By the time you read this we should be winging our merry way to deepest devon for a week of fun and walks, pubs and food, R n R, chillaxing, laughing and no doubt yacking way too much with our friends. So as I’m reclining on a comfy sofa, she hopes, with a good book and a glass of something dry and white nearby I’m leaving you in the capable hands of some wonderful blogger friends. I hope you enjoy their offerings as much as I’m enjoying hosting them !
First off we have Shenandoah from Fleeting Architecture, so without further ado and yacking I’ll leave you in her capable hands !
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My guest blogger today is Shenandoah Kepler. She and her Dear Husband (DH) have lived more than 35 years in the suburbs of Washington DC in Maryland. Her blog, Fleeting Architecture, http://gardenaginginplace.com is the “Diary of an Ancient Gardener” describing her and her husband’s efforts to age in place at home and in their gardens.
I grew up in the Midwest US, and when my family craved barbecue (barbeque, bbq, etc.), we didn’t make it at home, we went to a “pit master” with the experience, skill, and patience to wood-smoke beef or pork (often in a pit) for the requisite 4 to 10 hours until the meat fell off the bones. This is the classic definition of bbq in the US, and there are still contests and rivalries all over the nation for the best practitioners of slow smoked bbq beef or pork.
Today though, if we have guests or go to someone’s home for bbq, we generally expect that it will not be actual bbq, but will be “grilled” fare on a metal gas or charcoal fuelled “barbecue griller” in the back yard. The food might have bbq sauce on it, but it will not be smoked for hours. “Grilled” in the US means food cooked on a high heat above the fire. I understand that “grilled” in the UK means cooked under a high heat. We in the US call that “broiling” the food. We do that in the kitchen oven.
My DH and I will grill anything: beef, pork, chicken, fish, seafood, vegetables, and fruit. I prepare the raw product and DH does the actual grilling.
Grilling some foods is easier with certain hardware. For example, fish, fruit and vegetables are prone to falling between the metal rods of the grill, so you might have to improvise some type of narrower cooking surface, even a mesh screen, to keep the food out of the fire. We use a specially designed grill surface for fish, and a vegetable cooker designed for a grill to hold fruit or veggies over the grill outside.
The only other detail is to know approximately how long it will take to preheat the grill and how long to leave any type of product on the grill (very short times for fish, for example) recognizing the signs of when the product is actually cooked adequately before removal from the grill.
Because grills can vary so much in BTU output, insulation, etc. from one brand and model to another, with even the outside temperature affecting the timing, pre-heating and cooking times will vary greatly. Since food will continue to cook after it is removed from the grill, we recommend slightly undercooking everything, but experimentation is the key to grilling.
Grilled salmon and brussels sprouts
Preparation
- Begin with salmon fillets of about ½ inch in thickness. Start the bbq grill and get it to grilling temperature. For our gas grill, this takes about 15 minutes of pre-heating. Salmon will take approximately 7 minutes to cook on our grill.
- Cut available herbs from your garden or pots (I strip the leaves from the herbs because the stems are too woody this time of the year), put them in a bowl or mortar; pour a little olive oil over them; add a little vinegar, wine, lemon juice, or something else acidic (to make dressing or marinade.) Pound the mixture together, adding any combination of garlic, ginger, mustard, soy sauce, sugar and pepper to the mixture. Pour ½ marinade/dressing over the salmon.
- Cut ends off brussels sprouts, cut each sprout in half, place in bowl and cover, and put in microwave oven with small amount of butter, margarine, or oil for 2 or 3 minutes. Let cool. Add other half of marinade to brussels sprouts, toss, let set until the grill is ready.
Cooking the Salmon and Brussels
- Grill salmon on fish grill and grill brussels sprouts in vegetable grill. After about 4 or 5 minutes, run spatula under fish so it doesn’t stick to grill.
- When fish begins to bubble (fat will be seen rising to top surface of flesh), it is done. For those of you unsure, use a fork to flake the fish. If it flakes but seems a bit too red in the center, remember that the salmon will continue to cook when you remove it from the grill and will become pink in the center at that time. Alternatively, you can remove the thinner parts of the fish that are cooked and continue to grill the thicker portion.
- Remove the brussels sprouts at the same time you remove the salmon.
