Grilled Salmon with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa and Grilled Vegetables

It's summer time - and it's official because we've started grilling again! It's just not the same when you're using the grill and there's snow on the ground - so now it really feels like summer. The thing with cooking seafood is that whenever you plan ahead you get to the grocery store and the fish you'd planned on doesn't look good. Have a backup plan. In my case - I like going to the seafood department and seeing how the different options looked. Even though the swordfish was on sale it didn't look great so I opted for the salmon, which looked pretty good and was only $8.99/lb. For 3 people I got 1.23 lbs, which was a pretty good amount with just a little leftover.

Grilled Salmon
with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa and Grilled Vegetables
The actual salmon part of this recipe doesn't take a lot of preparation because you'll top it with the homemade salsa. I just rubbed about 1-2 TB olive oil over the salmon filet, as well as a little salt and pepper. You can make the salsa ahead of time if you'd like, but make sure it's done before you put the salmon and veggies on the grill because all of the chopping definitely takes longer than it will to cook your grilled foods.

Fresh Tomatillo Salsa
1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2/3 cup pureed tomatillos (3 small in food processor)
2 cloves garlic
2 medium tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp salt
couple grinds of fresh pepper
1 Tb fresh cilantro, chopped
1 stalk scallion, chopped
1/4 cup frozen corn

1. All of the steps in this recipe are really just chopping all of the various ingredients. You can start with the tomatillos - you'll need to peel off the outer skin, rinse off and chop into small sections before adding them to the food processor to puree. You can also add the garlic to the food processor and puree together.

2. Add the pureed tomatillo to a medium sized bowl and you can start chopping the other ingredients and adding them to the tomatillo mix until you've chopped and added all of your ingredients!

3. The amounts in this recipe made a good cup and a half of fresh salsa. It was plenty to top our salmon with, with enough left to also dip tortilla chips into. I wouldn't add the avocado to the salsa because if you have leftover the avocado won't keep well with all of the liquid in the salsa. Instead, I cut the avocado into slices and topped the salmon with it - that way if I had leftover avocado I could save it separately.

As for the vegetables - this process is less of a science. You can use whatever veggies you'd like! This time I used a mix of broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, mushroom, brussels sprouts, carrots, red pepper and onions. Cut them into similar size pieces so they cook evenly. For a marinade you can get as creative as you'd like - use a salad dressing you have in the fridge that you really like, or just a simple mix of fresh lemon or lime juice, garlic and olive oil. I think the fresh garlic adds a nice touch. This time I used some similar flavors to the salsa - including some fresh cilantro, lime juice and garlic.

I use grill pans for cooking fish and vegetables on the grill. The fish, depending on how thick the filet is, will take about 15 minutes over medium heat. 5 minutes in you can put the vegetables on because they'll only take about 10 minutes. Be sure to spray the two pans with Pam first and put them on the grill while it is heating so that the pans are already hot when you add the food to them. For the vegetables be sure to toss around occasionally so that the layers all get a chance to grill evenly! About 7 minutes in you can also flip over your salmon so that both sides get grilled.

Serve right from the grill and top the salmon with the fresh salsa and a couple slices of avocado! A perfectly healthy summer meal! Feel free to serve with a starch if you'd like - or just with the tortilla chips for the salsa on the side.