I've got more blueberries and peaches than I know what to do with- I've canned, cobblered, and just plain gorged myself into oblivion on these hot-weather delicacies and there is still fruit to spare. But hey, if that's all I have to gripe about, things must be going pretty well.I've only consumed 5 servings of cedar planked salmon this week, down from my usual 8-9 weekly servings. Fortunately, just about everything goes with planked salmon and where there's a grill, there's a way!
This week's recipe is Super-Summery Salad with Planked Sockeye topped with a Blueberry Balsamic Reduction, but first, a quick a brush-up on planking technique.
Here's how it works:
First- soak your cedar grilling plank in water. An hour or two prior to grilling will work just fine, but a longer soak time permits the plank to absorb more moisture. This allows for more cedar-infused water vapor to be released during the grilling process.
Then- get your grill up to medium heat, 350-400 degrees. Place the wet plank on the pre-heated grill and heat plank for another 5 minutes before adding the food. This allows the plank to begin to smolder and smoke.
Next- place your seasoned salmon on plank and close grill lid and let cook for recommended time. The average fillet takes between 14-18 minutes, depending on thickness. No flipping, turning, or tweaking is needed. Once cooked, remove from the grill and enjoy!
So, for my salad, I used mixed baby greens, but just use whatever you have fresh in the fridge or from the garden, toss with a little olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper and top with hot salmon, blueberry balsamic reduction and freshly slice peaches!Blueberry Balsamic Reduction
1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 cup Fresh Blueberries, plus extra for fresh garnish
- Macerate berries until juicy and then add vinegar. Let the berry juice and pulp meld with vinegar for up to an hour.
- Pour blueberry and vinegar mixture through cheesecloth or very fine strainer to remove pulp and seeds. Bring strained blueberry vinegar to a simmer, whisking constantly.
- Reduce vinegar down until desired viscosity- I like it pretty syrupy. Mix in fresh blueberries and top salmon with your hot Blueberry Balsamic Reduction!
Welcome to your weekend! -KB
I was so excited to receive my cedar planks along with recipes on how to cook salmon. Having grown up in KS and having some form of beef at practically every meal, I was new to cooking fish on a wooden plank! The salmon turned out delicious and was very easy to prepare. I used one of the recipes on the back of the cedar package with maple syrup instead of brown sugar but it still worked well for a marinade. I added chopped garlic and mustard and stirred it well before pouring it over the salmon. I added a bit of ground black pepper and salt and it was ready to grill.
ReplyDeleteI must add the preparation of soaking the plank was very simple. I left it in a wide kitchen sink for about an hour before cooking with it.
I served the salmon to my family members who raved about the smoked flavor of the salmon. It was wonderful and I look forward to trying more recipes in the near future.
Marti,
ReplyDeleteThe brown sugar / maple cedar planked salmon is the quintessential planking experience. You can never go wrong with that recipe. You can also substitute the brown sugar / maple with honey or blue agave syrup.
Plank on! Let us know if you need any more planks and we'll hook you up.