BBQ salmon with lemon & dill yoghurt dressing

We all love a BBQ don't we? There's nothing better than eating outside on the sunny day, drinking a few beers. One fine day last week I bought a side of salmon, Greek yoghurt, dill, some salad and set about making one of the tastiest and best looking BBQ dinners ever! Nothing too complicated, but it was just a really nice combo.

Salmon works really well on the grill as it's quite a firm, oily fish, so it stays together rather than flaking like cod. Make sure you get a piece with the skin still on. We had it with a yoghurt, dill, lemon and cucumber dressing; caprese salad and some fresh green leaves.

Serves 4

BBQ Salmon

Ingredients

• 500g half side salmon
• Bunch parsley
• 2 lemons / zest one of them

Cucumber & lemon yoghurt

• 5 tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill
• Olive oil

Method

• Turn the salmon skin side up and make about 3 or 4 diagonal slashes across it.
• Push in a mixture of chopped parsley, lemon zest and some small thin slices of lemon; rub lightly with olive oil on both sides and set to one side while the BBQ coals go white and ready for cooking.
• Peel the cucumber; chop in half and take the watery seeds out of the middle. Grate the rest of the cucumber and put in a sieve for the water to drain out for around 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle with a little salt to help this process along, give it a squeeze with your hands from time to time. Dehydrating the cucumber in this way will make the dressing less watery and more flavoursome.  
• Place the fish on the grill skin side down and cook for around 4/5 minutes depending on how hot your grill is. It is a little hard to be precise with timings as BBQs are a bit of a law unto themselves! They're all so different. 
• Gently turn over the fish with a metal spatula and allow to cook for a further 4/5 minutes. Lift the skin and take a peak inside the flesh to check it is cooked. 

Lemon & cucumber dressing

• Mix together the yoghurt, fully squeezed out cucumber, juice of one lemon, plus zest to taste and season.
• Spinkle in some chopped dill, again, to taste and there you have a super fresh dressing for the salmon which lifts the whole dish.