Grilled Summer Dinner Salad

Last night when I made this dish my iphone said it was 103 degrees outside. When it's that hot out, you don't want to sweat over the stove and you certainly don't want a hot and heavy meal. With tomatoes coming off now in droves, peaches abundant, fresh local goat cheese still available and one last fillet of salmon still in the freezer, I decided to toss it all together into one tasty dinner salad. There are a few components to make, but all in all, this was a quick, easy meal that packed a whole lot of flavor.

Grilled Summer Dinner Salad
1 wild Alaskan salmon fillet, cut into 4 oz portions with pin bones removed (our fillet was enough to yield 4 portions)
1/2 head of fresh romaine lettuce, roughly torn into bite size peices
fresh peaches - 1/2 peach per person, quartered
fresh heirloom tomatoes - 1/2 tomato per person, quartered
fresh cherry tomatoes - 4-6 per person
fresh goat cheese - 2 T per person
1/2 red onion, sliced into strips
1/4 C olive oil
kosher salt for seasoning

Salmon Rub:
2 T brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Basil Vinaigrette
1 C fresh basil
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C sherry vinegar
1 tsp honey
pinch of salt

Heat coals until covered with ash, (or heat propane grill to medium). 

Make the basil vinaigrette by adding all of the salad dressing ingredients to a blender and pulse until well combined. Chill in the refrigerator.

Brush each salmon fillet with olive oil to coat top and bottom. Rub top of each filet with salmon rub. Place each filet onto the grill, skin side up. Leave them for about 3 minutes, then flip so that the skin is now touching the grill. You should see nice grill marks on the top. Cook until the salmon is opaque all the way through. This should take about another 4-5 minutes for fillets that are about 1/2 -3/4 inch thick. For larger fillets--1 inch thick--total grill time should be right around 10 minutes.

Remove the fillets and set aside.

Brush the tomatoes and peaches with olive oil and season with salt. Place the tomatoes and peaches onto the grill. For cherry tomatoes, I use a grill basket. Leave on the grill for 3-5 minutes, then turn, trying to get grill marks on each side of the fruit. 

Remove from the grill. Place salmon on each plate. Place a bed of romaine lettuce next to it, topped with 2 pieces of the heirloom tomatoes, 2 pieces of the grilled peaches, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with goat cheese and red onion. Drizzle both the salad and the salmon with the basil vinaigrette, and dig in!