tasty fare for the waning days of summer

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As promised, this is the most amazing freaking salmon you will ever eat. I was so incredibly impressed with this - it's pretty much better than any salmon I've ever eaten in a snazzy restaurant, and it's such a healthy indulgence too. You can't go wrong with this. Assuming you actually eat salmon.

Grilled Salmon with Tuscan Beans and Heirloom Tomatoes

caveat: I did not, in fact, have heirloom tomatoes...sorry. Actually, I didn't have any tomatoes. My tomatoes, which I had been saving all week for this recipe, were rotten. I used green pepper and feta instead. Probably...okay, NOT AT ALL the same, but whatever. It was good.

from Clean Eating magazine, with lots of mods from DNM

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 large red pepper, chopped

side of salmon

1/4 c dried dill (seems excessive but was yummy)

cooking spray

2 large heirloom tomatoes, diced

[1 green pepper, chopped]

[100 g feta, cubed]

Marinade:

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

2 shallots, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 oz capers, drained, rinsed well and chopped

1. Prepare marinade: in a measuring cup, whisk together oil, vinegar, shallots, garlic and capers. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, toss beans, onion and pepper[s and feta] with half the marinade. Set aside. Pour remaining marinade over salmon and sprinkle with dill. Let marinate at least 30 minutes, or up to a day (refrigerate if longer than 30 mins).

salad:

3. Cook salmon. I cooked mine on the barbecue, on an oiled veggie tray (best of both worlds - you get the pure utter deliciousness of grilled salmon, without the pain in the ass of flipping it, or having it stick). I cooked it until it was done (about 10 mins? maybe?) but didn't flip it. This kept all the super fabulous marinade and dill where it belonged....on my salmon....rather than in a burnt offering stuck to my grill). Transfer salmon to a platter and serve with chimichurri sauce (recipe below).

4. Toss tomatoes with bean salad and serve with salmon. I didn't have tomatoes. So I had a bean/feta/onion salad. It was awesome.

salad close-up:

Chimichurri sauce (makes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much for one meal unless you plan to eat it as soup. I froze the rest, but consider halving the recipe)

4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 bunches parsley, including stems, washed

2 T dried oregano

6-7 fresh basil leaves

1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped

6 T olive oil

6 T apple cider vinegar

juice of one lime

sea salt

pepper

[I added a good healthy shake of cumin and some smoked paprika to get a heartier, richer flavour]

1. Puree the whole mess in a food processor or blender. VOila. That's all there is to it.

This is a very intense, flavourful sauce. It was superlative with the salmon. in fact, probably the best combination of salmon-friendly flavours that I"ve ever eaten. The whole time we were eating this, I was actually moaning and groaning with pleasure. Hubs would have normally humoured me, except we were outside and have no fence....hehe. Apparently, I can be embarrassing in my culinary enthusiasm at times??? who knew...

Anyway, this salmon recipe was amazing. The very edges of my side of (skinless) salmon were just a bit crisp, but the whole of it was moist and juicy and decadent and flavourful. Considering this came from a healthy eating magazine....colour me impressed. DELICIOUS. Make it.

Thanks for reading. ;) And if the blog is too infrequently updated for your taste, follow me on twitter! I tweet all the time and it may satisfy your cravings for indulgent food-related snark.