After last week’s Chicken Fried Steak, I needed something light, and I wanted to get back to my summer theme. This Crispy Jamaican Jerk Salmon with Mango-Basil Vinaigrette recipe is exactly how to do both. It’s light, healthy, and tropical. And it’s a complete meal with the salmon as a main plus a side salad. Need more convincing? The total time listed is a mere 30 minutes. I know! It looks and sounds like it’s a gourmet meal that would take a lot longer to make. And, as usual, there’s only one way to find out, and that’s to make it.
What if I told you this is the best meal I’ve eaten in Idunnohowlong? Crispy spiced salmon with field greens and avocado, tied together with sweet mango-basil vinaigrette? A meal that takes no more than 30 minutes to prepare? I’m almost at a loss for words.
The Ingredients
There are plenty of fresh ingredients in this jerk salmon recipe, and that meant a bit of shopping. I had a few of the staples, but I had to head to the grocery store for the salmon fillet plus the fresh produce and herbs and spices.
I couldn’t find a salad mix that explicitly said “field greens”, so I opted for spring mix. It has a nice variety of greens. The fact that’s it’s also colorful was a bonus–I have to confess that I enjoy colorful food.
And although I could have bought the jerk seasoning, I decided to use the homemade spice blend I had on hand. This is the recipe I use, and it’s wonderful! The addition of brown sugar caramelizes when you cook over high heat and helps give whatever you use it on a nice sear.
The Process
So, my biggest question about this recipe was whether it really took 30 minutes, and I’m very pleased to say yes. Here is how my time broke down:
- 16 minutes to prep
- 12 minutes to cook
- 28 minutes total
I followed the instructions in the order given, and began with the mango-basil vinaigrette. All it took was some chopping and a quick zip through my mini-prep. There was a little bit of leaking since this recipe makes a lot of salad dressing, but it wasn’t too bad. A larger blender would prevent that.
Next up was the salad. It was the bulk of the work for this recipe since it required the most chopping and slicing. Once that was done, all I had to do was mix everything up in a large bowl. I did make one change, though, and threw the blueberries in on top after mixing. Otherwise, they would have sunk to the bottom of the bowl.
While I was making the salad and dressing, I had been preheating my broiler on high. It was ready by the time I got to the fish. Then it was just a matter of seasoning it and popping it into the oven for 12 minutes. Definitely the easiest part of the whole meal!
I served the fish over the fish over the salad. First I added the salad with some dressing to a plate, then I topped it with a slice of jerk salmon and topped that with a bit more dressing.
