Grilled Bruschetta and Salmon

A grilled lunch for a perfect Saturday.

 

 

1 ripe tomato, diced

4 large basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp or so of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 large garlic clove, pressed
Salt and Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Loaf of crusty sourdough bread, cut into thick slices
2 5-oz salmon filets, with skin
Tajin seasoning (we put this on everything!)

Preheat grill to high, about 450˚.

In a small bowl, combine tomato, basil, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle with EVOO and mix; set aside. Prepare toast by brushing both sides of bread slices with EVOO; set aside.

Season skinless side of salmon with Tajin. Place skin side down on grill, allowing to char, about 3-4 minutes. Flip salmon and carefully remove skin. Allow to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Flip filet again and grill 1-2 minutes. Filets should easily flake, do not overcook.

Grill bread for about one minute. Flip bread and move to top rack of grill, away from direct heat. Spoon tomato mixture onto each slice and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Plate salmon over a small bed of baby kale and serve with the bruschetta.

 

Grilled Salmon Burgers with Kale and Caprese Salad

I love salmon. I can literally eat it every day. I’ve also been on a kale kick. And that’s how this little beauty was created. This was yesterday's healthy lunch.

 

 12-14 oz minced or ground fresh salmon
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp mayo
1 large slice of sourdough bread, diced (you can use regular or panko breadcrumbs too)
1/4 small red onion, minced
½ small red bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp freshly minced Italian flat leaf parsley
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Kale, stalks removed and roughly chopped

Thinly sliced red onion, 2 or 3 rings
Vinaigrette dressing

2 Ciabatta rolls

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Caprese salad

1 large, ripe tomato, sliced
1 large fresh mozzarella ball, sliced
Balsamic vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
4 large fresh basil leaves, sliced

In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients for salmon patties. Using wet hands, shape mixture into 2 patties. Over medium high heat, grill until cooked all the way through, about 3 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Cut Ciabatta rolls in half and lightly brush insides of rolls with EVOO. Place open sides on grill to lightly toast.

In a small bowl, combine kale and red onion. Toss with vinaigrette.

To plate, make a Caprese salad on one side by layering slices of tomato and mozzarella. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with basil leaves.

Assemble salmon burger by placing salmon patty on toasted bottom roll. Top with kale salad and add top roll.

 

 

Chimichurri Salmon with Roasted Cauliflower

Chimichurri Sauce & Marinade:
½ cup firmly packed fresh flat leaf parsley, remove stems
3 garlic cloves
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

In a food processor add parsley and garlic; process with a few pulses. Stir in EVOO, vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Use half of the sauce to marinate the salmon filets for at least 30 minutes. Save the rest to use as a topping once fish is grilled.

Roasted Cauliflower:

2 cups of cauliflower florets
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Salt and pepper
Fresh lemon juice
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place cauliflower on a baking tray, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast cauliflower for 15 minutes. Using tongs, flip florets over, spinkle with lemon juice and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until florets are browned and just fork tender. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

 

Serve grilled fish over a bed of rice with cauliflower. Drizzle fish with extra chimichurri sauce.

If you like this recipe, try these:

Chimichurri Steak

Chimichurri Chicken Pita

 

Cheesy Salsa Fresca Pasta

This may sounds strange, but it’s really tasty. It’s cheesy with a fresh and spicy kick. Top with your favorite grilled meat – chicken or fish.

 

5 oz premade Alfredo sauce

½ cup pico de gallo (salsa fresca)

Fettuccine pasta

In a sauce pan, combine Alfredo sauce and pico de gallo; heat through. Boil pasta according to directions. Drain and toss with sauce mixture.

Top with grilled chicken or fish. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Tip: For a quick chicken or fish seasoning, sprinkle with taco seasoning.

Jalapeno Crab Stuffed Salmon

I wanted to do something different for dinner with my salmon, so I opened up my cupboard to see if any brilliant ideas would jump out at me. A can of crab and a can of diced jalapenos caught my eye. I love crab stuffed jalapenos, so I wondered what would happen if I stuffed that inside of salmon. Viola! Jalapeno crab stuffed salmon…delicious!

2 salmon filets

1 can of white lump crab, drained
2-3 oz of canned diced jalapenos
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 green onion sprig, chopped
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine crab, jalapenos, cheese and green onion, but do not over mix. Set aside.

