We are really lucky to have so much wild salmon here in the Pacific Northwest, with exotic names like Chinook, Sockeye, and Coho. When I arrived here I was so excited to try them all, but when I first sampled some Sockeye salmon, I didn’t really like it. It tasted way ‘fishier’ to the Atlantic salmon I was used to, and I wasn’t sure it was for me. Three years on, I have come to love and appreciate the wild taste of salmon here, with Chinook (King) being my all-time favorite. As salmon is so plentiful here, we eat it almost every week. In the summer, we like to grill it, or plank it on some cedar wood and serve with a summer salad. This recipe is for a simple salmon salad with some grilled courgettes, lettuce, tomatoes from the garden served with some hard boiled eggs,asparagus, Kalamata olives and French dressing. It’s almost all the colors of the rainbow, and really healthy and delicious too.
Ingredients
Serves 1 – 2
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
- 1 heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Salad
- 5-6 lettuce leaves
- 1 egg, hard boiled, peeled and quartered
- 10 Kalamata olives, halved
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 medium courgette, cut into thin slices with a vegetable peelerd
- 10 spears of asparagus
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1/4 lb of salmon
- Drizzle of olive oil
- salt and pepper
Method
- To make the dressing, mix the white wine vinegar and mustard together with a small hand whisk.
- Add the olive oil, and whisk to combine.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper, and leave aside.
- On a large serving plate, arrange the lettuce, olives, and cherry tomatoes.
- Preheat a gas grill to medium-high heat.
- Put the courgette slices and asparagus spears in a large bowl and cover with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Ensure all vegetables are well coated in oil.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the salmon on a small baking tray lined with foil.
- Season with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Put the salmon on one side of the preheated grill, and place the vegetables (courgettes and asparagus) on the other side.
- Cook the vegetables for about 3 minutes on either side, until they are just tender and starting to char.
- Remove the vegetables from the grill, and leave the salmon to continue cooking for a further 5-6 minutes, depending on cut and thickness.
- Once the salmon had cooked, remove the baking tray from the grill.
- Place the salmon on the serving plate with the lettuce, olives, tomatoes and eggs.
- Arrange the cooked asparagus and courgettes on the side.
- Pour the dressing over the entire salad and serve.
