(ZA) Saturday Super Salmon

We decided to cook ourselves a piece of fish as a "trial run" for Adie Webster's official EGGspert demo at the start of September. This will be the fish course of a four course taster menu we will be preparing for those who are looking at investing in a Big Green Egg. I reckon the dishes we've come up with will show off egging at it's best. We're hoping to inspire these would-be eggers with some magical smoked food!

I left this side of salmon out of the fridge for ten minutes to come up to room temperature before placing it on a cedar plank that had soaked for a few hours in cold water. It would need to be soaked for at least 30 minutes but I had the extra time so why not?

I gave the fish a light coating of olive oil and placed it on the wet plank with a few thin slices of lemon on top then transferred it to the egg which needed to be 350degF Direct. The plank sits directly on the cast iron grate. 

This piece of salmon took about 25 minutes to cook to perfection but we checked it after 12 minutes at the same time as placing a couple of lemon halves on the grill. I would recommend that you check the fish every 3 or 4 minutes (after this initial period) to see if it is cooked through as it is easy to over-cook it. 

Served on it's plank in the centre of the table, the fish makes an impressive centrepiece. We squeezed the grilled lemons over the fish. Grilling the lemons caramelises the sugars in the fruit and gives them a sweet/tart flavour, a little less acidic that fresh lemons, which really elevated this dish to something really stunning. Grilled lemons go really well with pork belly too! 

We served our fish with steamed new potatoes and peppery watercress dressed with a honey & wholegrain mustard vinaigrette. (50ml red wine vinegar, 1tbsp wholegrain mustard, 2tbsp runny honey, salt, pepper and 150ml extra virgin olive oil. blitz until blended. If it is too acidic, add a little more honey to taste) The fish was cooked to perfection and had taken on a little smoke flavour from the plank but only enhancing the natural salmon flavour without obliterating it. A really light and delicious summery dish.