Molly Yeh's Grilled Salmon with Lemon Orzo Tastes Like Summer 🍋

For a main dish that my friends are gonna chonk, I am making my grilled salmon with charred veggie lemon orzo. It's fatty flaky fish on a bed of colorful veggies with super bright pasta and it all gets drizzled with salsa verde. It is so satisfying and filling and it makes you feel good after eating it. Good enough to eat two of those shortcakes, know what I'm saying? Okay, I'll start by grilling up my veg. I've got a zucchini, a yellow squash, some scallions, and lemons which I'm also gonna throw on the grill for the dressing. A little bit of olive oil will help develop char marks and allow the veggies to get crisp. I'll season them with salt and pepper. I love the sweetness of zucchini and squash and that paired with the brightness of all this lemon makes for a gorgeous colorful hearty dish. I'll get these onto my grill pan. It's heating over medium high heat and that char will add great smoky flavor and obviously you can do this on an outdoor grill too if you live someplace where there's warm weather. That sound is how I know the grill is hot enough. I'll allow these to just hang out undisturbed for a few minutes so that they can develop those beautiful char marks. While those cook, I'll prep my salmon. I've got two pounds of a center cut piece of salmon. It's skin on which is important for moisture and flavor and the fact that it's center cut means that you don't have the tapered tail end or the head end so you get a thicker piece that's going to cook more evenly. I'll rub this all over to get it fully coated, season liberally with salt, and then I'll also sprinkle some lemon zest on it to brighten it up. You never want salmon without acidity. Most commonly I do lemon, pickled onions, lime are nice too. And the oil is actually going to help prevent the lemon zest from burning on the grill. I'm smelling these veggies. I'll get these off the grill. Oh yeah, those are the char marks that I'm looking for. They kind of smell like onion rings at this point which is not a bad thing. The lemons look good. Now on goes the salmon. I'll place it skin side down and allow it to cook until it's halfway cooked which is nifty on salmon. You can literally see it getting cooked because the flesh turns opaque so when the opaque line rises up to the equator on the salmon that's how I know it's ready to flip. While it cooks I'll make my dressing. This is super simple and really bright. I'll start by zesting a clove of garlic. I'll just use my fine zester to zest it in and I like doing this so that you don't have big chunks of garlic. I'll juice in my grilled lemons. The juices are darker. It mellows out the lemon flavor. It caramelizes them and adds so much subtle depth. I'll season with a couple of good pinches of salt and some black pepper and then I'll whisk it as I drizzle in a quarter cup of olive oil. So this will just brighten everything up and allow the natural flavors of all of these ingredients to shine. My salmon is looking like it's ready to flip. Let me check. Just as predicted. It's lifting right off of the grill. Those are some gorgeous char marks. I'll let this cook on medium high for a few minutes until the opaque line rises up. You don't want those lines to meet otherwise you'll overcook your salmon so this should almost cook. While this continues to cook I'll cut my veggies. I'm just gonna do these both at once because I love efficiency. I'll slice up my scallions. I'll dump the veggies into the dressing. That salmon is looking great. I'll get it off the grill. Flip it over. Oh that looks gorgeous. That is a beautiful piece of fish. I'll let it rest for a moment while I toss together my orzo salad. I love orzo. It's so easy to eat. It's pasta you can eat with a spoon. I'll toss in some halved grape tomatoes. Such pretty color and sweetness. And then a couple of tablespoons of capers go a long way for the depth of flavor. They have that super tasty brininess. I'll give this a toss and get it fully coated in that dressing. My friends Heather and Emily are coming for dinner. Between the two of them I feel like they know the entire town. This is how I get my news of the town. I hang out with Heather and Emily. Okay I'll plate this up. I'll start with a bed of my orzo. It's like a colorful ball pit for salmon. And then I'll break up the salmon into big chunks and it should flake right apart. All right nestle these pieces in. And this is delicious at room temperature. It's delicious cold out of the fridge for leftovers. And the smells that are going into my nose right now make me