Summer entertaining is back and if you’re wondering what on earth to make, the answer is this grilled salmon recipe. Simple, delicious, and totally stunning, it’s also gluten-free, dairy-free, and meat-free. In other words, it’s an ideal dish for a crowd with diverse dietary requirements. Plus, what could be more summery than strawberry-avocado salsa?
Salsa Is the Easiest Way to Dress Up Dinner
We love salsa as a flavorful and healthy dip for all sorts of snacks, but salsa is also a quick and easy way to dress up grilled protein. In the summer, we love fruit-based salsas, which add great taste and nutrition. You can make fruit salsas with peaches, pineapple, mango — really any fruit you have on hand.
This recipe calls for sweet and juicy strawberries, which are in abundance and taste best in early summer, i.e. right now. Add creamy avocado, along with the sweet bite of red onion, and the fresh zip of cilantro, and you’ve got a salsa you’ll want to make all summer long and put on everything: grilled salmon, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp… you get the idea.
A Note on Buying Salmon
We call for sustainably sourced salmon and your best resource for figuring out what that means is going to be the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. A few things to note: Wild-caught is generally, but not always better than farmed. And fresh is not necessarily better than frozen. That’s because “fresh” fish may have been previously frozen before being defrosted and put out in your grocery store; and “frozen” fish may have been frozen when it was super-fresh, making it, in fact, a fresher choice.
If this is all a bit confusing, we feel you. One solution? Talk to someone at the fish counter. Another? Order your fish online. Here are a few Clean Plates-approved purveyors:
Grilled Salmon with Strawberry-Avocado Salsa
- Serves: 4
- Total Time:15 minutes
- Active Time:15 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 limes
- 1/2 medium avocado, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 6 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1/4 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- Fine sea salt, to taste
- 4 (5- to 6-ounce) sustainably sourced salmon fillets, about 3/4-inch thick, skin removed if you like
- Organic extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
- Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Zest one of the limes and juice it to yield 4 teaspoons of juice. In a medium bowl, combine the zest and juice, along with avocado, strawberries, onion, cilantro, and salt to taste.
- Cut the remaining lime into wedges. Set aside the lime wedges and bowl of salsa separately.
- Prepare a grill to medium-high heat. Brush both sides of the salmon with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the salmon until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
- Serve the salmon hot, with the salsa on top and the lime wedges on the side.