This isn't a recipe I found online. It's the one my son and I make when we get back from a long day at the sugar bush — tired, a little cold, and ready for something good.
It takes about fifteen minutes. It uses almost nothing. And it tastes like the kind of meal you'd pay a lot for in a restaurant.
The whole thing started because we get our salmon from Springhills Fish Farm out on Allan Park Road in Hanover — a second-generation family fish farm about twenty minutes from us. Their coho salmon and Arctic char are exceptional, and when you start with fish that good, you really don't need to do much to it.
The Recipe (Such As It Is)
We make two versions at the same time, side by side in the same pan. One for my son, one for me.
For My Son
- Springhills salmon fillet
- A good pour of Beaver Valley Dark Organic Maple Syrup
- A little salt
- (And I sneak some pepper on there when he's not looking)
For Me
- Springhills salmon fillet
- A spoonful of Kozlik's Mustard — whatever one I have open. Their Classic Dijon is what you see here, and it's almost unfair with this recipe.
- A good pour of Beaver Valley Dark Organic Maple Syrup
- Salt and pepper
How We Cook It
- Pat the fillets dry. Season with salt and pepper.
- For my version: spread a thin layer of Kozlik's mustard over the top of the fillet. For my son's: skip that step.
- Pour the maple syrup generously over both fillets. Don't be shy — it's going to caramelize in the pan and that's the whole point.
- Into a hot oven at 400°F for about 10–12 minutes depending on thickness.
- The last two minutes: switch to broil. Watch it closely. When the edges start to bubble and go dark at the tips, it's done.
- The glaze that pools in the pan? Spoon it back over the top before you serve it.
Why Beaver Valley Maple?
We use Beaver Valley for cooking because it's estate-bottled from a single forest on the Niagara Escarpment — you can actually taste where it came from, which matters when the rest of the dish is this simple. Any of our syrups work here.
But if you want to push it into something a little more special, our Bourbon Barrel Aged adds a layer of vanilla and oak that turns this into a proper dinner-party dish.
A Note on the Ingredients
We're lucky to live in a part of Ontario where you can build a meal almost entirely from things made by people you actually know. The salmon comes from a family farm twenty minutes away. The mustard is a Canadian institution that's been making it the same way since 1948. The maple syrup comes from our own forests on the Niagara Escarpment.
That's not a marketing line. It's just how we eat.
If you make this, we'd genuinely love to hear about it — especially if you have your own version. Drop it in the comments or tag us on Instagram.