Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

In retrospect, tonight's dinner was a little orange.  Earlier in the week The Bride and I decided to have Oak-Grilled Salmon on page 295, and as part of my diet I am supposed to have sweet potatoes.  As I was thinking about a side tonight, I realized that it had been some time since I had the stuff, so I went ahead and made a big plate of orange food. 

I made the rub, which was rediculously easy to do.  I would actually call it more of a paste, but regardless, it was done in less than two minutes. 

While the rub/paste did its thing, I cleaned the house for an upcoming grill session on Sunday.  When dinner time approached, I made my sweet potatoes and placed them in the oven.  I readied The Forge, and gently wiped the paste off of the salmon.  I had already soaked the oak wood chunks, and so I placed them on the coals.  When I had a good amount of smoke going, I laid on the salmon fillets and removed the sweet potatoes from the oven to cool a bit. 

The Guide suggests that when the salmon is ready to use a spatula to remove the fillets by slipping the spatula in between the flesh and the skin.  The skin should be left behind on the grilling grate.  I was skeptical, but I officially declare it a great method!  The spatula slid right in and the fillets come cleanly off the grill!

I plated dinner and we were ready to eat.

As you can see, there was a fair amount of orange on the plate.  Oh well.  I'll sum up the salmon by quoting The Bride, "This is one of my favorites!" in reference to all that I have done thus far with The Guide.  Neither The Bride or I have been particularly known to be "salmon people" but this was absolutely fantastic!  The texture, seasoning, moisture, smokiness, etc. all worked in amazing harmony.  I devoured mine.  The sweet potatoes, for the record, were roasted with garlic, shallots, olive oil, and Herbs du Provence, which give a nice balance of sweet and savory.  I still, however, cannot get over just how much I enjoyed the Oak-Grilled Salmon.  This will be repeated over and over, and will probably work its way onto a guest's plate at some point in time.