After my trip to the store for the ingredients my brainstorming really began as I had cherries (and peaches) to use in a salmon recipe. I have used a fruit chutney in previous recipes including my Pretzel Crusted Salmon and my most recent Make it Up Monday (MUM)-Rhubarb Pork Chops, so clearly I could make that option work. But I wanted the use of the fruit to be something different, yet flavorful, more of a fresh look and taste.
Did I hear someone say, "But, it's summer why are you not using the grill?" You must have been reading my mind because, you guessed it I also wanted to try this one on the grill, which is a first for me. So, throw in one of the hottest days of the year, a recipe contest, one determined blogger and this is what you get, enjoy!!
In my efforts of full disclosure, I must add that I did not use any of my OXO utensils and products in this recipe. However, I am wishing I had after hand pitting all those cherries. So, I will be purchasing the OXO Cherry Pitter in the very near future. I DID however, use the OXO Steel Winged Corkscrew to open my bottle of Riesling, which was a perfect wine for this recipe.
Ingredients:
2 packages (4 fillets) of Orca Bay Sockeye Salmon, thawed and with skin removed
1-2 cups of fresh cherries, pits removed
3-4 fresh peaches, cut into slices
Fresh Spinach, amount is up to your preference
1/4 cup of Panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, roughly chopped (I gently rolled over mine with a rolling pin)
1/3 cup of oil in a bowl big enough to dip the fish, I used Zoye 100 % Pure Soybean Oil
Aluminum Foil
Grill basket (optional)
Directions:
-Preheat your grill, as you can see below I use a charcoal grill.
-Place cherries and peaches in a foil, I double layered mine just to be safe. You can see my packet on the left side of the picture below.
-If you are using a grill basket, which I did and left it open faced, line with foil. I also used a basting brush to lightly grease the foil from the bowl already set aside.
-Combine the Panko and the sunflower seeds onto a plate or shallow dish
-Dip or brush oil on both sides of the salmon fillets
-Coat both sides of the salmon with the panko and sunflower seed mixture
-Place into the basket
-Place the Cherries and peaches over an area with lower heat
-Place the Salmon on the grill
-Grill for about 5 minutes per side or until the salmon has an internal temperature of 145 degrees
-Flip the cherries and peaches after about 5 minutes as well.
(Please note that the large foil packet on the right of the picture above was a summer squash that I was grilling, but not using in the recipe)
Plating:
-Place fresh spinach on the plate
-Top with a salmon fillet
-Finish with the cherries and peaches
As a girl who, in the past, has not a big fan of salmon, and is only beginning to appreciate and choose salmon and other types of fish as a dinner option this was delicious and will make it into a more regular "rotation" in this house.
Healthy Eatings,
Rachel