Blackened Salmon Salad

During the summer I had the pleasure of working at this awesome seafood bar/grill that was right on the waterfront. This blackened salmon salad was my favorite item on the menu, so I decided to replicate it, but put my own spin on the dish.

Walnuts

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup Crasins or other dried sweetened cranberries

Grape tomatoes cut in half

Romaine lettuce

Blue cheese dressing

Poppy seed dressing

Salmon (however many servings you want will depend on the amount of fish you buy)

Salmon seasoning rub (I like McCormick's salmon seasoning)

Olive oil

First prep all your ingredients but the salmon.

Take however many walnuts you would like and place them on a baking sheet and toss with the sugar. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until they become candied. Next, cut your tomatoes and wash your lettuce. Finally take equal parts poppy seed dressing and blue cheese and mix them together. Place lettuce, Crasins, candied walnuts, and tomatoes in your salad bowl and toss around.

For the salmon take a non-stick skillet and put about 1 tbsp of olive oil in it. Unwrap salmon and coat the non skin side with your seasoning rub making sure to get the sides. Place your fillets on the skillet skin side down. Let them cook for about 4-5 minutes. Flip to the other side and peel the skin off. It should easily just come right off and discard. Take more seasoning and coat the side where the skin was. After about 5 minutes flip the salmon back over and cook for another 4-5 minutes so that side that once had the skin can now blacken. Place your fillets in the oven at 350 degrees in a baking dish and bake until the flesh is light pink and flakes away easily. Your cooking times will differ based on the thickness of your fish. Place the cooked salmon on top of your prepared salad and drizzle with the dressing.

Enjoy!