Grilled Atlantic Salmon with Roasted Garlic and Oregano

Garlic and oregano give the salmon a nice char

Here's a new twist on a favorite of mine: rubbing oregano and roasted garlic powder to salmon and then grilling.  

Prior to grilling pour olive oil on the filet and add oregano and garlic powder

To save on dishes, I prepare the filet right in the paper it came in - I douse the filet with about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and add the oregano.  It's worth it to invest in quality spices.  I found Mediterranean oregano.  It's lighter than your standard dried oregano and has a lemony flavor. 

Not too much - a half teaspoon of each spice (my hand is still a mess from the nasty burns I got 4 weeks ago)

I found roasted garlic powder at Williams-Sonoma.  All of their products are high quality, and though they can have the price tag to match, the garlic was $6.95 - not too bad. 



Let marinate before cooking

Cook flesh side down first

There's the char we're after!

Here are my rules of thumb for cooking salmon filets: 1/2 pound serving per person and grill for two minutes on each side.  As always, make sure the pan is really hot.  Pre-heat over medium heat for several minutes before cooking.  Put the flesh side down first - if you put the skin side down first you'll burn it off, and one of the great things about this dish is the crispy skin.

Dinner is served: I bought prepared brocolli rabe and heated it in the microwave

At this time of year I'm really slammed at work and I come home very tired - usually at 7:30 or 8:00 PM or even later.  I want a home cooked meal but I want it to be easy.  Last night I cooked the salmon and heated up brocolli rabe that I bought prepared.  So, we're talking about 8 minutes of cooking/preparing start to finish.  I can handle that no matter how tired I am.

Ingredients

1/2 lb salmon filet per person.  Wild salmon is the best.

2 - 4 tbsns extra virgin olive oil (2 for the filet 2 for the skillet if needed)

1/2 tspn oregano

1/2 tspn roasted garlic powder

1/2 tspn coarse sea salt

1 lemon for garnish

Method

Pour 2 tbspns olive oil on the filet.  The other 2 tpsns are for the skillet.  My skillet is so well seasoned I don't even need to add oil.

Add the dry ingredients, rub into filet and let stand and marinate.

Pre-heat cast iron skillet over medium flame for 5 - 10 minutes.  My skillet has the raised lines so you get grill marks as you would on a charcoal grill.

Grill for 2 minutes on each side - put the flesh side down first.

Microwave your side dish

Serve immediately and enjoy!