Day 204: Chili-rubbed Salmon with Fruit Salsa
I made for CBC this morning, and a chunk of leftover salmon, and so looked up a quick chili rub, thinking that a) it was something I hadn’t done before, and b) it would give the cool, sweet fruit something to calm down. To be truthful I’m not really a fan of fruit salsa; I don’t know why, but it never really did it for me. But it went well with the salmon, and ended up getting right in there with the salad.
I sort of morphed a couple recipes I found and ended up with a paste made with 1 teaspoon each: canned chipotle chiles en adobo, chili powder, dried oregano, sugar, lime juice and olive or canola oil, a sprinkle of coarse salt and a crushed clove of garlic. (If you don’t like things spicy, leave out the chipotle or cut it back a bit – the smoky adobo sauce adds a great flavour, but I dig that most people don’t have canned chipotles on hand. I find that a can will last ages – I use a bit, then seal the rest in a ziplock baggie, freeze and chop off bits here and there when I need it.)
The paste was smeared on a salmon filet and roasted at 400F for 10 minutes – just enough time to toss a quick salad of boxed spring greens, tomato, ribbons of yellow carrot stripped off with a vegetable peeler and crumbled feta. (The what-I-had-in-the-fridge special.) There was leftover chili paste, so I froze it; I think next time I’ll smear it on a pork tenderloin.
I made the chili-rubbed salmon last night, and it was amazing! Thanks, Julie.
My husband heard about this recipe on the morning show and suggested he stop at the fish market on his way home so we could make it. We changed the fruit salsa up a bit to suit our tastes and ingredients on hand and it was delicious. We couldn’t get enough and neither could our 6 year old! Thanks for this recipe – we will definitely make it again!