Growing up on an Indian reservation, we had a large extended family within two miles of our home. Family get-togethers and dinners were not only common, at least once per month, but also very loved. So, when my husband and I moved away in 2000 for about 10 years, I felt a deep sense of longing for that life.
Imagine my own feelings of happiness when we moved back and bought our first home in 2009. When we lived in California, I had no family but now I again have a large extended family to share holidays and birthdays with.
A very common food item at our family dinners is barbequed salmon. We are literally Salmon people. My ancestors and family today all subsisted on salmon as a main staple of diet. We live on the water of the Puget Sound in Washington and most of my family still today are commercial fishermen.
Salmon is one of the only meats that I eat still. I eat it at family dinners. This is salmon that is fresh caught by a family member, usually my grandpa or dad.
So here is the simple recipe that is a traditional family recipe:
Fresh Salmon filleted and cut into 6 oz pieces, and cedar sticks to hold the salmon on the grate above an alder wood fire. Add salt on the fresh salmon, cook above fire until cooked through – – usually only 30 minutes to 1 hour. There is nothing like it.
We eat it at all our family dinners. We will even be eating this for Easter.
Since my husband and I have access to salmon through out the year (we freeze a lot of salmon as well as can salmon), we have played around with various recipes. We have found that we like to use the frozen salmon, marinate it in teriyaki sauce, and then bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Sides for our traditional family meal often include boiled red potatoes or potato salad, green salad, and my new favorite (with the teriyaki style baked salmon) is rice and soy sauce. Do you know what my grandpa always has to have at our family dinners? A Coca Cola Classic. Of course.
It is so fun to enjoy these traditional family recipes together at dinners. It is fun to even play them up and make them “modern” by adding marinades to them.
Do you have a traditional family recipe that you have written about or that you want to share? Let me know in the comments.
This is a sponsored post with SocialMoms and Coca-Cola®. All opinions are mine alone.