Reblogged this on Mega Spot.
Enjoy your trip to Devon.
Thank you
Hope you have fun in Devon my friend, what a fantastic guest post to start off with
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hi Shenandoah
Good to meet you. Thanks for the post.
Hi, Glenda! Sorry to be so long in getting back to you. I’m new at guest blogging and didn’t check back on Claire’s blog to answer comments. Sorry! -Shenandoah
Have a wonderful time, Claire. You’ll be missed, but I love reading recommended posts.
Shenandoah, your salmon and Brussel’s sprouts sound delicious, and thank you for the clarification and contrast between bbq-ing versus grilling. I have spent time in the south with family and recall the passion for barbecuing, and we in California, are more masters of the grill! I rarely differentiate when speaking, but they are totally different cooking methods. What a good reminder!
Debra
Hi, Debra,
Hope you have tried the grilled salmon and veggies by now. We just repeated the fare with scallops and zucchini, summer squash, barely red bell peppers, and onions yesterday. We used garlic and rosemary mainly; try it! Best to you, Shenandoah
My mouth is watering!!! Seriously–this looks and sound delicious!
Stacy, Hope you have tried one of them by now. As it grows colder, our rosemary might freeze, and basil is definitely looking wilty, so we plan to repeat with those herbs in abundance. Best to you, Shenandoah
We call it braaing here and next time I shall try some Brussels sprouts
Tandy, Where is “here”? We find we like any of the cabbage family on the grill – just microwave it a bit first. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Thanks, Shenandoah
Happy travels Claire. This looks absolutely delicious, Shenandoah and I loved the historical information woven in.
Hi df, thanks for the encouragement. I found so many pictures of pits, some looking more like pits than others, but all reminding me of my childhood. Goodness, when I think of it, when my childhood is history, I’m an oldster for sure! Best to you, Shenandoah
Thank you for such a wonderful guest post. Have a great holiday, Claire!
ChgoJohn, You’re welcome very much! Sorry to be so long in getting back to you! Best to you and yours!
Thank you Shenandoah for a wonderful first guest blog !!
Claire, Thank you so much for the opportunity to try something new – how to use what we grow and take photos of it! Love your blog and your followers both! Best to all of you!
Brussel sprouts look wonderful. I don’t make them often, but I do enjoy them.
Julie, try any single or mixed vegetable. DH says that as long as I have onion or tomato on the grill with it, he will eat anything but lima beans with me. And he proves it everytime he asks innocently “what’s this called?” And let us know how it works out. I think it is the marinade, not the veggie.
Fantastic guest post!
Hi Yummychunklet, Thanks so much! Let us know if you try it! Best to you, Shenandoah
Great post! Apart from lusting after your grill (Shenandoah) I love the way you did the sprouts. I was not, unitl recently, a fan…but done like this i know I´d love them!
Hi Chica Andaluza, Have you tried them this way yet? I just did the same thing to asparagus (without microwaving first, because they start out tender) and they are also good that way. – Shenandoah
I haven´t yet – but when I get back to Spain (and my bbq) will be making these in the garden!
Hello Shenandoah
A pleasure to meet you and thank you for the wonderful recipe. Brussel sprouts and salmon sound like a wonderful combination
Hi, Sawsan, As I’m getting back a little late to answering comments, I wanted to say how yummy your pumpkin seeds are! What other spices might I try with them? -Shenandoah
Delicious! Grilling fish and veggies is my favorite meal!
What’s your favorite combination? My favorite is catfish with bbq sauce and sweet corn!
-Shenandoah
Honey-Jalapeno Salmon with asparagus!
I will try a honey and jalapeno combo tonight. I have no jalapeno peppers fresh or preserved, but have some dried crushed powder that I will add to my honey. Thanks so much for the idea! And of course, asparagus goes with anything!
I’m curious to see how it works….I grill my jalapeños, fresh ones, but living in Texas they are in abundance! Keep me posted.
I had never heard of grilling brussels sprouts before–how perfect for fall!
Yes, they are delicious, but remember to cook them a little before grilling them, because they start out rock hard. Either boil or microwave (I prefer the latter) for about 2 minutes before grilling. Bon Apetit!
Thanks, they should be arriving in the CSA boxes any time now.
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