Salmon is not a Mediterranean fish, but I saw no reason why it shouldn’t come on a Greek holiday once in a while to become a dish of glorious colours and flavours straight from the Hellenic summer!
And what could be more Greek than a kebab?!
And what could be more Greek than a kebab?!So, I decided to make a lemon juice, olive oil and mustard marinade and glaze for the salmon in order to give it acidity and a fresh tanginess. Then the salmon pieces needed nothing more than to be skewered with fresh colourful peppers to give contrast and crunch, and red onion wedges lending caramellised sweetness to the salmon.
Like all Mediterranean food, the secret to this recipe’s success lies in its simplicity and clarity of flavours.
Joyfully colourful, juicy, light and elegant. These glazed salmon kebabs are the perfect BBQ, picnic or summer lunch dish. Happy grilling and Kali orexi!
Note: this is one of seven recipes, which have been selected by Neff, the top kitchen appliance brand, to be promoted to all countries of the world via their social media. I am extremely proud to have this opportunity to promote modern Greek cuisine to a very sophisticated international audience in this way. For this project, I was photographed and videoed making my salmon kebabs by Neff’s official photographer, Katharina Bohm (http://www.katharinabohm.de/) from Berlin, so the photos you see in this article are her own, as well as the video.
Ingredients for 4
600 gr. fresh salmon fillet, cut into 3-4 cm. cubes
3-4 peppers of various colours, cut into 4 cm squares
1 red onion cut into quarters
3 tsp. fresh dill, chopped
for the marinade ( and glaze)
Juice of two lemons
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. Greek extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper
8 asparagus spears (optional)
Method
1. Preparing the vegetables:
Cut up the peppers into 4cm. squares. Cut the onions into quarters. Finely chop the dill.
2. Marinade the salmon:
Put all the marinade ingredients into a bowl. Stir. Tip in the salmon pieces, making sure they are all coated in the marinade. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Assemble the kebabs:
Soak the wooden skewers for 5 minutes beforehand to prevent them from burning while grilling. Use 2 skewers per kebab as it makes them stay in one position while grilling, making it much easier to achieve an evenly grilled result. Spear the salmon, onion and pepper pieces onto the skewers, alternating the colours of the peppers.
4. Make the glaze:
Pour the marinade which has been left from the salmon into a pan. If you need more, use the same ratio of ingredients to make more. Over a medium heat, reduce the marinade until the consistency of honey.
5. Grill the kebabs:
Grill the kebabs for 3 minutes on each of the 4 sides, basting all sides with the glaze for the final two minutes.
Grill the asparagus spears for two minutes each side.
Serving
Sprinkle with chopped dill and serve as a starter or light lunch over grilled asparagus spears; perfect with a glass of ouzo, chilled white wine or an ice-cold Weiss beer.
