For the salad, it’s best to make the quinoa 1-2 days ahead of time and store it in the fridge so it can dry out a little. If making the day of, spread quinoa on a sheet tray after it’s cooked and let it sit at room temperature for a couple hours. Add the quinoa to a large bowl with the remaining salad ingredients. Mix well and check for seasoning, you may need a little more lemon juice or olive oil. Salad can be made ahead of time, except the avocados, and will keep in the fridge for days.

Place the salmon filets skin side up on a plate and keep them uncovered in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but ideally 1-2 hours. This will dry the skin out and help it become crispy. Season the salmon with ¼ teaspoon of salt on each side and a couple cracks of pepper. Pre-heat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat for 3 minutes with enough oil to cover the bottom, about 2-3 tablespoons. Place the fish skin side down in the pan and gently fresh down on the fish for 10 seconds to make sure the skin is making maximum contact with the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, you know it’s ready to flip when a white opaque color is pushing up the sides and top of the fish. Flip, turn the heat down to low and let cook another 2 minutes for the salmon to be a little pink inside. Remove from heat. You can also cut through the top of the fish to check doneness.

Serve the fish with some of the quinoa salad and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.