Summer Salad with Blueberries and Grilled Salmon

A Summer Salad.  This is a refreshing idea in the summer time when you are using the grill more often and do not wish to heat up your kitchen. Even better, the dressing is homemade, no salt and easy to make with basic ingredients from your pantry. Most of my recipes focus on making things from scratch, this way I know what I'm eating.

I use Salmon for dinner on a regular basis as it's one of my favourites and in this case, it grills REALLY well. The whole meal takes approximately 30 minutes to make including prep time.

I recently wrote up a similar recipe, but this one, I use the vinaigrette for the dressing on the Salad, and on the fish. Instead of chopping the Apples and cooking in parchment paper. I've added the link incase you wish to try a similar dish in your oven

Apple Dijon Salmon Fillets





Summer Salad with Blueberries

This post is mostly about the side salad what I call Summer Salad as I have a wide range of ingredients to add in for flavour and texture. Blueberries for me are a natural choice to select as a flavour pairing with Salmon too. They work really well to add sweetness to this salad and cut the bitterness of some of the greens used. I have made variations of this in the past but substitute other ingredients for the Blueberries, depending on what I'm serving as the main dish. I'll comment on that more below.

Ingredient List - Serves two

Salad Dressing 

Roughly half of this dressing will marinate the fish prior to it going on the barbecue.

A a Pinch of Basil, Marjoram and Oregano
1 TSP Dijon Mustard - Whole Seeds
1 TBSP Red (or White) Wine Vinegar
2 TBSPS Olive Oil
1/4 Cup of Blueberries

Whisk together then pour half in a container for the Salmon.

Add the Blueberries in prior to adding any other ingredients and toss them so they are thoroughly coated. I put the dressing with the berries in the fridge until just before I serve dinner. Once the fish is done, I add in the other ingredients then give everything a quick toss prior to plating. I want the flavour of the dressing, but I don't want a wilted salad.

Salad Ingredients

1/4 Head of Iceberg Lettuce
1/2 of a small Radicchio
4 to 5 sprigs of Water Cress, Chopped
1 small Cucumber Sliced and cut in half
2 Red Radishes, Sliced

When working with crispy lettuce varieties, after you have washed and dried the leaves, you want to maintain the snap or crunch in your salad, I don't use the wilted leaves when making the salad  as I want a crunch, so you can either cut the leaves with a very sharp knife or break up the leaves with your hands, being careful not to squish the pieces as you tear them up. Place your prepared salad ingredients in a separate bowl and leave refrigerated until ready to serve.


Grilled Salmon and Apple

Salmon on the barbecue can dry out quickly. If you an control the heat on your barbecue, keep it to around 325 F to 350 F. Place the dressed salmon, flesh side down and wait, don't touch it at all, let the grill marks form and the flesh tuns dark pink. The dressing and the fat from the salmon help seal in the moisture but also give you a nice crispy skin and grill marks.

I add a little Garlic powder to the dressing, whisk it in and brush it over the fish, both sides. I do the same with the slices of apple. Once the grill is up to temperature, place your salmon fillet flesh side down on the grill. Place your apple slices down at the same time.

Approximately 7 to 10 minutes, flip the fillets to the skin side and cover for another 7 to 10 minutes. If the salmon fillets are thin, they will cook faster so watch for the colour on the sides to get to a bright pink.

A very satisfying and bright meal. The Radicchio gives the Salad a bit of bitterness but the Blueberries add some sweet and the Watercress a peppery hint. This is a salad with character.

If you wish to try some variations on the salad, you can substitute blueberries with the following:

• Cherry tomatoes and add fresh basil leaves
• Raspberries and chopped apple
• Watermelon and a add a little extra cucumber

There are endless variations to this salad, a little bit of sweet is all you need to bring out the flavour.

I do hope you enjoy.

I've roasted up some Chick Peas as a snack for my husband and am making Humus this weekend as well so he has healthier choices for the items he takes to work. My garden is coming along nicely and I will hopefully have more time to catch up on my blogging after the fall has come. In the meantime, I am still trading what I am growing with friends and neighbours, and having a blast doing it. I received Palm Sugar and Bags of Rolled Oats recently, so I have a few ideas brewing for future posts and recipes.

You can read more about my thoughts on sharing and trading here. 

Cooking from Scratch and being environmentally friendly.

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