Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa

Our local grocery store has this fabulous bacon - freshly sliced into nice, thick slices...soooo good.  And, it's the same price as the pre-packaged stuff.  We purchase this bacon quite frequently, and go through it really fast, but with our vacation last weekend, we had some that needed to be used up.

Enter Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa.  My mom made this for us a long time ago, so I dug up the recipe, made a few simple changes and, as Ben would say, "taaaaaa-dah!"

 Salmon with Bacon and Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs fresh salmon (skin removed, if possible...or do it yourself, but that's a pain)

2 tsp. dried thyme leaves (or, 10-12 sprigs of fresh, chopped, leaves only)

6 slices bacon (trust me)

1 T garlic paste (or minced garlic...it's all I had)

Small red onion, diced

Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp. mesquite seasoning

10 oz can diced tomatoes & chiles, mild (well drained, which I forgot to do)

Assembly:

Cut bacon into 1/4 inch pieces, and place in pan with onions and garlic.  Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until bacon is brown.

While bacon is cooking, cut away dark sections of salmon and cut into 4 servings.  Rub both sides of the salmon with olive oil and sprinkle on thyme, mesquite seasoning and pepper.  (I mixed the spices in a bowl, and then rubbed it on the salmon all at once.)  Place salmon on grill, or in grill pan (we used a cast iron grill pan), with darker side up.  Close lid, or loosely cover with foil, and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the fish is thoroughly cooked (145 F degrees).

Add the tomatoes to the bacon mixture, reduce heat to medium and simmer 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and the liquid evaporates.  Serve salsa over salmon.