Grilled Wild Copper River Salmon With Blueberry Hatch Chili Sauce

Grilled Wild Copper River Salmon With Blueberry Hatch Chili Sauce. I adore fruit sauces and salsas with grilled salmon and the sweet and spicy combo of blueberries and hatch chilis is perfect with this smoky wild Copper River salmon. 

The title of this salmon recipe is longer than the actual recipe I think.

I wasn't even planning on this blog post this week. We have been busy unpacking, looking for all our stuff in a sea of boxes and trying to organize our new house. One thing our new kitchen doesn't have yet is a pantry, we still need to build that. So all my pantry goods right now are in bags and boxes on storage shelves in the room next to the kitchen. To say I can't find anything in an understatement. Also the amount of eating out we have done the past couple weeks has been a bit too much for me. I have been craving healthy, home cooked meals. Also since most of my kitchen supplies are still in boxes cooking has been interesting with limited pots, pans and utensils.

So I ran to Whole Foods the other day to pick up a few things and I saw that my fave fish monger was cooking up something next to the fish counter. He always brings out whole fish to show my kids, who think its fantastic especially when he pretends to make them talk. The fish that is. My kids know how to talk. Its their favorite thing to do from sun up to sundown. Anyway he was cooking up this amazing smelling purple concoction in a pan and when I saw it was salmon with chilies and blueberries I was intrigued. I tried a couple samples and knew I HAD to recreate it at home. AH-MAZ-ING.  I asked him if there was a recipe and all I could get was a list of the ingredients, he said there wasn't an official Whole Foods recipe for it. I couldn't find it online so I decided to wing it. They were selling hatch chili and blueberry stuffed salmon steaks, but the steaks were farmed and I much prefer wild salmon.

I can't believe I have never had blueberries with salmon before. Salmon and fruit go well together, my go-t0 fruit with salmon is almost always pineapple, obviously. But blueberries? And chilies? This was life changing. Or I was just so in need of a home meal that this tasted more amazing than I imagined it would be. Nah, it was really THAT good.

Some of the ingredients on the list were a little vague (Spices) so this is my best interpretation of what I had in a few samples at Whole Foods. Its a really simple, easy and quick recipe, 5 ingredients ( plus the spices I decided would work best). We also had seen these gorgeous pieces of Wild Copper River Salmon on sale at our local Costco and had to buy some. Such flavorful fish and its perfect for grilling. The season isn't long for it in stores, so if you see it and you love salmon, grab some and make this recipe. Totally worth it.

"Recipe"

Grilled Wild Copper River Salmon With Blueberry Hatch Chili Sauce

Shanna

Grilled Wild Copper River Salmon with Blueberry and Hatch Chili Sauce Serves 6

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Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 1 ½ lbs Wild Copper River Salmon Filet
• 2-4 Whole fresh Hatch Chilis 2-3 Anaheims if you can’t find Hatch
• 1 c low sugar Organic Blueberry jam I used Trader Joes brand
• 1 c fresh blueberries
• 1 - 4 ounce can Hatch chilis Either whole or diced. If whole, remove seeds and dice fine
• 1-2 tablespoon water optional
• 1 teaspoon each sea salt black pepper, ancho chili powder, brown sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat your grill on hight, clean the grates and lightly spray with oil, such as grapeseed, then lower to 450 deg F.
• In a saucepan on the stove combine the blueberry jam, fresh blueberries and diced canned chilis. Stir over medium heat until well combined at the fresh blueberries start to soften. Add 1-2 tablespoon water if desired for a thinner sauce. Keep warm until ready to serve
• Rinse and pat dry the salmon filet. Check for bones and remove any if found. Slice into 6 portions. In a small bowl mix together the sea salt, black pepper, ancho chili and brown sugar. Sprinkle over the filets. Place the whole chilies on the preheated grill and grill lightly, 2-3 min until grill marks appear. Remove and let cool. Slice into ½’ thick rings, you can rinse out the seeds if you want. The ribs and seeds will make the dish spicier.
• Grill the salmon, skin side down for 8-10 min or until it flakes easily with a fork, and the fat turns white. Keep the thicker part of the filet on the hotter part of the grill so the fish cooks evenly.
• Place the filets on plates, top with a few tablespoons of the blueberry sauce and a few of the grilled pepper rings. Serve immediately.

Notes

Notes: If you want to keep it even lower sugar you can make the sauce out of 2 cups of fresh blueberries and cook until softened with 1-2 tablespoons of water. If you want to thicken the sauce you can use organic corn starch or arrowroot starch, about 1 teaspoon mixed with a little water and add it in. Also omit the brown sugar. If you can’t find canned Hatch chilies and mild green chili would work, they just won’t have the same flavor. Same with the fresh, if you can’t find Hatch, Anaheim work just well. If you want SUPER spicy use jalapenos or Serrano peppers. We bought a pretty big filet for this recipe and if you get a smaller recipe, don't make less sauce.

My 2 and 4 year old even loved this minus the hot chilis on top. You KNOW its good if kids like it!!