Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce

Well this is just great.  Honestly, the cucumber dill sauce would be good on anything – or just eaten by itself.  It is fresh tasting, light, and relatively healthy.  To make this sauce, take 1 cucumber and cut the ends off.  Split the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the center seedy part.  Slice each cucumber half into thinly sliced half mood pieces.  Next, thinly slice 1/3 of a small red onion.  Make sure this is very thinly sliced so there is no overpowering onion flavor.  Add the onion and cucumber in a bowl and mix with ½ teaspoon of salt.  Put the salted cucumber and onion in a strainer in the sink to release the moisture.  Make sure you take this step or else the sauce will become too watery.  After the cucumber and onion have drained, pat them dry with a paper towel to pick up the extra moisture.  Next, combine ¼ cup of light sour cream in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil mayo.  Combine this mixture with 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and ½ teaspoon of sugar (you may also use splenda or any other sweetener instead).  Next, grate 1 garlic clove into the bowl.  This is easily done using a microplane grater.  Lastly, take one handful of fresh dill, chop, and add into the mixture.  You can also add some fresh black pepper if you wish, but I chose to omit this.  Let the sauce sit in the refrigerator for at least a half hour before serving. 

For the salmon, I just sprayed each filet with canola oil on each side.  I seasoned each side with salt and garlic powder.  Heat the grill over med/high heat.  Grill the salmon 3 minutes on each side – the canola spray completely prevents it from sticking.  This was the first time I grilled salmon and was a bit nervous about it but it turned out great.  Top each piece of salmon with the cucumber dill sauce and enjoy.  We had extra sauce that I used atop a veggie burger the next day – and that was great too.  I hope you love this little dish from Newlywed Kitchen!