Grilled Salmon paired with marinated asparagus and rice make for a great late spring meal. This salmon recipe is the one I use for my grilling classes, it’s a dry rub, though the rub can be a bit salty for some. The marinated asparagus is just something I tried and it worked so I’ll share the recipe with you also. I used wild salmon for my grilling recipe, the only way to go in my opinion. I just don’t like the idea of added color and the raising conditions of farmed salmon. Fresh wasn’t available but I did get my hands on some very nice flash frozen wild Atlantic salmon. A beautiful filet large enough to feed the family.

First on the list was to get the asparagus marinated and I wanted to get some of the flavor into the asparagus as opposed to the usual brushed on coating we usually do. My thoughts lead to how long should I marinade; I couldn’t have the asparagus go limpy on me before it hit the grill so I decided to slice the asparagus spears in half lengthwise first to expose the insides of my asparagus to the marinade thus shortening my marinading time.

I can’t say the bay leaf made a difference in the taste of the marinated asparagus but after looking at the photos I can say it looked good and I’ll leave it in the recipe as optional. Using a ziplock bag makes marinating a breeze, no clean-up necessary. Marinate the asparagus for approximately one hour.

This Tuscan rubbed grilled salmon recipe came from http://www.relish.com/recipes/tuscan-rubbed-salmon created by Chris Koetke and is top notch in my book. It does call for ground fennel but all I had was whole fennel seeds and just made do with those after a bit of pounding to release some of the flavors in the fennel seed. Follow the link to get his recipe.

Apply a liberal coating of Olive oil on both sides of the salmon then apply the Tuscan rub to the flesh side before grilling.

Of course I used my wonderful Island Grillstone for this cook. I have found it to be an indispensable accesory for all of my grill time and this was no exception. The Island Grillstone caused a wondeful crust to sear into the salmon filets. When the salmon was done I simply added the marinated asparagus to the Island Grillstone to cook. With-in 15 minutes I had a wonderful Tuscan rubbed grilled salmon and marinated asparagus recipe for the table.

Related Reading:

Weber's New Real Grilling: The ultimate cookbook for every backyard griller

500 Fish & Shellfish Dishes (500 Cooking (Sellers))

The New York Times Seafood Cookbook: 250 Recipes for More than 70 Kinds of Fish and Shellfish

Vegetables: The Most Authoritative Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking with More than 300 Recipes

Weber's Time to Grill: Get In. Get Out. Get Grilling.

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