Grilled Salmon with Sweet Corn, Avacado, and Cherry Tomato Salad

• I follow whole foods market on Twitter, this is an adaptation of one of their recent recipes.  

(Photo from Whole Foods Market website)

• There's a young farmer right down the road from us and he raises the sweetest sweet corn around.  In addition, our garden is overflowing with tomatoes--roma, cherry, early girl, and 4th of July varieties.  So this salad worked out perfectly. 
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• I used Atlantic Salmon which is rich and fatty and delicious.  Cooked the salmon on a cedar plank in the Traeger Grill.  Doesn't get much better than that.  This can be done in the oven as well, or a charcoal grill for that matter.
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• Sweet Corn, Avocado, Cherry Tomato Salad
• 4 ears fresh corn, kernels removed from cob
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 small avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Atlantic Salmon
• 4 (4- to 6-ounce) boneless, skinless salmon fillets
•  Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Put corn, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, oil and vinegars into a large bowl and toss gently to combine. Set aside.  This salad is so good that it's great on its own.

Lightly brush the salmon with extra virgin olive oil, then sprinkle on the sea salt and black pepper.  Place salmon on a cedar plank (the cedar plank needs to soak in water for at least 2 hours to prevent it from burning on the grill).  Onto the Traeger Grill at 375 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes.  You'll know the salmon is cooked perfectly when the flesh just begins to flake with a fork.

Enjoy friends!

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail

The tomatoes are beginning to ripen!  I'm thinking Gazpacho.  But this Mexican Shrimp Cocktail has some of the same ingredients -- plus Shrimp.  This recipe is from "Mexican Mania, by Cathy Arkle"

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp
• 1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• ⅓ cup lime juice
• ½ small red onion, sliced
• 1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
• ½ jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped
• ½ red bell pepper, roasted, skinned and cut into julienne
• 1 tablespoon canned chipotle chile, drained and chopped
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• leaves from 6 cilantro sprigs, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into ½ inch cubes

Instructions

1. Bring about 5 cups of water to a boil in a pot. Submerge the shrimp in the boiling water for 30 seconds, quickly remove with a slotted spoon and let cool. Peel and devein the shrimp.
2. Toss the tomato chunks in coarse salt and drain in a colander for 30 minutes.
3. At least 1 hour before serving, toss together the shrimp and the rest of the ingredients except the avocado. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 6 hours until ready to serve.
4. Stir in the avocado and serve.