Monthly Meal Ideas – Barbecue Salmon and Potato Salad

Last month, we moved away from entrees and delved into desserts. The last blog article, we discovered a cool way to make banana pudding. This month, since it is summer, we are going to get into some outdoor cooking.

One of my favorite things to eat in the summer time – I’m sure it’s yours too — is barbecue. One of my preferred barbecue items is salmon. Yummy! It’s easy to make and super tasty with or without barbecue sauce. We will pair the warm succulent salmon with a nice, cool side of potato salad.

Salmon Ingredients

Salmon steaks or fillets
Salt and pepper
Marinade (optional)

Potato Salad Ingredients

Potatoes
Dill Relish
Boiled Eggs
Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
A little mustard (optional)
Salt (or seasoning salt)

You can get any cut of salmon you like but I prefer to have fillets because the steaks tend to have small bones in them. But both are equally delicious. I usually just salt and pepper my salmon because salmon has such a unique flavor that I don’t like to corrupt the flavor with too many different seasonings. However, if you have your own marinades and such that you would like to use, feel free to use them. After adding salt and pepper and marinade, set the steaks to the side. The steaks are easy to prepare, so it would be best to start on the potato salad and complete it before making the salmon. Some like the potato salad cool so this is another reason why you should start on the potato salad before grilling the steaks.

Cut the potatoes into cubes. How big the cubes are depends on your tastes. Also, if you want to keep the skin on the potatoes or at least some of the skin on the potatoes, it is up to you. Place the potatoes into a pan of boiling hot water and let it continue to cook in the saucepan until the potatoes are soft enough to poke a fork through but not too mushy. When they reach this point, they are ready to remove from the water. Strain the water from the potatoes. I usually let the potatoes cool all the way down before I add the other ingredients. You can speed up the process by putting the potatoes in the fridge. While the potatoes are cooking, also prepare your boiled eggs. When they are ready, also let these cool.

Once the eggs and the potatoes are cool, remove the shell from the boiled egg and cut the boiled egg up over the potatoes. Then add the dill relish. You can use sweet relish instead of dill relish if you like but I use dill because I prefer a savory potato salad instead of a sweet tasting potato salad. Add a little salt and then add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. Again, if you prefer a sweet tasting potato salad, you may want to use Miracle Whip which is sweeter than mayonnaise. You can add a little mustard if you like but it is not necessary. Once all the ingredients are in the bowl, you can take a large spoon or spatula and start whipping everything together in the bowl. If you notice that you don’t have enough mayo, then add more; however, you don’t want it soupy so be careful as you add more mayo. Once everything is well incorporated, sit the bowl of potato salad in the fridge if you want it to continue to chill or just set it to the side.

Now move on to the salmon. I prefer an old-school charcoal grill but if you have a propane grill this is fine too. Fire up the grill and place the salmon on the grill. Cook it until it’s nice and juicy – not dry – and remove it from the grill. It takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes for it to get juicy (depending on the heat of the grill) but if you prefer to cook it longer, its up to you.

After the salmon is done, then take out the potato salad and put it on the plate next to the salmon. The warm salmon next to the cool potato salad makes a delightful combo. You can also add a little barbecue sauce if you like but I love the flavor of grilled salmon without the sauce. Now, get ready to chow down!

I hope you like this segment of my blog. Check back for more monthly food ideas. If you have any questions about preparing this meal, leave them in the comments section or contact me directly here. To get more meal ideas, click here.