Thursday, June 26, 2014

Grilled Pistachio Encrusted Salmon

I've been grilling a lot lately so when we went to the shore and got a fresh Salmon, I didn't think about anything except getting some filets on the grill.  The first round was simply salt and pepper on the filets and cooked on a cedar plank.  The smokiness of the board is really nice.

Upon returning from a baseball game, I went to put away the leftover peanuts in the pantry when I ran across some pistachios.  The lightbulb went off.  I thawed a few more filets, cracked the pistachios and did a quick chop of them with my knife.  I peppered the filets but didn't salt the meat side because I was thinking of the salt already on the pistachios.  If you're using unsalted ones, go ahead and salt the meat.  I did salt (and pepper) the skin side.  My partner had the idea of putting "something sweet" on the filets in order to get the pistachios to stick.  I grabbed my bottle of balsamic glaze, put a few stripes on and then smeared it around.  I then dabbed the top side of the fish into the chopped pistachios.  I put the filets on non-stick tin foil and then on the grill.  I had the heat med-low. I usually like to cook most things hot and quick but I didn't want to burn the pistachios because they'd get bitter.  Just as they started to brown, I flipped the fish over to the skin side and let them cook the rest of the way.  That got the skin good and crispy as well.  I served the fish as is but wished I'd done another slight drizzle of the balsamic glaze.  Next time.  The sweet glaze along with the crispy pistachios and the soft salmon was divine.

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