Season filets with salt and pepper. Using a sharp knife, cut a slit in the middle of each filet. Stuff filets with crab mixture. Place filets on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn to broil, move fish to the top of the oven and broil for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

Helpful tip: To know if your fish is cooked, it should easily flake with fork and no longer be translucent in the center.

Wild Rice

I found this gourmet blend of wild and whole grain brown rice from Lundberg Wild Blend at the grocery store. I’m not usually a fan of brown rice since the texture can sometimes be tough. I cooked the rice according to the directions and it this was actually tasty (and of course healthy, which is the point of eating this in the first place, right?).

½ cup Lundberg Wild Rice Blend

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
¼ small yellow onion, diced
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Salt to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper

In a pot, add rice, broth and EVOO. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, turn heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan with EVOO, sauté carrots, celery and onion. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for about 5-7 minutes.

Once rice is done, stir in veggies and fluff rice. Set aside and let sit covered for 10 minutes.

Serve with grilled salmon and asparagus. Garnish salmon with a lemon slice.

Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa over Mango Rice

This colorful dish is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy with a tropical flare.

Avocado Salsa:

I large avocado, diced
1/2 small red bell pepper, diced
1/2 small yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced
½ small red onion, diced
Juice from one lemon
Salt to taste
(I would have added minced cilantro too, except I didn’t have any on hand)

Mango Rice:

I cup of white long grained basmati rice
2 cups coconut water
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
½ tsp salt
1 mango, diced

Salmon:

2 Salmon filets
Cajun seasoning (or I also like to use Lemon Pepper on one side and crushed red pepper flakes on the other)

For salsa, combine all ingredients, toss with lemon juice and season with salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For rice, in a rice cooker, combine rice, coconut water, EVOO and salt; cook until ready. Stir in mango; set aside.

For grilled salmon, heat grill to med-high. Season salmon. Skin side down, cook salmon until skin is charred. Flip filets over, turn heat to low, remove charred skin, season other side and grill until salmon is cooked through. The filets should flake easily with a fork and still be a little translucent in the middle. Depending on thickness, cook time should be approx. 6-8 minutes per side.

To plate, make a bed of mango rice topped with salmon. Spoon avocado salsa over salmon. Enjoy!

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon with Vegetable Stir Fry Rice

2 salmon filets
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Juice from one lime
1 cup white long grained basmati rice
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 large carrot, peel of ribbons
½ yellow onion, sliced
About 5 asparagus, cut into ½” pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
¼ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
Sea salt
EVOO

In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce, brown sugar and lime juice until combine. Marinate salmon for 30+ minutes.

Cook rice in chicken broth in rice cooker until done.

Preheat grill to med-high heat. Grill salmon skin side down until crispy. Flip filets and turn heat to med-low. Remove skin and cook until just flaky, but not over cooked.

In a wok or large sauté pan over med-high heat, drizzle EVOO and cook vegetables, garlic and cilantro for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and drizzle with a few dashes of extra soy sauce. Add cooked rice and mix together.

Serve grilled fish over a bed of vegetable stir fry rice.

Note: If you’d like to spice this up a bit, add freshly sliced jalapenos to the vegetable stir fry or add pepper flakes when seasoning.

Baked Pesto Salmon

This dish was so easy and fast to make.
It was very delicious and I plan on making it more often.

Pesto Salmon:

2 salmon fillets

Salt & pepper, to taste Pesto sauce

1 ripe tomato, sliced

Foil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (I used my toaster oven).

Take a long piece of foil, drizzle with EVOO. Place salmon, skin side down on foil. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon pesto over salmon and top with tomato slices. Bring each side of foil together and crimp closed, to make a packet. Bake for 13 minutes. Let the fillets sit in the packet for 2-3 minutes before opening.

Mashed Potatoes:
2 large red skinned potatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
Salt & pepper, to taste

2 green onion sprigs, sliced

In a pot of boiling water, cook potatoes until fork tender, about 15 minutes; Drain. Return potatoes to pot with butter and milk; mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in green onions.

Serve salmon over a bed of mashed potatoes.

