Salmon is by far the most common fish that we eat. Our youngest son loves it. It's easy. It's available in many different varieties, and it's usually fresh. That's my brother Bill up in Washington catching himself a big salmon and loving it! Grilled salmon is a great dish any time of the year where the bbq is in use. Why not tonight?
Ingredients
Directions
Get your grill ready to go - somewhere between 400 and 450 degrees. Clean the grates well. I know there are men out there who believe that cleaning grills takes all of that flavor away. Dudes. That's the worst idea ever. Clean your grates before you cook and after you cook!
Spread the olive oil over both sides of the filet - use a brush or your clean fingers. Sprinkle lemon pepper liberally on non-skin side. If you don't have lemon pepper, plain old salt and pepper will do just fine.
There are different philosophies of how to keep quick cooking foods from sticking to the grill. A common adage is "Oil the food, not the grill." For me, with fish, I like to do both. You need the meat side of the fish to get a nice sear on it, then the rest of the cooking can be with the skin side down. So I oil the fish, and I either spray the grates with cooking spray (safely from a distance) or take some tongs and oiled paper towels and coat the grates that way. You need about four minutes of non-stickiness, and the combo does it nicely.
Place filet on hot grill, skin side up. Grill for 3 minutes. After a minute or so, put your spatula under there, not shifting position, just to make sure the fish is not sticking. With a spatula, turn 90 degrees and grill for 3 more minutes. Do the same non-stick trick after a minute and a half. Use a spatula to turn over. It should look nice like this picture!
Now comes the easy part. Close grill and cook for another 3-6 minutes, until the temperature reaches 130. Some people may like it a little more well done, but in my humble opinion, 130 is the perfect salmon temperature.
Take out with a large spatula. The skin may come off when you pull it off, and that's OK. Place on plate so that the cross hatched grill marks show nicely. Squeeze some lemon over the fish and you are ready to serve!
Ingredients
Directions
Get your grill ready to go - somewhere between 400 and 450 degrees. Clean the grates well. I know there are men out there who believe that cleaning grills takes all of that flavor away. Dudes. That's the worst idea ever. Clean your grates before you cook and after you cook!
Spread the olive oil over both sides of the filet - use a brush or your clean fingers. Sprinkle lemon pepper liberally on non-skin side. If you don't have lemon pepper, plain old salt and pepper will do just fine.
There are different philosophies of how to keep quick cooking foods from sticking to the grill. A common adage is "Oil the food, not the grill." For me, with fish, I like to do both. You need the meat side of the fish to get a nice sear on it, then the rest of the cooking can be with the skin side down. So I oil the fish, and I either spray the grates with cooking spray (safely from a distance) or take some tongs and oiled paper towels and coat the grates that way. You need about four minutes of non-stickiness, and the combo does it nicely.
Place filet on hot grill, skin side up. Grill for 3 minutes. After a minute or so, put your spatula under there, not shifting position, just to make sure the fish is not sticking. With a spatula, turn 90 degrees and grill for 3 more minutes. Do the same non-stick trick after a minute and a half. Use a spatula to turn over. It should look nice like this picture!
Now comes the easy part. Close grill and cook for another 3-6 minutes, until the temperature reaches 130. Some people may like it a little more well done, but in my humble opinion, 130 is the perfect salmon temperature.
Take out with a large spatula. The skin may come off when you pull it off, and that's OK. Place on plate so that the cross hatched grill marks show nicely. Squeeze some lemon over the fish and you are ready to serve!