I was luckily enough to grow up in the Pacific Northwest right on The Puget Sound, and if there's one universal custom it would be eating salmon. Salmon has to be one of the most nutritious fish on the market. It is a dense and tender cut of meat which makes a nicely extravagant flame broiled entree, a refreshing summer lunch or a nice comfort food when extended with bread crumbs. Here are three delicious ways to prepare this fish.

Growing up in a family that fished almost every weekend, we always had plenty of salmon in the freezer. It freezes really well due to its high fat content. (Don't worry: it's the really healthy kind of fat). Frozen salmon makes delicious salmon patties. Just throw an egg and some bread crumbs into a nice bowl of crumbled cooked salmon and add some fried onion. Pan-fry them at a fairly high temperature in a nice peanut oil and serve with fresh French fries and tartar sauce accompanied by a nice crisp sweet coleslaw with a little bite.

Sometimes cooking only requires the combination in of great ingredients. If you have access to a fresh bagel there is nothing more refreshing than a bagel with some nice smoked salmon, fresh cream cheese and slice or two of cucumber. I know that traditionally one serves a thing called lox which is also made out of salmon. Don't be fooled however. Lox are mushy, fairly tasteless pieces of brined salmon. The smoking of the meat with traditional alder wood really adds a large amount of flavor which is perfectly punctuated by the uplifting cucumber and held aloft by the cream cheese. Seriously, slice the fresh bagel and toast it, then put the cream cheese and small hand separated pieces of smoked salmon on top. Add the cucumbers and this is one seriously healthy yet somehow decadent lunch.

With fresh fillet of salmon you really want to prepare it over an open flame, preferably with some alder added to the fire. One favorite crowd-pleasing entree is easily made on the backyard barbecue. You take your fillet of salmon and placed it skin side down on the grill. On top of the fillet, pile on dried onion butter and lemon pepper. Make a small tent out of foil and arrange it over the meat. The famous rule of thumb for cooking fish applies, and ten minutes an inch is usually plenty of time to leave it on the grill. Served with a chilled Chablis Blanc, baked potatoes with sour cream and a fresh Caeser salad you'd be hard pressed to find a better summer evening meal.

Salmon is the fillet mignon of fish. Most fish require breading or saucing, but the incongruously healthy salmon can easily stand on its own just broiled plain in the oven or perhaps poached or with a bit of dill. Of course if you really want to go all out you can dredge your freshly prepared salmon in some nice melted butter and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Maybe you could procure some fresh dill to go along with it. It's hard to go wrong with a nice fillet of salmon, that much is certain.