What's on the Grill #96

Ultimate Planked Salmon! Actually, this is more like super ultimate planked salmon. I pulled the recipe from Ted Reader's King of the Q's Blue Plate BBQ. I have made planked salmon many times before, but never quite like this. Let me first start with the back story.

I love to look through cookbooks, especially when I am hungry. Ideas for the grill pop off the page and into my head. I love it. It should come as no surprise that I also love good pictures in a cookbook. In fact, they are often a prerequisite. I picked up Reader's book last summer when I was on vacation. Mostly, because a few of the pictures really caught my eye. Although this is not a "picture a page" book, it is close.

Reader has a ton of amazing recipes. The problem is they are not necessarily simple. By "not simple" I do not mean technically difficult, I mean there is often a lot of prep time because many recipes require a lot of ingredients. To compound this issue more, a lot of times the recipe requires a rub or sauce elsewhere in the book that is another 10 ingredient tango. On a weeknight, I simply do not have the time. I often find myself grilling when I "don't have the time". Thus, my predicament.

This book is a must for the adventurous sole. For the "I only have a few hours to crank out a grilled dinner with what I have on hand", you may have to look elsewhere.

My book explanation perhaps explains why I call this super ultimate planked salmon. For a typical planked salmon, I will either marinade a salmon filet, or brush on a sauce. For ultimate planked salmon, I used a maple plank (he recommends cedar...I happened to be out of cedar) and topped the salmon with a mixture of: Reader's Bonedust Seasoning (2 tbsp), fresh dill (1/2 cup), shallots (4, diced), garlic (2 cloves, minced), green onions (2, chopped), lemon zest (1 tsp) and olive oil (1 tbsp).

Soak your plank in water for a hour. Mix together your ingredients and smear across the top of your salmon filet. With the salmon on the plank (make sure it is a skinless filet so that the woody plank taste makes it into the meat) place the plank over a direct high heat for approximately 12-15 minutes.

One word: Wow! We almost always have left over salmon, which I love since it means I can make salmon cakes. There was nothing left of the ultimate planked salmon....except for the plank of course.

I almost forgot. Dessert was Zoë's parchment wrapped apples. It is based on a recipe from one of the Weber books, but she will not tell me what else she does. All I know is that when you add some ice cream it makes a memorable dessert.