Grilled Tilapia & Salmon

[Perchoutofwater]

I'm trying to eat healthier, so I find myself eating more grilled fish. Does anyone have any good recipes that are also fairly healthy.

[Bier Meister]

I'm trying to eat healthier, so I find myself eating more grilled fish. Does anyone have any good recipes that are also fairly healthy.

 

 

yes. about to take off. will respond when i get home.

[Seattle LawDawg]

I don't think there's reason to eat tilapia....ever.

 

Preparing salmon depends on the quality and exact fish.

 

King (Chinook) and Sockeye are high in fats and Omega 3s. Fresh fish don't need much - a little olive oil, salt and pepper and stick it on the grill. Let the salmon flavor remain the focus.

 

Silver (coho) don't have the same fat content but the meat is a little sweeter. You need to be careful not to dry them out. For coho, I occasionally mix up a brown sugar, salt, etc spice blend, but again, if the fish is fresh, I'll typically do very little, but with coho, I tend to cook in cast iron on the grill instead of directly.

 

Any of these can and should be planked as well. This is definitely the preferred method throughout the NW. Cedar and Alder work well and are typically easy to obtain. Applewood and some of the other fruit woods work very well too. Just soak the plank for a couple hours and then cook over lower heat. You're not going to flip the fish if planking so at lower heat, it will take awhile longer to cook the thicker pieces through which will give more time for the fish to absorb some of the plank flavor. The plank will probably start burning around the edges. Embrace it...just don't let it catch flames. I know it goes without saying, but even when using planks, hardwood charcoal or wood remains the best to cook over. Just adds more flavor. You can certainly plank on a propane grill but you're going to get limited flavor.

 

If you're going to smoke the fish, here's what I do:

 

Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup salt, 2 tbsp garlic powder, 2 tbsp onion powder, 2 tbsp black pepper in a bowl. Cut pieces of fish to 6"x4". Place the fish directly into the bowl and coat thoroughly. Place fish skin side down in another container (large glass bowl will work well). Stacking the pieces is fine. Some emulsification will take place, so don't fill to the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 days but make sure you rotate the fish if you've stacked pieces. After 2 days, rinse the fish off. You're not trying to remove all the brine, just the excess. Put on cool smoker rack and let sit for 1/2 hour or until it warms to room temp. Preheat smoker and cmoke fish for 6-8 hours (depending on thickness). Hickory, apple, cedar, alder, all work well.

 

If you're eating pink or chum salmon, it's best to plank them, but when you're done, eat the plank instead of the fish.

[Bier Meister]

lavender beurre rouge:

 

2 tbs shallots, minced

1 cup of red wine

1 bay leaf

1 c heavy cream

1/2 tsp dried lavender

1/2 # unsalted butter (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)

salt and white pepper

 

 

in saucepan combine shallots, wine, bay leaf over med heat. reduce liquid to 1/2 cup. add cream and lavender...reduce by 1/2. off of the heat gradually whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time. make sure butter is fully incorporated before adding more. return to heat. season w/ s&p. strain.

 

 

 

fire-roasted tomato vinaigrette:

 

1 # roma tomatoes (cut in half and seeded)

1 c evo

s&p

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbs minced shallot

1 tbs honey

1 tbs grainy mustard

1/4 c sherry vinegar

2 tbs chopped it. parsley

1 tsp chopped oregano

1 tbs chopped basil

 

 

toss tomatoes with evo and s&p. heat until skin is dark. remove 1 tbs of the oil in the bowl used to toss (save the rest)..heat in a pan and add garlic and shallot. add tomatoes and mix well. saute until tom are soft. remove and cool in fridge.

 

place the cooled tom, honey, mustard, sherry vin, and reserved tom oil in a food processor. pulse...then blend... add herbs. season to taste

 

 

i also like going pretty simple when grilling fish.... i do misc relishes.

 

brunoise of tomato, cucumber, capers, a little lemon juice, s&p... finish with a nice evo.

 

i've done fruity relishes also. let me know if you want a few....

 

 

lemon, garlic, evo.

 

 

let me know if you want to look at some asian, greek, carribean or mexican options.

[sundaynfl]

lavender beurre rouge:

 

2 tbs shallots, minced

1 cup of red wine

1 bay leaf

1 c heavy cream

1/2 tsp dried lavender

1/2 # unsalted butter (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)

salt and white pepper

 

 

in saucepan combine shallots, wine, bay leaf over med heat. reduce liquid to 1/2 cup. add cream and lavender...reduce by 1/2. off of the heat gradually whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time. make sure butter is fully incorporated before adding more. return to heat. season w/ s&p. strain.

