Crispy Grilled Salmon with Herbed Garlic Butter

Now that I've had my fill of Thanksgiving feasting, I'm going to do my best to cook healthy meals until the next holiday beckons with delicious treats again! One thing I want to make more often is fish. Salmon is a favorite of ours but I hate making it in the kitchen because of the strong odor it creates when it is sauteed, so we prefer to prepare it outside on the grill - even in cold weather. We simply pull the gas grill a little closer to the back door and use it all winter long.

My new favorite way to grill salmon is on the flat side of a case iron griddle placed right on top the grill grates. This is also a great way to prepare scallops and shrimp. No need to worry about them falling through the grates!

Prepared this way, a delightful crispy 'crust' can be seared on the outside while keeping the salmon tender and flaky on the inside.

The herbed garlic butter topping is wonderful with salmon and is also very tasty drizzled over pasta!

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Crispy Grilled Salmon with Herbed Garlic Butter

Printable Recipe

Serves 2

2 center-cut salmon fillets, weighing about 6 to 8 ounces each

½ stick butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Lawry’s original seasoning salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash original blend seasoning
Juice of one lemon

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add remaining ingredients including lemon juice and remove from heat while grilling salmon.

Place a cast iron griddle over the grates of your grill so that the flat side is facing up and heat the grill to medium-high heat while keeping the lid closed.

Open lid and spray griddle lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Place salmon on the griddle (if your salmon still has the skin on, place skin side down first) and close grill lid. Sear for 3-4 minutes and flip to the other side. (You can easily remove the skin off the salmon at this point with a tongues.) Sear for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from the grill and place on a serving platter. Tent with foil for 3-4 minutes. Drizzle herbed garlic butter over salmon and sprinkle with parsley. If serving with pasta, reserve a little garlic herb butter to drizzle over pasta.

Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta with Grilled Salmon

About this time last year, Cathy at Wives with Knives, shared a recipe for slow roasted tomatoes that she had found in her local newspaper. She mentioned that it was so good that it was now her favorite oven-roasted tomato recipe. I saved the recipe but didn't have a good tomato crop last year.

This year, I have a bumper crop of Chocolate Cherry tomatoes! I knew I needed to do something other than serving them in salads since they are ripening in abundance!

They are the most prolific tomato that I have ever grown and they are bigger than the average cherry tomato and so delicious. I'm not absolutely certain about the name because I bought them last year at the farmers' market, saved the seed from one of the tomatoes, and started plants from that seed early this spring. (I'll be sharing my method of saving seed in a post tomorrow).  Following Cathy's recipe, I halved the tomatoes, but didn't bother scooping out the seeds as she did, because it would have been very labor intensive with small-size  tomatoes.

The tomato halves are tossed with a little sugar and salt and placed cut-side-down on a cookie sheet.  Garlic and onion are sauteed and sprinkled over the tomatoes along with freshly cut basil.  Then, a generous amount of olive oil is added and then the tomatoes are roasted for two to three hours.  I only roasted mine for two hours as they were small.

Two hours later, the lovelies were done.  The skins slipped off so easily after they cooled.  I strained the tomatoes and saved the roasted tomato-onion-basil oil for another use. Cathy suggests using it as a dipping oil for baguettes.  I'm trying that tonight!

The slow-roasted tomatoes made a delicious sauce for the fettucini that I served alongside grilled salmon for our dinner tonight. Oh my goodness, these slow roasted tomatoes are so tasty! I can't wait to harvest enough to make another batch of slow roasted tomatoes for the freezer! The roasted tomatoes would also make a delicious condiment for the grilled salmon.

Your can find the recipe for these delicious slow-roasted tomatoes along with Cathy's tips and suggestions at Wives with Knives here.  Enjoy!

This is my family's favorite recipe for grilled salmon

Grilled Salmon with Garlic Butter
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

4 tablespoons (½ stick) of butter
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Original blend seasoning
Juice of one lemon, strained

1 large, skinless salmon fillet (about 2 pounds) cut into 4 individual portions

Preheat a cast-iron grill or fish grate on an outdoor grill over medium heat. (I prefer to use a cast-iron grill because the skin gets beautifully crispy).

Stir first 4 ingredients together in a small saucepan and cook on stove until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Spray the pre-heated grill pan or grate with nonstick cooking spray and grill the salmon filets for 3-4 minutes, until nicely browned, then turn over with large spatula and grill another 3-4 minutes.

Remove the filets carefully with the spatula and place on a serving platter. Spoon the garlic butter over the filets. Tent the platter loosely with a large piece of aluminum foil and allow to rest for 5-7 minutes before serving.

Grilled Salmon Salad with Mustard-Dill Vinaigrette

My hubby and I have really been trying to eat lighter since the Thanksgiving free-for-all. We've been eating salads, fruits, veggies and fish as often as possible. 

This salmon can be made on a grill or pan-seared.  I serve it on top of my second all-time favorite salad (just slightly behind Caesar salad). I don't have a name for this salad, it was given to me by a friend. The combination of flavors is wonderful. It can be served as a side salad or topped with grilled fish or scallops.

I used some A in 5 boule dough and added herbs and sea salt to make a small dinner loaf to serve with our salad.

 

Here is the recipe for the grilled salmon. I found this on line years ago so I'm sorry I can't give the proper credit. This makes enough for a whole salmon fillet so adjust if you are only making a small amount. I decided to pan-sear my salmon indoors in a cast-iron pan rather than grilling outside. It was only 15F!

Grilled Salmon

½ stick butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp Mrs. Dash original seasoning
Juice of one lemon, strained
1 large salmon fillet

Stir first 4 ingredients together in a small saucepan and cook on stove-top until garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Place fish grate on grill and heat grill to medium heat. Spray with non-stick spray. Grill salmon skin side down first for 4 minutes. Flip over and remove skin. Grill for another 4 minutes and flip again. During last 4 minutes baste with above mixture but beware there will be flare-ups so watch carefully.

After preparing this recipe for a couple of years, I now simply prepare the seasoned butter mixture and pour it over the salmon after it comes off the grill and allow to rest for several minutes.

Here is the salad recipe:

Mustard/Dill Salad with Pine Nuts and Gorgonzola

Dressing:

2t dill
1-2T horseradish mustard or stone ground mustard
1/2-1t salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4C balsamic vinegar
stir these ingredients
add in stream while whisking 1/2C olive oil

Salad:

1 large head romaine
about 1/2- 3/4C pine nuts toasted
Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 'to taste' - about 1-2 ounces.
Optional - Avocado and Tomato

Serve as a side salad or top with grilled salmon or scallops. Yum!

ENJOY!