Tomato-Basil Salmon and the 5 Best Fish Grilling Tips

What a fun summer it’s been launching a series of grilling classes! My poor husband endured the recipe testing in stride—let me just say, even awesome grilled fish five times in one week starts to push it. However, these 5 Best Fish Grilling Tips were born out of such week-long endeavors. It has been such a delight to gather friends and grilling enthusiasts around picnic tables on warm summer days to talk good food and grilling.

More Grilling Classes are being scheduled!

Through this new adventure, I have realized how much teaching stirs my passion for bringing healthy, whole food cooking and people together. The face-to-face time is such a treat and there is no better compliment than hearing someone say, “I can do this” when they leave the class. Knowing they feel new confidence warms me all the way to my toes. My plan is to secure a commercial kitchen in the near future so I can teach classes year-round.

It’s been a busy time with little time for posting recipes, so I have some catching up to do with you.

Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Basil Butter Sauce is a combination of two of our grill class recipes. I created the Grilled Tomato-Basil Compound Butter for Grilled Herb-Buttermilk Chicken and with a splash of dry white wine, it finishes this salmon just as beautifully. Versatility is one of the things I love about having compound butter in my freezer for any flavorful whim (or wild hair, as my mom would say). It is a staple in my kitchen and is easy to make ahead to quickly dress up any roasted, pan seared, grilled meat or fish.

Need an instant sauce for your grilled salmon?

Add a splash of wine, lemon juice or red wine vinegar to thin and balance the richness of the butter, creating a sauce instead. Include homemade chicken stock along with any of these acids (use a combination of chicken stock and lemon juice as a sub for wine) to stretch it to cover more servings. How much you’ll need will be determined by your own taste.

5 Best Tips for Grilling Fish: 

Fish is a delicate protein and prone to overcooking quickly. Following these tips will provide greater success when cooking fish with fire.

1. Start with a clean, oiled grill grates. The best way to clean grill grates is high heat for at least 15 minutes to burn off any residue and follow up with a good grill brush. Turn down the heat and oil the grates using the bottom of a sliced onion dipped in oil—trim 1/2-inch off the bottom of an onion, stab with a fork to create a handle, dip the sliced side in oil and use it to spread the oil over the grates. Fish is easier to turn and keep intact if it doesn’t stick.
2. Brine the fish before it hits the grill. Brining the salmon enhances its natural flavor, helps keep it moist, and diminishes the white albumin film that forms as it cooks (remember, the first bite is with our eyes). I like to use a simple salt brine as indicated in the recipe because I’m finishing the salmon with compound butter or a sauce, but herbs and other seasonings can be added too. Just be careful with adding acids like lemon juice so it doesn’t “cook” the fish before it gets to the grill.
3. Protect the fish with a barrier between it and the fire with wood planks, sliced citrus, or skin-on cuts. Leaving the skin on fillets protects it from direct heat, as does cooking it directly on wood planks or sliced citrus. If you have skinless fillets, placing cedar planks or sliced lemons on the grill grates to form a bed for the fish provides protection and adds flavor as it cooks. Don’t worry, you can still slide the almost-done fish directly onto the grill grates the last minute or so of cooking to get those pretty grill marks. The plank or the grilled lemon slices can be used for an enhanced presentation as well.
4. Watch it closely (don’t leave the grill). I know sticking close to the grill might seem obvious to point out, but it is so easy to get distracted or try to do too much at once. One of the advantages of fish is how fast dinner can be done on a busy night. But it’s also a drawback if you’re not paying close attention as it goes from perfectly tender and moist to dry and overcooked in less than a minute. It’s best to get side dishes or sauces ready before it meets the heat.
5. Use a timer and an instant read thermometer for accurate doneness. A rule of thumb is 10 minutes of cooking time for every inch of thickness, but that is a loose guideline since thickness and density vary widely. The best way to make sure it’s done is to test the thickest part of the fish with an instant read thermometer. You can pierce the flesh with a sharp knife to peek inside to check for flakiness and to make sure it’s barely translucent, but I find the thermometer to be faster and more reliable. Here’s the one I use: http://www.thermoworks.com/ThermoPop

What else you’ll need for easy grilling:

Fancy fish baskets might make it slightly easier to turn the fish, but they don’t prevent sticking and are a mess to clean. A wide spatula with a thin, tapered edge like a fish turner is the only special equipment you will need to make grilling fish a breeze. For more delicate fish, it is handy to have two of these spatulas or you can use nitrile gloves like I do. I use the spatula to lift the fish off the grill grate, while using my gloved, left hand to gently turn the fish over. The gloves help protect my hands from the heat of the grill (or chile peppers), giving me better hands-on control. These gloves are a staple I use almost every day for various tasks in the kitchen.

Looking for a little more smoky flavor? This summer, I discovered Mo’s Smoking Pouch Kit with Natural Wood Chips Smoking Pouch Kit with Natural Wood Chips and it’s been worth every penny. I’m not big on cooking or grilling gadgets, but this has proved to be the real deal.

It’s a stainless steel pouch you can throw on any charcoal or gas grill for added smoke without risking flare-ups like you can get with bare wood chips. The pouch is small, producing smoke for 15-20 minutes, so it’s ideal for quick-cooking foods like steak, chops, fish, burgers, and vegetables. This is the actual kit I ordered and have loved using it:

Now you’re ready to make this Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Basil Butter Sauce Recipe!

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