The Only Grilled Salmon Recipe You’ll Ever Need

I could go on and on about how it’s too hot to turn on the oven and how grilling is the best summer pastime, yada yada yada. But you already know all of this, so I’ll cut to the chase: I find grilling certain fish kind of difficult, and maybe you do too. So I tapped a pro chef for a pretty-easy-but-seems-super-fancy recipe you’ll want to make again and again.

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You might recognize chef Ludo Lefebvre from the first and second seasons of Top Chef Masters, and if you’ve seen him in action, you know he’s really good at what he does. Lefebvre started working in Michelin-starred kitchens at age 14 and runs seven restaurant concepts across Los Angeles, Denver and Mexico. He’s shopped for a lot of ingredients in the wonderful markets of L.A. and his native France, and his best tip for picking out the freshest fish is tried and true. “Make sure it’s shiny! Especially in the eyes of the fish,” he says.

While I haven’t come across much trouble grilling meatier fillets like swordfish, flaky, succulent salmon sometimes sticks to the grill, which means it’s prone to falling apart more easily. But chef Lefebvre has a solution for that — mayonnaise. He brushes it on each fillet before grilling, and it works like a charm.

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One of summer’s greatest pleasures is grilled seasonal vegetables, and this recipe isn’t without. Lefebvre uses asparagus, which he swears by for this recipe year-round. If you don’t live in a place like California or Florida where the stalky green vegetable is almost always in season, experiment with what looks good at the farmers market that week.

While you could simply grill salmon and asparagus and call it a day, Lefebvre adds bearnaise sauce for a flavorful, impressive touch. I’m no saucier, so I asked the chef if he has any tips to prevent it from breaking. “Don’t put too much fat in the bearnaise and don’t let it get too hot, or it will break,” he says. “Balance the fat very well, so it does not turn.”

Luckily, the recipe for his bearnaise comes with detailed instructions, so even novices shouldn’t be scared to try it.

Grilled Salmon and Asparagus With Bearnaise

Ingredients

20 medium slim green jumbo asparagus
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 whole shallot, minced
.75 cup white wine vinegar
.5 cup dry white wine
3 large egg yolks
250 grams unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp. ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, chopped
Kosher salt
2 lb. boneless center-cut salmon fillet
.25 cup mayonnaise
Ground white pepper
Wood sorrel

Directions

For the asparagus:
1. Preheat the broiler, wash the asparagus and cut off the woody ends. Halve them lengthwise, and cut into 2-inch lengths.
2. Put the asparagus on a baking sheet with a touch of water and salt. Broil for 3 to 4 minutes until the asparagus begins to be a bit tender.
For the bearnaise:
1. Combine shallots, a pinch of salt, white wine vinegar, white wine and black pepper in a saucepan and simmer until you have around .25 cup of liquid. Strain the liquid and keep the shallots.
2. Put the egg yolks in a quart container. With a hand blender, mix the warm butter and slowly add it to the egg yolks until the mixture is completely emulsified. Add a touch of salt, the chopped tarragon and shallots. Keep the bearnaise sauce in a bain-marie until use.
For the salmon:
1. Cut salmon in half widthwise. Then halve each piece to create four portions. Pound each piece lightly with the back of a saucepan to make the surface even.
2. Preheat the grill. Brush each piece of salmon with mayonnaise and season on the skin side with salt and pepper. Cook the fillets on the grill for 1 minute each side.
Plating:
1. Put a ring mold on a plate, spread the bearnaise sauce evenly in the mold, add the warm asparagus, take off the ring mold and add the salmon on top of the asparagus. Garnish with wood sorrel, if desired.