Jun 25 2012

Cedar Plank Smoked Alaskan Salmon

Dear Salmon,

I am no longer afraid of you… the end!

Love,
Foo

Cedar Plank Salmon

Dan’s boss went on a wonderful vacation to Alaska and kindly gave us some salmon and yellowfin tuna that he had caught on one of his fishing excursions. Both had been sitting in our freezer for a bit and since I’m doing a huge grocery store challenge (more on that in my next post) – I decided enough is enough. I must cook the salmon.

My friend Paul was up from the bay area for a weekend visit and we are the queen and queen 🙂 of watching our weight, health, etc. since our college days. Always trying our best, not always succeeding… but getting right back to it more often than not.

A healthy, delicious dinner was my plan going into the weekend. I got a gift card from Ace’s Mom for my birthday and decided to buy some cedar planks to cook my salmon. Jenna from EatLiveRun has blogged several times about her boyfriend Adam’s amazing cedar planked smoked salmon, so I thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly – different portion size, ingredient substitution, different spice measurements, etc. – but it was very close.

The Ingredients:
For the Marinade
1/4 Cup Chardonnay
1/4 Cup Dill
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Black Pepper

For the Salmon
1 Large Salmon Filet – ours was just about 2 lbs. with the skin on
1 Lemon – sliced thin
2 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary – soaked in water
1 Cedar Plank – soaked in water

Paul and I went to 3 grocery stores looking for fresh dill. WTH? Was it National Fresh Dill Day this past weekend? All stores were sold out. I was not going to hit a 4th store, so I opted to get a tube of dill. I had never used the Gourmet Garden herb blends before. I honestly think the only difference was the texture… Still organic, just a little more “wet” than fresh would have been, but it worked as a successful substitute for sure. Mental note: I really need to start an herb garden.

Directions:

  1. Soak cedar plank (planks if cooking more than 1 piece of salmon) in hot water (to start) for up to 24 hours. I soaked mine for about 3 hours.
  2. Mix together all marinade ingredients. (1/4 cup chardonnay, 1/4 cup dill, zest and juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 tablespoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper)
  3. Pour marinade over salmon and refrigerate for an hour – I flipped the salmon a few times during the process.
  4. Heat the grill to 450 degrees F. I honestly have no idea what temp. my grill was set  for – I moved 2 of the knobs to medium and left 2 on high while it heated up – the built in thermometer has never really worked.
  5. After the salmon has marinated, lay fish on the soaked plank and top with lemon slices and rosemary sprigs. Feel free to use less of each, I love a lemony fish, so I went for it. I used a baking sheet to transfer the plank to the grill.
  6. Place plank (with fish) on grill for 20-25 minutes.

I placed the salmon skin side down.

I used potholders to place the plank straight onto the hot grill and set the timer for 20 minutes. We noticed a lot of smoke coming from the BBQ about 10 minutes in, but I didn’t want to open the BBQ. I told Paul and Dan that if for some reason the plank had gone up in flames and our dinner was ruined,  we could always order pizza or eat cereal – ha! ha! I turned the heat down to medium on all knobs and crossed my fingers.

In the end, I had burnt rosemary sprigs (will soak in water next time)… and a totally charred cedar plank (not sure if that’s normal or not, will soak for longer next time)…. but man did the salmon look good! 122, 123, 124 degrees… and then a perfect 125 degrees F., then it stopped…. awesome! Spot on internal temp.

I was easily able to lift the salmon right off the skin… I sliced it into 3 pieces and this is when I noticed that I had failed to remove any of the pin bones. What can I say? I’m a salmon newbie and will be doing this step next time before marinating. Dan had very few bones in his piece, I had 5 or 6 and Paul won the jackpot with just over that. Whoops…. nobody seemed to complain, the taste pretty much cancelled out any negative, OH MY GOD! it was wonderful.

Cedar Planked Salmon

I used my veggie cutter to whip up some zucchini pasta noodles and sauteed those in extra virgin olive oil with garlic, ground sea salt and pepper. I also heated up some fresh bread for our meal. Light and healthy and a wonderful end to a fun day with my BFF. I will definitely be making this and other plank fish throughout the summer. I read a few other recipes where they soaked the planks in wine… thinking my initial temp. was too high, because my plank really charred on the ends, probably a good idea I stay away from soaking them in alcohol. A glass or two with dinner sounds like a better option than burning down our new patio cover.

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Jun 20 2012

Antipasto Kabobs

I’m always on the search for easy/creative appetizers. Several years ago I stumbled upon a Taste of Home Summer Appetizer magazine at my local grocery store. I’ve been buying them every year since. I’m a sucker for food photos and each recipe includes one – which is one of the reasons why my collection has become my “go to” when searching for new ideas.

Any kind of kabob makes for easy party food. The presentation looks fabulous and guests can just grab one from the platter. When I first saw the recipe for Anitpasto Kabobs, I knew they would be a hit with my family and friends and I was right.

The Ingredients: (Yield: 40 Appetizers)
1 Package (9 ounces) Refrigerated Cheese Tortellini – I got the 16oz. package because it was on sale
40 Pimento-Stuffed Olives
40 Large Pitted Black Olives
3/4 Cup Italian Salad Dressing – Girard’s is my favorite
40 Thin Slices Pepperoni – I’ve used regular and turkey
20 Thin Slices Hard Salami
Fresh Parsley Sprigs
40 Skewers – I use caramel apple sticks because they hold up well and they are the perfect length

Directions:
Cook tortellini according to package directions. Make sure you don’t overcook the tortellini or it will tear when you try to place it on the skewers. Drain and rinse the tortellini in cold water. I usually never rinse my pasta, but it helps it cool down faster and prevents the pieces from sticking together.

