Saturday Night Grilling

This meal was driven by a couple of things. Yesterday we finally managed to make it to the Palo Alto farmers' market (Saturday's have been way too busy this summer) and pick up some salmon and snapper. This week's CSA box had a bunch of plum-type tomatoes that were kind of taunting me to come up with a plan for them. Since the salmon was destined for the grill (I would have done the slow-cooking thing, but we had friends over for dinner and the timing wasn't going to work for that), I figured I'd throw the tomatoes on the grill too and make a grilled tomato gazpacho.

I did the grilling using the "charcoal + log" method (put an almond log across the coals after pouring them out of the chimney), which was just great for this. Having the open flame was very useful for the tomatoes and starting the salmon and then the smokiness after covering the grill flavored and colored the salmon beautifully.

So we ended up having grilled tomato gazpacho with grilled tortillas, grilled salmon with ginger jam, and a green salad with a vinaigrette with a hint of sesame oil.

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Grilled Tomato Gazpacho:
8 big plum tomatoes, halved
1 big cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 red onion, diced and rinsed with cold water
1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped
chicken stock
balsamico
good olive oil
pimenton
sweet paprika
salt and pepper
sour cream for serving

Combine the cucumber and onion with some salt, mix well, and let stand while you do everything else. I actually let this stand for a couple hours, but I don't think that's necessary.

Grind some pepper over the cut side of the tomatoes and put them skin-side down on a very hot grill. Let the tomatoes sit until the skin starts to blacken, then gently move them to a cooler part of the grill until they soften.

Drain whatever liquid has come off the cukes and onion, then transfer them to a blender. Add some of the tomatoes and enough chicken stock to allow the blender to work. Blend until homogeneous but not smooth (you want some texture), then transfer to a serving bowl. Add most of the rest of the tomatoes to the blender (with enough stock) and blend until homogeneous (again, not too smooth) , then add to the serving bowl. Put the last bit of tomato in the blender along with a good slug of olive oil -- I eyeballed it, but I'd guess I put in 1/2 a cup -- and blend until it's emulsified (this time it'll be smooth), then mix with the rest of the stuff in the bowl.

Stir in balsamico to taste (several tablespoons), basil, pimenton, paprika, and black pepper. Adjust seasonings.

Serve at room temp with sour cream and some grilled tortillas.
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For the grilled salmon:
Coat the flesh side of a nice fillet with salt and a mixture of coarsely ground cumin, white pepper, and black pepper.
Put the fish skin-side down on a very hot grill for 5-7 minutes, then very carefully move it to a cooler part of the grill. If it looks like the skin is sticking to the grill when you try to move it, let things cook another couple of minutes.
Cover the grill and cook the fish until it's done (10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet and heat of the grill).
Remove the fish from the grill, let it stand for a couple of minutes, remove the skin (which is probably going to be a bit too burned to eat), and serve with ginger jam.

A couple of useful tips here:

1. Moving the fish may cause a flare up; don't cover the grill until any sooty black smoke (from burning fish oil) finishes.
   
2. If you're using a log (or something that's going to produce smoke), let the fish cook five minutes or so on the cooler part of the grill before covering it. This will help prevent the fish from picking up too much smoke, which would be overpowering.