beach, FL, sent us this description of his action-packed days at the Resort:

As a professional fisherman in Miami, I am always looking for a way to escape the summer heat while at the same time finding a good bite someplace a little further north. Usually this consists of fishing in Boston with my father, Bob, but this past July, I was fortunate to make my way up to Alaska in search of some salmon and and halibut fishing. Waterfall Resort let me know I was in for a hot bite and a beautiful scene right from the get go. After a quick 45 minute seaplane flight from Ketchikan, we not only saw beautiful evergreen cliffs falling off into calm seas, as well as whales and bald eagles, but also we caught our limit of 24 silvers (coho salmon) and a king salmon on the first bait dropped in the water. The next three full days and the final half-day offered more of the same. On the second day, we encountered a lingcod bite that just wouldn’t quit. Using a one lb. bullet-head jig with a white plastic worm tail, it quickly turned into a competition of who could catch the most lings on one drift. We ended up keeping our limit of upper end slot limit fish while releasing over thirty lings up to 45 lbs. In 5 days, our boat caught over 80 silvers, 8 king salmon, 40 lingcod, 12 yellow-eyed rockfish (snapper to the locals) and 30 halibut. Although we had some great action, the other boats off the dock really trumped us on the trophy fishing weighing in many halibut over 100lbs. with one over 200 lbs. In our short stay, we saw three 50+ lb. kings and weighed in with many more between 30-50lbs. Many of our fish were released unharmed, while another good portion ended up frozen, vacuum packed and shipped home for many good meals. My trip is already in the works for next year and I can’t wait to see if we can top this past trip.

My thanks to all of the crew at Waterfall, from the excellent chefs, to bartender Ron and a special thanks to a real professional guide, Riz!

Steve’s Sidebar: Joe started fishing seriously for stripers and blue fish around 12 years ago, then switched to tunas and sharks around ten years ago. He became a pro in 2004. Lately, he has been kite fishing for sailfish and other species in Miami, and wahoo and marlin fishing in the Bahamas for the past 3 years. Joe and his dad, Bob, finished second in the second leg of the 2007 Bahamas Wahoo (Tuna) Challenge.

Bob & Joe Cotter, Miami, FL with 2 of the many fish they caught at Waterfall.

Granite Point

As July has now started, so has our pursuit for larger king salmon. During this month, our guides will be hitting such hotspots as Pineapple, Granite Point, Cape Ulitka, and Rockpile. Year after year, these spots prove to hold some of the largest king salmon that we catch on the outside of Prince of Wales Island.

Granite Point, a well known commercial salmon fishing zone, is located on the seaward side of Baker Island. Granite Point is not only well known for the salmon it produces year after year, but also for the halibut fishing that can be found in some of the deeper areas. At certain times of the year, what we refer to as “one stop shopping” can be found here, as one can fish and catch just about every species being targeted.

Top Ten List
As of 7/11/09

1. Dylan Davis                 52.9            7/01/09           Oklahoma City, OK
2. Barton Kilgore           52.0            6/21/09            Longview, CA
3. Thomas Schendt       48.4            6/30/09           Chevy Chase, MD
4. Mike Cochran             45.9           6/29/09            Santa Rosa, CA
5. John Morgan              44.8            6/28/09            Mazama, WA
6. Scott Timberlake      44.5            6/22/09            Palos Verdes Estates, CA
7. Robert Hymes           43.6             6/09/09            Coronado, CA
8. Doug Hart                    43.3             7/11/09             Palm Desert, CA
9. Dennis Lombardo    42.4             6/15/09             Cave Creek, AZ
10. Jim Christensen     42.0             7/09/09            Costa Mesa, CA

Bryan Mock (far left) and his Ness Group Fishing Buddies

I was a guest of Waterfall June 23-28 with the Ness Group. I wanted to let you and your staff know that although we did not have favorable weather conditions, we had an amazing experience. Two years ago, almost the same group fished out of Sunnahae under perfect weather conditions and all agreed that there is no comparison to the Waterfall experience. Our guide, Mike King, did an amazing job hunting down fish for us and even though two of the four fisherman on our boat had never been Salmon fishing, on our second to last day we had a quad hook up of Kings and brought all four to the boat.

Stu, Stacy and their staff are an amazing culinary team and whether it was a chicken salad wrap on the boat or a rib eye in the dining room (Tuesday nights was one of the best I’ve personally ever had) the food was always top shelf.

Your admin/general store staff including Sara, Emily and Colleen were also very accommodating to our group the whole time and always pleasant to deal with. I think it enhances the overall experience to be able to hang out with the staff and I can tell you that I certainly enjoyed playing pool and having drinks with all of them.

Last but certainly not least, the Lagoon Saloon’s bartender extraordinaire, Ron. I’ve been to bars around the world and think Ron is one of the best. When you can walk through the doors of a bar the second night of a trip and your group’s round is set up by the time you hit the bar, that’s one hell of a good bartender!

I can’t wait to come back next year and I can guarantee it will be Red Snappers and Guide Bombers for the bar if I get King of the Day! Don’t forget to consider the “Bar Tab of the Day” just in case I come up short. You guys are the best.

Bryan Mock, VP
OM Concrete, Inc