Grilled Mahi Mahi with Tropical Salsa
Tips on buying sustainable seafood and how to grill fish. Recipe for Mahi Mahi with Tropical Salsa.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
To Grill the Fish:
- 1 ½ -2 pounds sustainably sourced mahi mahi
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- salt and pepper
For the Tropical Salsa:
- ½ each mango
- ¼ each pineapple
- ½ each avocado
- ½ each red onion
- 1 each tomato
- ½ each jalapeño chili minced (about a teaspoon)
- 2 each green onion
- 1 each orange juiced
- 2 each limes juiced
- ¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the fish:
- If the mahi mahi comes in a whole fillet, remove the skin and cut out the center bloodline. Cut into portions of 6-8 ounces per person.
How to keep fish from sticking to the grill:
- Heat grill to high.
- Make sure the grill grates are clean. Use a wire brush to clean off any debris.
- Oil the grill grates: Tightly roll up a clean (old) dish towel and tie it with kitchen string. Dip the rolled towel in a little (not dripping!) canola oil. Use a pair of tongs to hold the towel and wipe down the grill grates.
- Restaurant trick: Brush the fish with mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise. It sticks to the fish and does not burn when over high heat. It basically melts off and keeps the fish from sticking to the grill.
How to get great grill marks:
- Use the mayonnaise trick (see above).
- Always place the “presentation” side of the fish down on the grill first. This is the side you want to present up on the plate. Typically, if the skin is left on, the skin side goes down first. If the skin is removed, it is the flesh side of the fish which goes down first.
- Remember “10 and 2.” Place the fish down on the grill on an angle to the grill grates. Start with the ten o’clock position. Cook for a few minutes and rotate the fish 45 degrees to the two o’clock position. Turn the fish over and repeat.
Grilling:
- Brush the flesh side of the fish lightly with mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper.
- Make sure the grill is hot and then place the fish flesh side down onto the grill in the “10 o’clock” position.
- Cook for about 4 minutes and then rotate the fish, keeping the same side down, clockwise to the 2 o’clock position. Cook for another 3 minutes.
- Brush the back of the mahi mahi with mayonnaise and turn the filet over to cook on the back side for about 3-4 more minutes.
- Remove from grill and serve with Tropical Salsa.
To Make the Salsa:
- Peel the mango with a sharp knife, then cut ½” slices from it and dice into cubes. Cut the pineapple, avocado, and red onion into a ½” dice. Dice the tomato the same size, taking care to remove excess seeds if possible.
- Finely chop the jalapeño. If you have sensitive skin, wear latex gloves and make sure you wash your hands with soap after cutting any spicy chilies to remove any chili residue from your hands.
- Juice the orange and limes and roughly chop the cilantro. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and gently combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Notes
If you’d like to prepare the salsa in advance, cut all the fruit and vegetables, but keep them separate, especially from the citrus juice. Acid in the juice and the pineapple will cause everything to soften and the salsa will get mushy in a few hours.
This would also be good with any fish common in tropical regions; California sea bass, yellowtail, albacore, etc. If you have access to other tropical fruits like papaya, star fruit, dragon fruit or even fresh coconut, any of those would be excellent additions or substitutions to the salsa.