 

 

 

fire-roasted tomato vinaigrette:

 

1 # roma tomatoes (cut in half and seeded)

1 c evo

s&p

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbs minced shallot

1 tbs honey

1 tbs grainy mustard

1/4 c sherry vinegar

2 tbs chopped it. parsley

1 tsp chopped oregano

1 tbs chopped basil

 

 

toss tomatoes with evo and s&p. heat until skin is dark. remove 1 tbs of the oil in the bowl used to toss (save the rest)..heat in a pan and add garlic and shallot. add tomatoes and mix well. saute until tom are soft. remove and cool in fridge.

 

place the cooled tom, honey, mustard, sherry vin, and reserved tom oil in a food processor. pulse...then blend... add herbs. season to taste

 

 

i also like going pretty simple when grilling fish.... i do misc relishes.

 

brunoise of tomato, cucumber, capers, a little lemon juice, s&p... finish with a nice evo.

 

i've done fruity relishes also. let me know if you want a few....

 

 

lemon, garlic, evo.

 

 

let me know if you want to look at some asian, greek, carribean or mexican options.

 

 

 

The "unhealthy" Bier version of recipe #1 has 2 cups heavy cream and 2 sticks butter... LOL

 

 

I just had salmon tonight, "Yukon River" frozen from last summer... it is my favorite salmon right along side "Copper River" the quality is hugh especially when eating healthy... I pan seared with EVO, tomatoes, garlic, pepper and fennel salt after searing ... I squeezed a few lemons and threw some fresh bail on it prior to broiling... served it up with a bottle of 05 Ambullneo Bulldog Pinot... YUMMMMM...

[Bier Meister]

The "unhealthy" Bier version of recipe #1 has 2 cups heavy cream and 2 sticks butter... LOL

 

 

it makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce....

1) i didn't anticipate 1 person consuming all of the sauce

2) i didn't anticipate him drowning his fish.

[Kid Cid]

I got a couple that I will get back to you with, all are grilled. In fact, I should do a posting on how to grill salmon as well.

 

As SLD said, you should avoid tilapia, it is not a very good fish. Pretty bland tasting and not the healthiest due to the way they are raised. Speaking of farming fish, stay away from the farmed Atlantic salmon. They contain high mercury content because of the farming practices used.

[Perchoutofwater]

As SLD said, you should avoid tilapia, it is not a very good fish. Pretty bland tasting and not the healthiest due to the way they are raised.

 

One of my BIL's businesses is a tilapia farm, so I get it free. While I agree it is by no means my favorites species, you can't beat that price.

[Jimmy Neutron]

I don't think there's reason to eat tilapia....ever.

 

+1.

 

I eat a lot of grilled salmon and it doesn't take anything fancy to get a nice result if you start with a decent piece of fish.

 

Simply grilled over a medium fire with a little EVOO, S&P and fresh lemon is pretty darn good.

 

If you want to add an extra element to the flavor, try putting the filet on a piece of cedar and cooking over high heat. The cedar will start to burn and impart a nice smoke to the fish. I'm not a big smoked fish fan, but this methods cooks pretty fast and adds a nice, subtle flavor to the salmon.

[Bier Meister]

our weather has been pretty wild this month... summer days followed by 5 inches of snow. a few of the days we grilled...did fish tacos with pico (a type of relish), shreaded cabbage, and cilantro lime crema. relishes are a light way to add additional flavor.

[Seattle LawDawg]

our weather has been pretty wild this month... summer days followed by 5 inches of snow. a few of the days we grilled...did fish tacos with pico (a type of relish), shreaded cabbage, and cilantro lime crema. relishes are a light way to add additional flavor.

 

Salmon or tilapia? I eat a lot of salmon and love fish tacos but have never used salmon for tacos. How were they?

 

I think there are two general approaches to doing fish for fish tacos...on the grill, blackened fish seems to work well but you're still going to use cast iron. Otherwise, I bust out the discada and lightly fry the fish while warming the tortillas around the outer edge. But for fish, I usually stick with halibut, mahi mahi, swordfish, and angel shark on the rare occasion that you can find it. Batter is simply rice flour, beer, and some seasoning. Not the healthiest, but tasty.

