Quick and Easy Grilled Salmon

Grilled salmon is easy enough to make in a jiffy, yet grand enough to serve to your most important guests. In fact, fresh salmon can be tossed on the grill, either in a grill basket or wrapped in foil, and it still turns out perfect every time.

But, because it may stick to the grill if it's not wrapped, make sure you coat both sides of the fish with nonstick vegetable oil before you place it on the grill. Even when spayed with non-stick vegetable oil, salmon may still stick to the metal a bit, but it will be easier to remove from the basket than from the actual grill.

When the fish is covered in foil, it tends to bake or steam rather than grill. That can taste good, but then you are missing the grilled flavor and grill marks.

Salmon Fillets
When purchasing salmon, make sure you purchase only fresh salmon that is nicely pink with no hint of brown or white. If it smells fishy, it's not as fresh as you might think.

One more thing that is always a tell-tale sign of a fish that is either older than you think or a fish that has been frozen, thawed and perhaps refrozen is the location of where it was harvested. By law fish, products sold in markets must have a tag on them that provides the location in which the fish was harvested. If the location is halfway across the globe, you may want to pass on this particular fish. For the freshest possible fish, choose fish that has been harvested closest to home.

When it is time to grill, grilling salmon in one large chunk is one way to do it. The fish will fit nicely into a fish basket this way, but you can also chunk the salmon into fillets that are more manageable. With salmon fillets, you can also season half of the fillets with a marinade and the other half with dressing poured over the fish right on the grill.

Quick and Easy Grilled Salmon
Ingredients You Will Need:
1 large salmon, cut into chunks and divided
1 bottle Italian salad dressing
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
1 tablespoon dill seed (or weed if seed is not available)
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
½ teaspoon mustard
Sea salt
Ground pepper

Garnish:
½ cup cream cheese or butter
Herb sprigs
Lemon wedges

Separate the salmon fillets into equal portions. Marinade half the salmon for about 10 minutes in the Italian salad seasoning, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Set the timer for five minutes, and then turn the container so that the fish gets good and marinated on both sides. Do not marinade longer than 10 or 15 minutes, or the salmon will become soft. Fish is delicate and breaks down quickly.

Place the marinated fish into a fish basket, and place it directly onto the grill.

For the second portion of the salmon, mix the lemon pepper, dill seed, crushed garlic and dry mustard together, and evenly sprinkle all sides of the fish. Place the fish directly into a grilling pan that can be placed directly onto the grill. Make sure the fillets are not touching.

Grill both the marinated and the spiced fish on each side for approximately four to five minutes. Do not turn the fish until it has grill marks on the flesh. Turn carefully so that the fish does not fall apart.

Serve the fish with a dollop of butter or cream cheese, a sprig of whatever green herb you can get your hands on and lemon wedges.

Another way to serve grilled salmon is on a bed of fresh vegetables. For a real treat, try ginger, leeks, baby carrots and snow peas. Trim and chop the leeks, and use a vegetable peeler to cut strips off the peeled ginger and carrots.