Grill It Up – Salmon Two Ways….

I’m so grateful for the warm weather that has finally arrived here in Chico, CA.  We sat outside last night to eat our awesome salmon dinner and maybe it was my glass of wine that did it, but I was in a happy yet contemplative mood.  While all the craziness in this world often lingers on the periphery of our day to day lives, it’s important to sit back and realize that when it boils right down to it –  life can’t get much better then grilled salmon, red wine, crazy kids, and good health!   My wish to all of you on this memorial day is just that – a day of good food, friends, family and health.  Most importantly – a heartfelt thank you, quiet remembrance, and humble admiration to those who protect our freedom and to those who gave their lives for us so that we may have the ability to enjoy the simple things…. 

Here’s a couple of grilled salmon recipes that are incredibly good.  We served the salmon with vegetable kabobs that were seasoned just with olive oil and black pepper.  We also grilled up some fat burgers – just because… There was a little bit of left over salmon that we ate with our eggs this morning – which was also scrumptious. 

Spice It Up Salmon

2 wild caught salmon fillets

2 pinches of sea salt

ground black pepper to taste

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp ginger

2 pinches of cayenne pepper

2 pinches of cumin

olive oil – enough to make a paste

Heat your grill – we set our gas grill on medium.  In a small bowl crush the garlic cloves, add the remaining spices, and add enough olive oil to make a paste – a couple tablespoons typically.  Place the salmon fillets skin down on a large sheet of tin foil.  Fold the sides up on the tin foil to make a tin foil “tray.” Rub the spice mixture on top of the salmon fillets and place the tin foil tray on the bottom rack of your grill.  Cover the salmon loosely with more tin foil and close your grill.  This is where you have to be careful because all grills cook differently, and all salmon fillets are different.  We cooked ours for about ten minutes and the salmon was warm all the way through but still a bit pink in the middle, super moist and flaky, just perfect… 

Garlic Dill Salmon

2 salmon fillets

5 cloves garlic

Olive oil – enough to coat the salmon

dried dill, and ground black pepper to taste

the juice from 1 lemon

Coat the salmon fillets with olive oil and rub the tops of the fillets with the crushed garlic.  Sprinkle on plenty of dried dill and black pepper, and squeeze on the juice from one lemon. Follow the same cooking directions for the Spice It Up Salmon – using the tin foil tray method.

For the vegetable kabobs, we cut the veggies pretty thick and we grilled them for about 15 minutes, turning often.

Enjoy!