Huckleberry Salmon

By NiteSki

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup apple wood chips (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh huckleberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (optional)
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 1 1/2 pound fillet of wild salmon, skin on
• Olive oil, for brushing
• Salt and pepper
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, more for garnish
• 1 cup greens, such as arugula, baby kale and watercress

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from wildhuckleberry.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat grill to medium high. Make a little bowl out of 2 to 3 layers of aluminum foil the size of half a grapefruit. Place dry apple wood chips inside the foil bowl, place the bowl directly on the heating grill, and close the grill lid.

Place huckleberries in a medium bowl. Heat sugar, vinegar, a generous three- finger pinch of salt and coriander seeds in a small sauce pan and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add minced shallots and simmer two minutes. Pour over huckleberries, stir gently and set aside.

Brush both sides of salmon with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place skin side down on the grill. Sprinkle with zest of one lemon, and 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves.

Once apple wood chips begin smoking, turn heat down to low, grill salmon, skin side down, directly on the grill, on lowest heat, closing lid. Check after 5 minutes. Shift salmon to create crosshatch marks on the skin, and close lid again for just a few minutes. Salmon at this point will cook quickly, especially if it’s a thinner piece. Once salmon is cooked to medium rare or medium, turn heat off.

Place salmon on a platter over greens. Squeeze with juice of half a lemon. Generously spoon pickled huckleberries and pickling liquid over the salmon and greens, and scatter with thyme sprigs. Serve immediately.



. Many trendy upscale clubs now offer cocktails made with unusual fruit infusions. These drinks mix clear liquor, fruit,

Pour 1 1/2 cups vodka through a filtering water pitcher 3 or 4 times to remove as many impurities as possible. Use a good quality vodka to make a drink worth creating.

Place the huckleberries and 1 1/2 cups filtered vodka into a glass jar. Put the lid on tightly and place it in a cool, dry place where it won’t be disturbed. Let the mixture infuse for two to three weeks.

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups water in a heavy pot. Heat on the stove, stirring regularly, until all the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear. Remove the pot from the stove.

Allow the sugar syrup to cool to room temperature. When the liquid is cool, add it to the jar containing the huckleberry infusion. Taste to see if it is too sweet or too strong in alcohol. Adjust if necessary, adding more vodka if too sweet and more sugar syrup if too strong. Replace the lid and let it sit for another 10 days.

Pour the mixture through coffee filters four times to strain out all the organic matter. When the liquid is clear and free of any specks, pour it into an attractive bottle for addition to your bar or for gift giving.