Lentil and Cabbage Salad with Beets

I received this month’s Food & Wine mag in the mail today and was inspired by one of their recipes. The hubby LOVED it! He said it was a "flavor explosion in his mouth" and that this was the type of dinner he’d want me to make if his boss were to come over. Obviously he liked it. Though he said the name of the recipe wasn’t too appetizing, and that it sounds more like something they’d serve in an orphanage as a punishment. I guess I have to work on that.

1 cup lentils
4 thick slices of bacon
½ cup EVOO
Juice from one lemon
2 large beets
3 Tbsp freshly minced parsley
1 ½ cups chopped green cabbage
½ cup blue cheese crumbs
Salt and fresh cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and cut beets into large cubes. Toss with EVOO, place in a casserole dish, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes, or until beets are fork tender. While beets are baking, cook lentils.

Place lentils in a pot and cover with about 1 inch of water. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes, until they are tender. Drain and set aside. While lentils are cooking, cook bacon.

In a skillet over med-high heat, cook bacon until crispy. Once done, set on paper towel lined plate. When cooled, roughly chop; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk EVOO and lemon juice together; season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss lentils, cabbage and parsley with lemon dressing.

Plate lentil and cabbage salad topped with warm beets. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with bacon and blue cheese. Serve with grilled salmon or sautéed pork chops.

Cilantro Lime Salmon

After this recipe, I will definitely will be using more lime in my dishes going forward,...and I might even plant a lime tree!

2 salmon filets, skin on
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of one lime
Zest of one lime
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp EVOO
salt
fresh ground pepper

Rice:
1 cup of water or chicken broth
½ long grained basmati rice
¼ cup frozen edamame
¼ cup frozen chopped spinach
1 green onion sprig, chopped
Juice from ½ lime
Zest from one lime (save some to sprinkle on top of finished dish)

In a small bowl, combine cilantro, juice of one lime, zest of one lime, garlic, EVOO, salt and pepper into a bowl. Marinate salmon in mixture in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Heat grill to high heat, grill fish skin side down 5-7 minutes, until skin is crisp. Flip fish, remove skin, squeeze juice from half a lime onto fish. Continue cooking for a few more minutes, until fish easily flakes and is still pink in the middle.

In a rice cooker, add water, rice, a drizzle of EVOO and salt. When the rice is almost done, mix in edamame, spinach and green onions. When rice is finished mix in lime juice and zest; fluff.

Serve fish over rice and sprinkle with extra lime zest.

Grilled Salmon and Pesto Gnocchi

2 salmon filets, skin on
Salmon seasoning (salt and lemon pepper)
1 package of potato gnocchi (found near pasta in the grocery store)
1 jar of pesto
½ red bell pepper, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
EVOO
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp freshly minced parsley

Preheat grill to high. Cook seasoned salmon, skin side down over high heat for about 6-7 minutes.

Flip filets over, remove skin, and cook the other side for about 2-3 minutes. When fish is ready, it should easily flake.

Boil water in a large pot for the gnocchi. Cook according to the directions on the package by boiling for 3-4 minutes until they float to the top. Drain. Toss with pesto.

In a small sauce pan, heat a drizzle of EVOO over med-high heat. Sauté bell peppers and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until tender.

Serve by plating pesto gnocchi, add salmon and top with bell pepper mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and parsley.

Salmon over Arugula with Potato Rockefeller

After having Kumpir at my friend’s house this weekend, it awakened my dream of owning an eatery. Eatery, not restaurant, because it’s modeled after the eateries in Europe, where you don’t sit down, but stand to eat, or grab and eat on the go. My eatery is called Spuds and features potatoes with gourmet toppings. A complete meal on a baked potato or toppings for mashed potatoes in a cone to eat on the go!

So, get ready for a spud-tastic journey,…ummmm,…so, get ready for a potato-licious journey…well, okay...I’m still working on the potato pun and the journey that’s going to delight your taste buds. There's a lot of potato ideas in the pipeline, so stay tuned.

Here’s my first one: Potato Rockefeller.

