My contribution to dinner in the mountains was a twist on one of our family favorites: grilled salmon tacos. It was inspired by bags of fresh chips and fresh corn tortillas that were in the cabin, a pile of limes, and a bag of shredded cabbage. We had sour cream, and plenty of mayonnaise and cumin for the baja sauce.
We never use salmon for tacos, but I made the drive to Overland Meat Company and bought the fish most recently brought in, which that day proved to be some beautiful looking salmon tail. If you’re ever on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe, this is the place to go for beautiful, freshly butchered meant and impeccable fish. Normally I would have balked at using it in tacos, but I had eaten some recently that were surprisingly good. I bought 2 lbs, and we had a simple, delicious dinner. They were, in fact, some of the best fish tacos I’ve made, but I attribute that to the quality of the wild salmon and not so much anything fancy I did with it. Here is the recipe that served 5 adults and 4 children, with no leftovers:
Grilled Salmon Tacos
serves 7-8 adults or 5 adults + children
- 2 lbs wild salmon filets
- 2 lemons
- 2 limes
- white wine
- olive oil
- salt
- cumin
- Marinate the salmon in a ziplock bag with the juice of 1 1/2-2 lemons, 2 limes, a splash (about 1/4 cup) wine, a good sprinkling of salt, about 2 T cumin, and olive oil to cover the fish. 30 minutes will do, but you can leave it longer for more flavor. I generally marinate from after lunch to dinner.
- Grill salmon, skin side down, over medium high heat until cooked through.
- Let cook slightly, peel strips of salmon off the skin, cut into chunks if you prefer, and serve with:
- warm corn or flour tortillas (your preference)
- shredded green cabbage
- red salsa
- cream sauce (equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream, lime and cumin to taste)
- refried black beans
- shredded cheese
- cherry tomato salad dressed with salt, olive oil & lime