[sundaynfl]

it makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce....

1) i didn't anticipate 1 person consuming all of the sauce

2) i didn't anticipate him drowning his fish.

 

It sounds good... and you can't drown a fish!

[Bier Meister]

Salmon or tilapia? I eat a lot of salmon and love fish tacos but have never used salmon for tacos. How were they?

 

I think there are two general approaches to doing fish for fish tacos...on the grill, blackened fish seems to work well but you're still going to use cast iron. Otherwise, I bust out the discada and lightly fry the fish while warming the tortillas around the outer edge. But for fish, I usually stick with halibut, mahi mahi, swordfish, and angel shark on the rare occasion that you can find it. Batter is simply rice flour, beer, and some seasoning. Not the healthiest, but tasty.

 

 

i am actually not a fan of salmon, so rarely make it at home. when i do i plank it, marinate it with some type of asian mix, or glaze it. i never use talapia. typically grill cod, halibut, swordfish, bass. (will sear or saute snapper, sole, catfish, trout, etc). on monday i did "cajun" shrimp tacos.... made a cajun butter. let the srhimp absorb it for about 15 min. skewers...grilled em. just awesomeness.

 

your batter is not far off from something i did in the past.... i used ginger ale instead of bier. love rice flour. used to do a fried calamari with it...very light.

 

edit: now... just throwing it out there, but i guess if one wanted to try doing a salmon fish taco one could dress it up with different vinaigrettes, some type of tarragon sauce, dill, whatever..

Edited April 23, 2010 by Bier Meister

[Bier Meister]

It sounds good... and you can't drown a fish!

 

 

our shrimp and ribeye were drowned.... they did a good job with catfish.

 

 

i use about 1-2 oz per portion at home. about 2 oz when plating.

[Azazello1313]

paul prudhomme markets a really nice salmon seasoning. not something I make a lot, but if I feel like salmon, just whipping that out and baking per the instructions on the can turns out a pretty tasty chunk of fish. might be interesting to try on a plank.

[Hugh B Tool]

Salmon: Take fillet put into tin foil large enough to tent on grill, skin side down. S/P to taste, layer a slice(or two) of bacon, fresh dill. a couple dabs of butter and lemon slices. Fold foil so there wont be any leakage and grill over indirect heat for about 9 mnutes. Do not overcook! Open foil and remove bacon etc. Skin should easily peel away at this point, knowing it is done. I also make a yogurt, lemon dill sauce that I spread on the fillet instead of the layering technique. Cook it the same way in the foil. Yummy.

 

As stated before, free or not Talapia should be saved for your migrant workers. Boney, shat eating bottom dwellers that they are

Edited April 26, 2010 by Hugh B Tool

[Seattle LawDawg]

Do not overcook!

 

I don't think there's a more important piece of advice for cooking salmon than that right there.

[twiley]

I eat really healthy now so only olive oil and salt/pepper

 

I also have some herb infused olive oils that work well on the fish to add some extra levels in flavor.

Edited April 26, 2010 by twiley

[Kid Cid]

I finally got some time to get these up...

 

Grilled Salmon with Tomato Chipotle Sauce

 

Sauce

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (you can buy them in a can, I prefer the San Marcos brand, and you can use more if you want a bit more bite)

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

 

4 salmon fillets 6 to 8 ounces each

extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt

ground black pepper

 

Warm the oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or until the garlic is light brown. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Go ahead and crush the tomatoes as they soften. Using an immersion blender (preferred) or a blender or food processor, puree the sauce. Keep warm.

Brush or Spray the fillets with oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set your grill to direct high heat. Grill the fillets, flesh side down, until you can li[][/b]ft them from the grill without them sticking, about 6-8 minutes. Flip the fillets and cook them for another 2-3 minutes. Slide a spatula between the skin and flesh, leaving the skin behind. Serve warm with the sauce.

 

Grilled Salmon with Green Goddess Dressing

 

Sauce

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tbs finely chopped fresh chives

1 Tbs minced scallions

1 Tbs tarragon vinegar

3 anchovy fillets, minced

 

4 salmon fillets, 6 to 8 ounces each

extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt

ground black pepper

 

Whisk the sauce ingredients together to make the sauce. Grill the salmon as described above. Spoon sauce over the fillets, serve immediately

Edited April 29, 2010 by Kid Cid