feel like it is a bright summer day. I'll sprinkle the salmon with some flaky salt. This adds a little extra pops of flavor. I'll bring this all together with my Italian-inspired salsa verde. It's so easy to make. I just toss everything into my food processor. Basil and parsley for freshness. Some tangy capers. Garlic. The juice of a grilled lemon for that extra bold citrus flavor. A little salt. And then blend to make a coarse paste and slowly stream in olive oil to thicken into a smooth sauce. I love this on salmon. It's also great on steak. I'll drizzle some of it on now and serve it with more at the table. This is such a party dish. That fish is perfectly cooked. It's juicy. I cannot wait to dive in. Get it? Because fish swim. For a side dish that brings even more color and flavor to our meal and that features a surprising salty star, I'm making my salami nicoise. It's a take on the traditional French salad that has a bed of lettuce with a slew of vibrant essentials. But I'm kicking out the tuna and bringing in fatty salami. The love of my life. I'll start with my salami. I've got these giant cubes of it. I'll crisp it in my skillet. It's heating over medium high. Next I'll cook my potatoes. And I love to use these little rainbow potatoes. They're easy to eat. They're creamy and buttery. And they're rainbow, so more color. And of course you always want to start potatoes in cold water. Doing so allows them to cook evenly. I'll salt the water heavily so that the potatoes can get seasoned from the inside out, almost as you would pasta water. I'll bring this to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and allow them to cook until tender, about eight to ten minutes. Meanwhile I'll get going on my dressing. I'll start with a chopped shallot for a delicate onion flavor. I'll cover these with red wine vinegar. I always like to combine the shallot and the vinegar first because the acidity will mellow out that flavor of the raw shallot. A little Dijon for that mustardy zing. Some salt. Black pepper. And then I'll whisk as I drizzle in my olive oil. And this emulsifies the olive oil with the vinegar and it thickens it up. So a super simple vinaigrette that adds some richness and brightens everything up. Okay that's great. I'll set it aside and prep my green beans. So I'm making nicoise. Salads are just about prepping a bunch of little things. There are like different tips and tricks to streamline it and make it easier, such as blanching the green beans right along with the potatoes as the potatoes finish up cooking. Typically in a nicoise use haricots verts which are longer, skinnier, daintier, fancier French or green beans. But what do you want from me? We're on a farm in Minnesota. I'm giving you green beans. I'll toss these in and then blanching them just for a minute or two softens them slightly and it brightens up their color as well. Check on my salami. It's getting some good crispy edges. I will eat salami any day, any time, in any amount. I love it so much. And my green beans and potatoes are ready. I'll drain. I'll give them a little rinse to stop the cooking and cool them down. Now I'm ready for my other salad fix-ins. I've got a bed of beautiful velvety lettuce here and some hard-boiled eggs. I'll quarter my hard-boiled eggs. I like the creaminess that the hard-boiled eggs and the potatoes bring to this. The thing I always think about in my head as I'm arranging a nicoise salad is what colors are gonna look prettiest next to each other. So if there are things that are too similar in color, I like to keep them far apart on the color wheel. Thinly sliced red onions. The eggs. I'll sprinkle the eggs with a little salt and pepper. Next some little tomatoes I've just sliced in half. I'm using a rainbow of these as well. I'll do the green beans next. My friend Heather brought me one of the greatest salads I've ever had in my life in the hours after Bernie was born. It had little cubes of cheese and beautiful lettuce and apples and walnuts. She was the only one that knew that right after Bernie was born I wouldn't crave a casserole, I would crave a salad. I think she's gonna really really like this nicoise. The potatoes. Oops, that green bean got away. And now the olives. I'm using Kawamata, which are similar. They're bigger than nicoise olives and a little meatier, but they give you that same brininess that you need in life. It's like a pinwheel. And the star. Look at these jolly happy cubes. It just brings it all together. Yay! I'll drizzle some of the dressing on now and then serve it with the rest on the side. I'm loving the smell.