One recent Sunday evening, we had possibly the most perfect summer dinner you can in the Pacific Northwest. Copper River salmon was fresh that day, and, if you’ve never had it, everyday salmon just cannot compare. It’s rich, buttery, and utterly non-fishy tasting. I am not a salmon eater normally, but I’m happy to make an exception for Copper River.
One of my friends, who is an excellent cook, told me years ago to just wrap a salmon fillet in foil, add olive oil, lemon, and dill, and grill it for about 15 minutes. The skin sticks to the foil and you can use a then metal spatula to lift the fish right off it. It works like a charm!
This same friend texted a link to an Epicurious recipe for salmon that they really like, so we tried it. And loved it. And fought over the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I followed the salsa recipe exactly…you can get it here, at Epicurious.com. After mixing the salsa together, I made the salmon a bit differently than they did, using the foil method for easy cleanup.
I measured out a double layer of foil (because I didn’t have the heavy duty kind) and put the salmon in the center of it. I drizzled olive oil over it, then sprinkled it heavily with lemon pepper and dill. I closed the foil up, and the hubs grilled it for fifteen minutes. We also wrapped our corn in foil and grilled it for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. I think 15 would have been fine for it, too, but you know men and their grills.
In all, it was a thirty-minute meal, since the salsa was supposed to sit to let the flavors meld for 30 minutes. The recipe also said to marinate the salmon in some of the salsa ingredients, but I didn’t do that. I might, for non-Copper River salmon, the next time we have that.
The next day, I used the leftover salsa (which is really more like a salad), mixed with leftover corn and some chopped grilled chicken, to make a delicious lunch for just me. I was enjoying my last week of peaceful lunches before school was out for the summer and my favorite GI Joe finished his military career and was also home for the summer. Now I’m back to making lunch for five everyday. Woohoo.