2 large red skinned potatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh watercress leaves
½ frozen spinach, defrosted and water squeezed out
3 Tbsp chopped green onions
1 celery rib, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter
Pinch of Cayenne pepper
2 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
3 Tbsp parmesan cheese (save 1 Tbsp for topping)
Arugula salad
Vinaigrette

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Clean potatoes, cut in half and pierce holes with a fork. Bake for 40 minutes. Scoop a little hole from the center of the potato. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine watercress, spinach, green onions, celery and garlic. Over med-high heat, melt butter in a pan, add watercress/spinach mixture. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Return to mixing bowl and mix in bacon, 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into potatoes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake until tops are golden, about 10 minutes.

Toss arugula salad with remaining parmesan cheese and vinaigrette dressing. Top with grilled salmon and serve with the Potato Rockefeller.

Grilled Salmon over Garlic Spinach and Cheesy Twice Baked Potato

2 salmon filets, boneless with skin
Zesty Italian Dressing
1 large russet potato, cleaned
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp butter
1 Tbsp chopped chives
Salt
Pepper
1-2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 garlic clove, minced
EVOO

Marinate fish filets in Italian dressing for 30+ minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pierce potato with fork. Bake for 1 hour. Cut in half and carefully scoop insides out, do not puncture the skin. In a small bowl, mix potato insides, cheese, butter, chives, salt and pepper. Fill potato skins with mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for another 15 minutes. Broil for last 5 minutes.

Grill fish over high heat, skin side down for about 9 minutes, flip and remove skin; grill for an additional 4-5 minutes, until fish is cooked all the way through and flakes easily.
In a small frying pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat sauté spinach with garlic until spinach is wilted.

Plate with spinach, top with salmon and serve with potato.

Salmon with Sun Dried Tomato Rice Pilaf

Around Christmas time, I like to cook with ingredients that are red and green. This is how I was inspired to make this rice pilaf.

2 salmon filets
Lemon pepper seasoning
1 cup of white, long grained basmati rice
2 cups of water
3 Tbsp dried mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 green onion stalk, chopped
1 Tbsp of red pepper and artichoke bruschetta, jarred
Juice from ½ a lemon
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
Sea salt
EVOO

In a rice cooker, add rice, water, a drizzle of EVOO and mushrooms. Cook until almost done and then mix in sun dried tomatoes, green onions and bruschetta. When finished, season with salt, to taste.

In a medium sauté pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat. Season salmon with lemon pepper seasoning and salt. Skin side down, cook salmon for about 5 minutes. Flip fish, turn heat to low, remove skin from other side and drizzle with lemon juice. Cover and cook for a few more minutes, until fish is no longer pink in the middle and flakes easily. Remove from pan.

Add zucchini slices to the same pan and turn heat to high. Sauté zucchini until tender, about 2-3 minutes.

Make a little bed of zucchini slices and top with salmon. Serve with rice.

Grilled Salmon with Sundried Tomato and Mushroom Cous Cous

2 salmon filets, skin on
Grill seasoning
1 box of cous cous (olive oil and garlic flavor)
2-3 Tbsp sundried tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup of dried wild mushroom pieces
2 green onion sprigs, chopped
Zest of one lemon
Crumbled feta cheese (sundried tomato and basil flavor)

In a medium pot, add 1 ¼ cup of water, sundried tomatoes and mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Mix in cous cous with seasonings from box. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir in green onion, lemon zest and feta cheese.

Season salmon filets with grill seasoning. Heat grill to high heat. Grill salmon skin side down for about 7-8 minutes, flip filet and grill for an additional 2-3 minutes until no longer pink in the middle. Skin should remove easily.

Plate salmon and cous cous together. Serve with lemon wedge.

Salmon with Stewed Tomatoes and Sauteed Spinach and Potatoes

2 salmon filets
Grill seasoning
1/3 can of diced tomatoes, drained
½ bag of baby spinach
2 cloves of garlic, minced
EVOO
2 large red skinned potatoes
¼ cup of milk
1 Tbsp butter
1-2 Tbsp of sour cream
Salt and pepper

In a steamer, cook potatoes until fork tender about 15-20 minutes. Drain excess water and mash with potato masher. Add milk, butter, sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. Mash together well. Cover and set aside.

In a medium pan, heat EVOO over high heat. Season salmon with grill seasoning. Sear skin side of salmon down for 2-3 minutes until skin is crispy. Flip filet, add tomatoes, turn heat to low, cover and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes until fish is no longer pink in the middle and flakes easily with a fork.

