At a baby shower last weekend, my cousin Paula mentioned this strawberry and fig salmon dish and how it was incredible. Well we’re not to much on fig (not that I wouldn’t try it), but I thought we’d try our own strawberry salmon dish on the grill. Now I know normally you’re supposed to either take off the skin or just not eat it, but this recipe does something to the skin, where it just… I don’t know, I can’t describe it, it just becomes like part of the fish, you can’t even tell you’re eating it. Awesome. Also added pics of the strawberry cobbler I made for dessert too.
Ingredients:
Decent amount of strawberries, I started with 11 and then added about 6 more later on.
Water (2 cups)
Lemon juice (3 shakes)
Basting oil (3-4 second pour, LOL. I used Wegmans)
Agave nectar (3-4 second pour. You can also use honey)
White vinegar (3 second pour)
Southern Comfort (3 second pour)
Cracked peppercorn
Sea salt (I used Trader Joes Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals)
Olive oil
Cedar wood plank
Sliced almonds
Steps:
Chop up the strawberries and move to a small sauce pan with about 2 cups of water. Turn on high heat and add the lemon juice, vinegar, basting oil, and agave nectar. Once you get it boil, reduce heat to low/med and stir with wooden spoon and every so often, mash the strawberries. As it starts to break down, taste to see if its “strawberry” enough for you. If not, cut up and add more strawberries. If it is to your liking, add the Southern Comfort, stir, and remove from heat.
Season the salmon with the sea salt and cracked pepper. Place in ziplock bag and after the strawberry marinade has cooled some, pour into bag, seal, and refrigerate overnight. Soak your cedar plank overnight in water as well.
Prepare grill for indirect grilling and while the coals are heating, toast the almonds in a small pan with a small dab of butter, and the salt and pepper used above. Toast for no more than 3 minutes, if they start getting brown, remove from the heat as they will cook further when on the grill. Using olive oil, coat the top of the cedar plank and place salmon on top, skin side down. Pour remaining strawberry marinade into a cup to use while grilling if you’d like. Drop toasted almonds on top of salmon and place on grill for indirect grilling. If you want more strawberry marinade, gently pour some on top of the salmon before closing the lid. Grill for about 20 minutes and check for doneness. Be careful when cutting to check, as the fish will be very tender and flaky due to the overnight marination. I served this over a bed of rice but you can use whatever suits your tastebuds. Enjoy!