Dry Rubbed Salmon

I love seafood. Of seafood I particularly love salmon. Its almost as much a staple as chicken is in our house. 

I came across a dry rub recipe to put on salmon in my favorite food mag a few years ago.. Food & Wine and after a bit of tweaking, its become a favorite way to prepare salmon. The rub leaves the salmon with this sweet savory glaze on it that is just yummy!

My favorite way to use this rub is for the grill. Put the rub on the salmon and then place it over foil on the grill, or if you have one of those fish grill cages you can use that. This time I just baked it because well, it was 30 degrees outside and I didn't feel like standing around in the cold while grilling. 

Dry Rubbed Salmon:

Serves: However many you like depending on the size of fillet you buy, for us usually 4-6

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes 

Salmon:

Purchase FRESH! I don't like using frozen unless its from Costco and is the Kirkland brand. 

If using a large fillet- cut into individual portions. Try to cut the salmon so that the pieces will all cook as evenly as possible. 

Dry Rub: 

(I use this on a fillet of salmon that feeds 4-6- just increase it all a bit if you are serving more!)

1 tbsp brown sugar/ light brown sugar- which ever you have, but it needs to be brown (not white, not raw)

2 tbsp Sweet Paprika

2 1/2 tbsp Ground Cumin

1 tsp Cilantro

1 tsp Basil

1/4 tsp Season Salt

1/4 tsp Garlic Salt

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Chinese Five Spice

1/2 tsp Red Pepper

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Mustard Powder

Mix it up in a bowl- taste. Depending on your taste you may want to add or subtract for spice level and sweetness level but this is what I use. 

1. Pat salmon dry on both sides- don't need to wash it, but want it to have a dry surface. Then pour a little olive oil over and rub all over salmon- about 1 tbsp. 

2. Sprinkle dry rub generously over salmon fillets and rub into the flesh. Flip over and do the same for the other side. I like to get the whole fillet covered- both sides and all the edges. 

3. Place in a glass pyrex dish  if baking or on foil if grilling- use heavy duty foil and double it. 

4.  Bake- 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes - then flip fillets over gently using a wide flat spatula and bake another 8-10 minutes. This will cook it to a nice medium- the center on the thicker pieces will still be slightly rare- which is exactly how we like it. But hey, if you like your fish well done.. just keep on cookin it ;)

or 

 Grill- I like to light the gril and then quickly lay down one large double layered flat piece of foil to create an even and hole free cooking layer. 

- put grill on high and close- let it get to at least 350 degrees 

- then open grill and place fillets on foil. Turn heat to medium/ low and close. 

- Come back and check in about 7-8 minutes. Turn fillets over carefully using a wide ideally silicon spatuala. Bake another 7-8 minutes!!

Serve over a salad, with rice, or really any side dish you like! We had ours with some jasmine rice and snow peas!

 If you look closely at the picture below- you can see that the thinner pieces of the salmon fillet on the two pieces I layered over the thicker pieces beside it so they wouldn't over cook. I find it works pretty well- it will still be more cooked than the thicker pieces, but it will also still be tender and tasty- no dry and over cooked.

 Here they are all cooked! I flipped them over half way through- keeping those thin bits still layered (now underneath) the thicker pieces!

If you like salmon- then I hope you get a chance to try this recipe! Its so simple and very tasty! Its great fro summer barbecues and can really be used on any meat! Yes! You can use this same dry rub on pork, chicken, steak, shrimp... what ever you like! I usually half the brown sugar when I use it on steak and chicken- but its up to you and your taste buds!