I have a tendency to complicate things. I complicate finding the right outfit in the morning, my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are complicated, and for a long time I complicated most everything I cooked. If it didn’t have thirty ingredients, take an hour to prepare and drop a bomb in my kitchen, it wasn’t legit.
Things have changed. Don’t get me wrong, I love fussy food sometimes, especially when it is being prepared at a nice restaurant and I don’t have to pay for it or clean it up. I love finding new ingredients, especially exotic spices, balancing lots of flavor and textures, and making things totally from scratch. More and more, though, I find myself enjoying simple meals with great, local ingredients, prepared in a way that brings out its natural yumminess.
About a year and a half ago, I moved into the beautiful guesthouse I live in now and began cooking for a family with great, simple tastes. One of their favorite recipes is the following salmon dish. I prepare it almost every week, and everyone who I make it for loves it. It is so simple, yet so tasty and healthy. Hope you like it!
Grilled Herb & Citrus Salmon
Ingredients:
4-5 oz fillets wild salmon, skin on
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup parsley, roughly chopped
2 tablespoon thyme, finely chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lime
zest of 1 orange
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
1. Preheat grill to medium high.
2. Wash and dry salmon fillets and place on a plate. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Combine all remaining ingredients, making sure to season and blend well with salt and pepper and divide over the flesh side of the salmon fillets. Rub extra olive oil on the skin side as well.
4. Make sure grill is really hot before putting the salmon on skin side down first. Grill 4–7 minutes on each side, depending on thickness and desired done-ness. Good fish is best prepared medium, meaning that it wont be totally flaky and will still be moist in center. Also, use a thin metal fish spatula to turn fish without mangling it. Once it’s ready to turn, it will release more easily from the grill.
Tip: To check for right temperature without slicing through center, follow these rules: Squeeze hand into a tight fist. Push flesh between your thumb and pointer finger. This is the same way well done fish will feel. Loosen fit completely and press in same spot. This is rare/med rare. In between … you got it. This should help you determine if your fish is done.
Okay, back to recipe ...
To serve fish: I like to serve with yukon gold whipped potatoes and tomato wedges tossed with the extra parsley mixture (make herb recipe 1 1/2 times if you want to toss it with tomatoes)
Serves 4
