Recipe: Avocado Chipotle-Glazed Salmon

AVOCADO CHIPOTLE-GLAZED SALMON

"This velvety avocado glaze plays two roles: It seals moisture in the salmon and makes a zesty serving sauce. Chipotle chiles, often shortened to just chipotles (chee-POHT-lehz), are smoked and dried jalapeno peppers that are sold two ways: simply dried or canned in a seasoned tomato sauce called adobo (ah-DOH-boh). Chipotles add bold, smoky flavor and energize almost any sauce for fish (they're one of our favorite ways to perk up dishes). If you can't find chipotles, substitute 2 teaspoons of chili powder and a drop of liquid smoke in the avocado glaze."

1 medium ripe avocado
3/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1 can (4 ounces) chopped, mild green chiles, undrained
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 chipotle chile (canned in adobo sauce), undrained, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch white pepper
4 skin-on salmon fillets or steaks, 6 to 7 ounces each, about 1-inch thick, pin bones removed
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F or prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal or gas grill.

Peel and pit avocado; remove pulp and mash. Measure 1/2 cup pulp. If you have extra pulp, use it to replace some of the yogurt and reduce yogurt by the same amount.

For the avocado glaze, mix together the avocado, yogurt, green chiles, lime juice, cumin, chipotle, salt, and pepper. Set aside one cup of the glaze to use for the sauce.

Place salmon skin side down on a jellyroll pan (lightly oiled if you're using steaks) and spread about 2 tablespoons of the glaze over each piece of salmon. For the serving sauce, stir cilantro into the remaining glaze.

Bake salmon for about 10 minutes until the flesh of the salmon just begins to flake at the nudge of a fork. Or grill salmon, fillets preferably, with grill lid down, without turning for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve salmon with avocado sauce.

VARY IT!
Tuna, catfish, snapper, Arctic char, cod, or grouper also work well instead of the salmon.

SHORT-CUT:
Look for ready-made guacamole in the deli case or freezer section of your supermarket (you need about 1/2 cup of guacamole to replace 1 avocado).

SEAFOOD SAVVY:
Here's why this recipe calls for skin-on salmon. When you bake this dish, either skin-off or skin-on salmon gives a fine result. Grilling, however, is another story. Because you don't turn the salmon in this recipe (if you did, the topping would fall off), the skin protects the salmon flesh from overcooking or sticking to the grill. The salmon skin also adheres to the grill to help you easily remove the salmon - simply slip your spatula between the salmon and the skin, and then serve the salmon

Makes 4 main course servings
Source: Seafood Cooking For Dummies by Leslie Bloom and Marcie Ver Ploeg