Grilling a salmon is the best way to prepare this fish. I recommend using wild Sockeye salmon, it has a nice bright color and the right texture to hold up under grilling. Farm raised salmon is too soft and flaky to grill well. Preparing both the salmon and grill for the few minutes it takes to grill is essential, otherwise the fish will stick or not cook properly. Make sure to use fillets with the skin on, it helps protect your meat from over cooking and it can be eaten. Keep in mind that wild caught salmon has less fat, so has less margin for overcooking.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs salmon cut into fillet
- 2 garlic cloves – minced
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary – minced
- 1/2 tsp pepper – or to taste
- Olive oil
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients before you start
- Clean your grill – a good way is to preheat the grates and then scrap and scrub them clean. A hack I sometimes use is to cut a yellow onion in half and rub it on the grates while hot. Let the grates cool and finish cleaning. Oil the grates.
- Preheat grill on medium high for fifteen minutes.
- Mix the garlic, lemon zest, salt, rosemary and pepper; rub over the salmon fillets. Let fish stand for 15 minutes (while the grill heats).
- Prior to grilling, rub oil onto both sides of salmon and on the grates using a paper towel soaked in oil.
- Grill salmon – place fillets on grill skin side down. It is important that the skin full cook before flipping (~4 mins) otherwise the skin will stick.
- Carefully flip the fillets and cook another 4 minutes (longer if sticking).
