The first time I had cedar plank salmon was at a restaurant called Season's 52. It was amazing!!! Why cook on cedar? While the presentation looks impressive, when you grill on cedar the smoky flavor is cooked into your food and gives you a light cedar aroma with every bite. The most important thing about salmon, and all fish actually, is that you have to have fresh fish. It's a must! So many people have told me they didn't like salmon, it's too fishy. I had never understood this until the first time I cooked salmon at home. I bought flash frozen salmon, I didn't even think to buy fresh at that point in my life. It was awful! Even after my bad experience with salmon I still kept trying different frozen fish. The only one that I felt held up well was tilapia. I will never again buy frozen fish.
*Note ~ When grilling on cedar plank always soak your plank in water for 2 hours before. You might be able to find pre-soaked food grade cedar boards in your local food market's fish department. You should be able to use your cedar board 2 or 3 times. Or for higher quality boards, 7 - 8 times, then you'll want to toss them. Wash with hot water and mild soap after use. Also, be sure you are using food grade cedar and not cedar you might find at your local home and garden store.
Brown Sugar Rub
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Cracked (not milled) Black Peppercorns (place peppercorns in plastic bag and press with a pan until they are cracked open)
1 Tsp Cracked Coriander (cracked the same way as the pepper)
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp Dill Seed
1 Tsp Dried Minced Garlic
1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Mix all ingredients together. You can store any extra in a ziplock bag or air lock jar.
Heat your grill to 500 degrees. Normally you won't heat your grill so high, but in this case you want your cedar plank to get charred and smoky. I don't really recommend cooking this indoors because it does get smoky.
6 oz of Salmon is a serving and is a good 300 - 350 calories (it varies by type of salmon, Alaskan, coho, farm raised, etc.) it is also a heavy fish so it is pretty filling. So you'll need that amount for each person you're serving.
Place salmon on soaked cedar plank and cover with 1 Tbsp of your brown sugar rub. Once your grill is at 500 degrees, add your planked salmon to the grill, cover and maintain your heat at 500 degrees. Let your salmon cook undisturbed for about 10 minutes The meat will flake easily when it's done.
Remove salmon from grill and set aside.
Grilled Asparagus
Asparagus
Olive Oil
Salt to taste
When choosing asparagus you want straight, firm stalks that have tightly closed dark green or purple tips, this indicates that it is fresh. I personally do not prefer overly thick asparagus. I like medium the most, but the thinner stalks are better than the thicker ones in my opinion.
Before cooking your asparagus you'll want to remove the ends, they are pretty tough. An easy quick way to do this is, bend 1 spear and where is breaks is where you'll want to cut the others.
Drizzle asparagus with olive oil, then toss a bit with tongs. This keeps the spears from sticking to the grill rack. Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Place asparagus on grill rack directly over heat. Grill covered for 5 - 6 minutes or until crisp-tender, turning once after 3 minutes.
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