I hadn't even planned on this "menu" but I was in the grocery store and saw some beautiful Sockeye Salmon filets and at that point I had no choice any more.
So I bought a filet that was a little over a pound,
(look at that gorgeous color!)
and a couple bunches of asparagus,
and this blend of rices and grains:
Bill actually did most of the cooking on this - he is the Grill Master. I cooked the rice (according the the package directions, only I used chicken stock instead of water) and annoyed him by taking pictures, especially while he put together the marinade:
First some of this heavy-duty soy sauce....
And some of this lighter soy sauce...
A little olive oil...
A little honey...
Some sesame oil (yum!)...
A splash of rice wine vinegar...
A shallot, minced...
A clove of garlic, minced...
And a little knob of ginger, peeled and minced.
Now, whisk it all together,
And there it is. No measurements - just a splash of this and a bit of that, all done to taste.
And then you just pour it over the salmon, which I'd placed in a 13 x 9 baking pan.
Flip the fish over so the flesh side is down in the marinade.
And while this sat, I got the rice started and Bill got the coals going outside.
And while we waited for the coals to heat up, we had a bit of this:
I'd never had it before - it's carp roe in a sort of mayonaise-like spread. A bit more mild than I'd expected, but it was nice on these little rye crackers.
After about fifteen or twenty minutes, Bill started grilling the fish, and I prepped the asparagus. And that consisted of rinsing them off and cutting off the ends of the stalks...
and then coating them lightly with a mixture of olive oil, salt and pepper.
Now, you don't want to over cook fish. Ever. So basically what you really want to do is under cook it just a bit - or however undercooked you are comfortable with. This salmon is hard to judge for doneness if you're going by color - the gorgeous red color doesn't lighten all that much when it cooks. I go by feel - it should be soft and springy to the touch, and just starting to flake if you check it with a fork.
Ideally you should serve it straight from the grill, but the rice wasn't done yet and the asparagus hadn't been done either. So the best thing to do with fish is to cover lightly in foil to retain the moisture.
The fish cooked for about 8 minutes, I think, and the asparagus for about the same length of time. Once the rice was ready, it was time to dish it up.
And there you go. Very simple and very healthy. And, of course, delicious.
