Since moving to the West Coast, I have fallen in love with seafood, especially salmon. My favorite way to cook it is on the grill, lightly oiled, salt, pepper, and often times marinated with barbecue sauce. During the winter months, I like to serve it as part of a comforting dish, in pasta, risotto, or a pot pie, but during the warmer months, spring and summer, my favorite ways to eat salmon is with or a part of a salad. In this case, a salmon and apple salad.

I love making salads. The fact that you can add such a variety of ingredients to one dish is incredible. It’s so easy to incorporate protein, healthy fats, fruits, veggies, and dairy. The opportunities are endless. Everyone who knows me knows that I either bring the dessert or salad to the potluck. Salad is such an easy meal to prepare and with all the colors, it’s easily the show stopper. Fresh crisp greens, bright colorful fruits and veggies, and multiple textures make for a pretty successful meal.

A few ingredients that pair so well together are salmon, apple, and cucumber. For this salmon and apple salad recipe, I used a fresh local Chinook salmon, marinated in barbecue sauce and then grilled for a few minutes on each side. I paired it with sliced Pinata® apples because they are so sweet and tart, crisp and juicy. The cucumber, dill, and green onions really pulled the meal together, and the creamy dill dressing was the icing on the cake. The combination of flavors is perfect. Paired with a nice glass of white wine, this is the ideal meal for a nice Spring evening or a weekend brunch.

Salmon and Apple Salad with a Creamy Cucumber Dill Dressing

Salmon and Apple Salad with a Creamy Cucumber Dill Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 lb salmon
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp barbecue sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • couple grinds of black pepper
  • 1 head of lettuce, chopped (8 cups)
  • 1 Stemilt Piñata® apple, sliced
  • 1/2 cucumber, sliced
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 1/2 small cucumber, peeled and seeds removed
  • 2 green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • juice from 1/2 lemon (1 1/2 - 2 tbsp)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp fresh dill
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Savory salmon and crisp Pinata® apples pair well with a refreshing cucumber, dill and green onion dressing, making this a perfect spring dinner.

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  • Yield
    4 servings
  • Prep time
  • Cook time
  • Total time
  • Cuisine
    American
  • In Category
    Dinner

Instructions

  1. Preheat the barbecue grill to medium-high heat, roughly 400ºF.
  2. While the grill is heating, debone the salmon.
  3. Cut it into 4 - 2-inch pieces.
  4. Brush the salmon with olive oil, then barbecue sauce and then season with salt and pepper.
  5. Let the salmon marinate in the fridge until you are ready to grill.
  6. Once you are ready, place the salmon directly onto the grill.
  7. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes per side or until the salmon has reached an internal temperature of 145ºF.
  8. Remove the salmon from the grill and let cool while you are preparing the salad.
  9. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, apple, cucumber, and green onions.
  10. In the food processor or blender, puree the cucumber. Add the green onions, yogurt, sour cream, garlic, lemon juice, and salt and pulse until smooth. Add the dill and pulse to combine.
  11. Toss the salad in the dressing, enough to coat the lettuce leaves.
  12. You will have plenty of dressing left over to use for another day.
  13. Plate the salads into 4 servings and add a piece of salmon to each. Serve with a lemon wedge.

Nutritional Information

Per Serving

  • Calories: 352
  • Fat Content: 15g
  • Carbohydrate Content: 27g
  • Protein Content: 28g
  • Cholesterol Content: 66mg
  • Fiber Content: 3.3g
  • Sugar Content: 17g
  • Sodium Content: 333mg

Heather Hands

Heather lives in Seattle, where she works as a registered dietitian, food photographer, and recipe developer. She is also the founder of Flourishing Foodie, a food blog that focuses on quick, easy, and delicious recipes using fresh local ingredients. Heather enjoys creating a variety of recipes from pastries, cakes, and cookies, to salads, soups, and pasta, which she will be sharing as a contributor to the Stem blog. Heather’s favorite Stemilt fruit is the yellow peach, juicy and sweet.

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