Herb-Grilled Salmon with Fresh Tomato-Orange Chutney

(This review was jointly written by Krispi and her daughter Sarah Joy, who is visiting with her family from Costa Rica.)

We bought some amazing fresh sockeye salmon this week in town. For this recipe we used a whole fish (about 5 lb) instead of the 3 lb side of salmon they suggest. We had two big sides to deal with on the grill. I got to practice with the turning, etc on one and then do it "for real" on the other one!

First of all, the potato trick to keep the salmon from sticking to the grill really worked! The grill turned white from the potato starch which was kind of cool looking. That didn't entirely keep it from sticking, but it was better than any other fish grilling experience we've had! For the fish part of the recipe we made minor adjustments such as using more fresh basil leaves and dried rather than fresh dill (because we didn't have the fresh).

For the chutney we roasted 1 pint of halved cherry tomatoes, plus 2 more medium on-the-vine tomatoes. We aren't huge fans of ginger or jalapeno, so we reduced those measurements (from 2 T grated ginger to scant 1 T grated ginger and from 1 jalapeno to 1/3 jalapeno). We didn't have cracked peppercorns, so left those out.

Sadly, we felt that both the flavor and texture of the chutney were particularly unpleasant. Way, way too much zest and tough tomato skins. To get rid of the texture problem we blended it all and served it with second helpings of salmon. However, it still wasn't very good. We've added two medium tomatoes, some more fresh squeezed orange juice and blended it again; hopefully it will mellow and taste better with the leftover salmon tomorrow.

If we were to make the chutney again (we probably won't) we would adjust the recipe as follows:

from 1 pint cherry tomatoes to 1.5 pints cherry tomatoes (yellow and red, if possible)

from zest of 2 oranges to zest of 1/2 orange

from juice of 2 oranges to juice of 1 orange

from juice of 1 lemon to juice of 1/2 lemon

Blend!!! (This is a key step, but makes it more of a saucey topping than a chunky chutney.)

Overall, we found that there's enough orange flavor in the actual grilled salmon, so it's better to let the tomato take center stage in the chutney (or sauce, as the case may be).

We'll probably go back to using the salsa we've been using for years with grilled salmon but we'll repeat the grilling techniques and orange juice and herbs from this recipe.

The Salsa Recipe we love with Salmon:

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup extra-virgen olive oil

1/3 cup shallots

1 T grated lemon peel

1 3/4 t ground cumin

1 medium English hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, diced

1 12 ounce basket small cherry tomatoes, each quartered

1 large yellow bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup drained capers (if these are big they can be halved or quartered)

2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk the first 5 ingredients in small bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine 1/2 cup marinate with the second 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, season salsa with salt and pepper, let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.

You can use the rest of the marinade for the fish 10 minutes before grilling.

(from Bon Appetit, July 1999)