I am a lover of seafood, be it ocean or creek (or “crick” as we called it growing up.) And I love to eat, and to cook and eat grilled things (cinnamon toast is grilled bread, after all, sort of)…so there’s a natural intersection. I recently tweaked one of my favorite meals and wrote out the process for a friend of mine, so I thought I’d make it available here.
Ingredients:
- 2 large fresh salmon filets, as uniform a thickness as you can get
- 3 fresh lemons
- 1/2 c. lemon juice
- 1 tb. dried taragon
- 1 pkg thin sliced prosciutto
- 1 tb. crushed Montreal Seasoning
Cooking, Prep and Serving Gear:
- gas or charcoal grill
- large flat serving platter
- 12″ cutting board
- 2 cedar planks (12″)
- mortar and pestle
- basting brush
- big spat to move planks on grill
- thin serving spat to prep for serving
- sharp knife to cut portions and trim lemons
- spray bottle not previously used for solvents or detergents
- glass of Siren Song Chardonnay or Islay single malt scotch with cold
whiskey stones - Means to play either Herbie Hancock (“Dis Is Da Drum“) or anything Miles Davis within ear shot (CD or Streaming)
The Cooked Salmon
- soak the cedar for a couple of hours (they often suggest only 30 min, but they need to be soggy to get the best flavor)
- melt a stick of butter and crush dried taragon leaves into it, add lemon juice 1:1
- carve the peel from three lemons and slice thinly
- separate the strips of prosciutto so they are easy to pick up
- dust the plank very lightly with the crushed Montreal
- arrange the salmon on the slab so nothing sticks over the edge leaving a 1/2″ margin if you can, you can gather it slightly as the cedar will hold it in place
- dust the fish very lightly with the crushed Montreal
- fill a spray bottle with apple juice
- super heat the grill
With Shittake Mushrooms
Cooking:
- plant the planks on the grill and close the lid for 5 min
- watch for flames and open the lid only when they light up, spray with apple juice til out
- turn the heat down to 250-300 or so (depends on the grill)
- at 5 min and periodically another 2-3 times, baste with the butter mix
- when the white starts forming on the fish as the juice steams but before a finger push comes back firm, place the strips of prosciutto to cover the fish except for the edges of the fish
- with 5 min to go, place 2-3 lemon slices on top of the prosciutto
- continue to baste at each step
- when the fish is firm to a finger press, go another 5 min and kill the fire
Serving:
- if the boards aren’t too burned, serve plank in place, slice the fish into two inch wide strips cross ways (perpendicular to the spine)
- if they are burned too much to serve (or are smoking too much) then slide a thin blade or spat between skin and fish and place on cutting board, slice as above and place on a platter
- garnish with fresh lemon slices and a sprinkle of dried taragon or sprigs of fresh taragon
Possible Pairings:
- Butter Nut Squash Soup drizzled with spicy peanut oil as a first course
-
Warm Greens Salad
Ceasar salad with whole anchovies or fresh baby spinach with carmelized walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette or a warm salad of arugula, bok choy in an onion vinagrette garnished with fresh mozzarella, greek olives and compressed watermelon.
- Pumpkin risotto with Tuscan Kale or Fettucinne Alfredo italian style (no cream)
- Siren Song “A Night in Madrid” or possibly Siduri Rosella’s Vineyard Pinot or Reynolds Family Russian River Pinot unless it has to be a cab, and then go for Andrew Geoffey 2005 or Reynolds Family Persistence (any year).
Notes:
- Sweet basil or even italian parsley/cilantro can replace the taragon (just remember, famed chef James Beard was heard to say that given enough taragon he could even be a cannibal…)
- you can sub olive or argan oil for butter or mix them with the butter to raise the smoke point on hotter grills and for faster cooking
- sometimes, to crisp the prosciutto, remove the planks, super heat the grill and put them back on for 5
It’s good to eat.