Sexy Salmon

I told you I would share my 'Foolproof Salmon' recipe with you, as part of my 'Eating Smart' series, so here goes:


It's only got 4 ingredients.  
1)  A big beautiful sexy piece of fresh salmon
2)  Lemon juice (fresh is best, but out of a bottle will work, too)
3)  Garlic salt
4)  Just a bit of butter

Oh wait!  There's 

5) Heavy duty tin foil.  Regular just will not do.

Place  your sexy salmon on a generous piece of heavy duty tin foil. 

Season well with garlic salt; drizzle with lemon juice to taste; and add a few pats of butter (not margarine, please please please, not margarine!).   Maybe half a stick or so, cut into small pieces.

Then fold over the top of the foil, and then fold up the sides.  The object here is to make a tight package that will not leak, so roll the seam really tight. 

As it cooks over the grill, the butter will melt and mingle with the lemon juice, the salmon will release some of it's wonderful healthy oils, and you do not want to lose a single drop of that wonderful sauce!

One more step before it hits the grill:  I do it again.  I re-wrap it in another layer of heavy tin foil.  Because I do not want to lose a single drop of that wonderful sauce!

Then plunk it directly onto a pre-heated grill on medium high.  Set your watch for 18 minutes.  And walk away.  (If it's a small-ish piece, you might reduce the time to 16 minutes.  But no less.)

Seriously, this is the simplest, most delicious salmon, it's one of my all-time favorites.  Friends of ours in Spokane made this for us one night on the grill (thanks Bob & Linda G!!); that would have been 1980 or so, and I have been serving it up ever since.  For something like 35 years.  (Wow. Now I'm just depressed.)   

Anyhow, the important thing about that extra information is that, in all those years of serving this (regularly) to my family and my guests, it has never ever failed to turn out perfectly.  (Except for that one time, when the foil was pierced and all the wonderful juices escaped, and it was dry and........don't let it leak!!!)  

That kind of track record makes it the perfect company dish for me. I can prep it ahead, even the night before, and the cooking time is pre-determined; there's no turning or burning or over-cooking.   

It comes out well-seasoned, moist, lemon-y and butter-y 

and just juicy-good.   It's really sexy salmon!

Tonight I'm serving it over greens, with a side of cold artichokes. 

 And we are in excellent company; an entire wedding family are here from Venezuela.  We swapped recipes and good conversation, and samples......somehow when food's involved, language is not really a barrier.

And sunsets.  We also shared the sunset.