You don’t need to use the tri-color package of pasta, but I think it adds to the final presentation.

Combine the tortellini, olives and Italian dressing in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Place the mixed contents in a large resealable plastic bag and shove into your already packed fridge :-). Refrigerate for 4 hours or even overnight. Drain and discard marinade before preparing the skewers.

For each appetizer, thread a stuffed olive, folded pepperoni slice, tortellini, folded salami piece, black olive and parsley sprigs onto a short skewer. I don’t exactly follow that part of the recipe… I just start threading items onto my skewers randomly. Sometimes several pieces of salami, sometimes 2 pieces of tortellini. I also make some without the salami and pepperoni – total rebel, breakin’ all the rules. Sure, it will mean less than 40, but I find that the packages always contain more anyway.

I tend to use 2 pieces of quartered pepperoni stacked next to each other to create more volume.

Perfect for any party or get together – especially with the start of Summer and the heat that follows.

I’ve also added fresh mozzarella  – with basil and cherry tomatoes, marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts. Fruit kabobs, pasta kabobs, chicken/beef kabobs… all fun ways to serve and eat your food at a party.

What’s your favorite “go to” Summer party appetizer?

 

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Jun 14 2012

Birthday Weekend Part II

We left Oakland with plans to drive to Walnut Creek to surprise our friends Tim and Britt. Tim had tweeted earlier in the day that he was going to be at a KGO event at the Pyramid Alehouse and since our San Francisco plans got changed, we decided it would be the perfect way to spend the rest of our Saturday.

Tim started working for KGO 810 shortly after relocating to the bay area from Southern California. He is one of the weekend talk show hosts.  Chef Ryan Scott from Top Chef Season 4 has his own Saturday cooking show “Cooking with Ryan Scott“ from 4-6 p.m., co-hosted by Rich Walcoff.  Ryan was broadcasting live from the Pyramid Alehouse and the show was all about cooking with beer. Beer infused recipes, beer and food pairings and some crazy beer cocktails.

We got there and I wish I had my camera out of the bag to capture Britt and Tim’s faces… it was awesome. We hadn’t seen them since our snowboarding trip back in January and the bonus was that their son had just graduated from high school, so Britt’s mom was there too.

Love these ladies so much!

We grabbed a table and Pyramid started serving up samples of their beers and beer-infused food items discussed during the live broadcast.

It was fairly hot out, so I thought it would be a good idea to hydrate with some water between samples. We started with pizza twists made with Pyramid’s award winning Hefeweizen. The small plate came with marinara and ranch for dipping.

Grilled watermelon and grilled avocado salsa… super interesting flavor combo, the texture was hard to get used to. I prefer my salsa to be cold.

The Pyramid chefs were grilling right behind us.

The samples kept on coming…

Kabobs with Beer Marinade – Beef, chicken and veggies in a tangy Pyramid Pale Ale marinade. The kabobs were pretty tasty. Between Dan and Jake just eating the meat… I’m pretty sure I ate the most vegetables.

Hefeweizen Lemon and Berry Parfaits, say it isn’t so… Four-layer parfaits made with Pyramid Hefeweizen lemon gelatin dessert (aka Jello) and lemon anglaise, topped with fresh berries and dollop of Pyramid Apricot Ale Chantilly cream.

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the taste. There were also beer Jello shots with whipped cream. I had the Peach and Apricot Ale Jello shot. There also might have been 3 samples of Beer-gria mixed in there. Wheat Beer Sangria (Pyramid Crystal Wheat Ale mixed with fresh lemon and orange juice and garnished with blueberries and grapes) I didn’t get a photo because I was too busy grabbing them off the tray 🙂

The Hef-Mosa – Pyramid Hefeweizen and orange juice with a clementine wedge garnish. Fabulous!

Tim was talking about the sweet corn soup that Ryan had made for the show. We all wanted to taste it, but they weren’t passing out samples. Then Tim asked… So, did you want to meet Ryan? UM YES PLEASE! I had met him at the Top Chef Tour when he did the San Francisco show back in June 2010 – but there were major crowds and all I got to say was “hi” – as he signed a photo and cookbook. I did mention my food blog, but come on… he’s met a million people since then.

We decided to walk up to the broadcast table while they were on a show break. We did get to try Ryan’s Sweet Corn Soup – it was delicious.

Tim chatted away with Ryan as I stood there holding my soup spoon, LOL. Tim kept telling me… He’s really nice, he’s a great guy…. aren’t you going to ask him any questions? Why aren’t you talking Ms. Food Blogger?… Ha! Ha! – guess I was a little star struck… and yah, he’s kind of hot, so there’s that.

Thanks Britt for taking photos of me and my new chef boyfriend, and thanks Tim for being a twitter whore… I never would have known about the event had I not seen your tweet. As a thank you… Foodiddy readers, if you are on twitter or instagram, please follow Tim – aka Monty – @TheMontyShow and TheMontyShow on Instagram as well. You can also follow Ryan Scott @chefryanscott on twitter.

Thanks Monty family for the perfect ending to a fabulous day of birthday celebrating. Love you guys!

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