In a small pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat. Sauté spinach and garlic until spinach is wilted.

Assemble dish by plating spinach and potatoes. Top spinach with salmon and top dish with tomatoes.

Grilled Salmon with Pesto Pasta and Veggies

2-4 salmon filets, depending on people or how much leftovers you want
Grill seasoning
Lemon and Pepper seasoning
½ box of Gemelli pasta
½ jar of Classico Pesto sauce
1 large yellow baby summer or Pattypan squash, cut in bite sized pieces
About 5 mini bell peppers, red and orange, sliced
½ jar of marinated, quartered artichoke hearts, drained
2 large garlic cloves, minced
Crushed black pepper
Sea salt
EVOO
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Boil pasta in salted water for about 12 minutes, until soft. Drain, return to pot and toss with pesto sauce. Cover and set aside.

Season salmon and grill skin side down over high heat for about 6 minutes. Flip filet, turn down heat and cook for a couple more minutes until the fish is not longer pink in the middle and can flake easily with a fork. While the second side is grilling you can peel the skin off the other side.

In a sauce pan over medium high heat, sauté squash and bell peppers in EVOO. Season with pepper. When the veggies are almost fork tender, add artichokes, garlic and season with salt to taste.

Plate salmon with a side of pasta topped with veggies. Finish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Note: I was going to add sauced baby spinach with garlic mixed in with the pasta, but I forgot to do it! This would add another healthy veggie and nice color to the overall dish.

Yummy Camping Dinner: Salmon Foil Packet

I've heard this type of meal referred to as a "hobo packet" but we like to fancy it up by adding salmon! This dinner is so good that we usually have it twice in one week when camping. Basically, you add all your ingredients in a foil packet, throw in the fire to cook for 45 minutes and enjoy. The perfect camping meal!

Layer the ingredients you like:

Cooking the foil packets in the fire:


Open packet carefully so ashes from the fire doesn't get into your food:

Slide dinner out of foil packet and carefully onto a plate:


Ingredients (split veggies into two halves for two packets)
2 salmon filets
1 large red potato, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced about half as twice as the potato (not too thick or it won’t cook enough)
1 sliced mushroom (for my packet only, not for Ben’s since he hates mushrooms)
½ green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 small tomato, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly crushed pepper
EVOO

Start fire with wood or charcoal. Wait until fire dies down a bit before adding foil packets to heat.

Lay a piece of aluminum foil on the table. Drizzle EVOO on the foil. This will prevent the food from sticking (hopefully). Start layer with potato slices, then salmon, minced garlic, S&P, the rest of the veggies and another layer of potato slices. Try to put the heartier ingredients, like the potatoes and carrots, on the outside of the packet since these will take longest to cook. Drizzle more EVOO over the top of the other layer of potatoes, to prevent the top from sticking to the foil.

Take two sides of the foil and crimp and roll down together, to make a tight seal. Repeat with the other two sides, or twist tightly to make a candy wrapper shape (like a Werther's). Add packets on top of hot wood or coal, covering packets with hot pieces of wood/coal. Cook for about minutes.

Carefully open packets so the ashes from the fire don’t fall into the dinner. Enjoy!

You can also make these packets with sausage, chicken or ground beef.

Grilled Salmon with Bulgur and Veggie Salad

3 Salmon Filets
Grill seasoning
½ cup of Bulgur
1 cup of chicken broth
1 small zucchini, diced
1/3 red bell pepper, diced
2 rings of a red onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
Herbed goat cheese, in chunks
Lemon Pepper seasoning, a few dashes
Sea salt, a couple dashes
2 tsp of EVOO
Juice of 1/4 a lemon

Season salmon and grill skin side down for about 8 minutes. Flip filets over and grill for another 4 minutes or so until no longer pink in the middle. Should flake easily but don’t overcook.

Boil broth, add bulgur, cover and turn off heat. Stir occasionally and let sit for about 15 minutes. In a small sauce pan over med-high heat, heat EVOO and sauté zucchini, pepper, onion, garlic, lemon pepper and salt.

Let bulgur and veggies cool. Mix together. Add lemon juice and goat cheese.

Serve salmon with bulgar and veggie salad.

NOTE: Bulgur is a grain similar to cous cous or quinoa.