Grilled Salmon

1-2 pounds of wild caught salmon
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Fish. You either love it or hate it, but many have a fear of cooking it. My cooking style is to take an ingredient and enhancing it, not changing its flavor profile all together. Fish just happens to be one of my favorite things to cook. And right now, we are in the heart of wild caught salmon season. Before you say, “EW! I don’t like salmon. It’s too fishy,” my guess is that you get that farm raised stuff that they add dye to to make it look red. I agree. That stuff is gross.

The key to any fish is to always look for the wild caught variety. If you get a whole fish, such as snapper, always look at the eyes. If they are cloudy, that fish has been sitting there for a bit. I usually grill my fish, so I prefer to leave the skin on. Rinse it off before cooking it. Run your finger over the fillet and make sure there are no pin bones (a pair of tweezers can get those little suckers out without destroying the meat). I have an olive oil sprayer, so spray or lightly coat both sides of the fish with olive oil. One way to add flavor without adding calories is to experiment with different kinds of salts. My favorite salt for salmon is red Hawaiian salt. Most grocery stores carry it. Add some freshly ground pepper.

On a medium high heated grill put the fish on skin side down. Put the lid on and leave alone for about 4 minutes. Most good quality fish will be best cooked to medium. You may like yours more rare or more cooked. I live by my meat thermometer and so I look for an internal temperature of 135 or so. Even if you still don’t like salmon, any fish can really be prepared this way (cooking times will vary).