Travel Tips & Adventures

Oregon is a state of mind.  Everywhere we went when we visited years ago, we found ourselves trying to figure out how we could live in that particular locale.

I love the ocean; my husband loves the mountains.  Oregon has both ocean and mountains plus waterfalls, hiking, and scenery that truly makes you want to stay.  So, Oregon has absolutely charmed us.  The Convention and Visitors Bureaus would be proud of us!

If you want to shop, there’s everything from cheese, the Tillamook Cheese Factory (in Tillamook, of course!), to the largest used book shop in the world, Powell’s (in Portland).  Go to the Saturday Market (which is also Sunday) in Portland (now in a new location and celebrating its grand opening on August 22 & 23) and spend the morning – artisans and food purveyors provide many choices.  Or, try one of the many Farmer’s Markets in several towns around the state.

If you care about the environment, Portland has a terrific, low cost light rail system, plus buses and many people use bicycles to commute.  

If you want to attend college or just have a chance to piggyback some cultural events onto your travels, Oregon has the University of Oregon (in Eugene) and Oregon State University (in Corvallis). Or spend time in Portland and go to the zoo, the festivals (check for what’s happening during different times of year), many museums and much more.

Outdoor adventures include seeing a live volcano, skiing in the winter, enjoying the ocean, hiking around forests, viewing waterfalls and much, much more.

That’s why – we’ll be going back!

However, we did promise recipes this week and we figured it would be great to end the week with how to grill planked salmon.  Salmon is offered at many restaurants in Oregon and, often, grilled on a plank.  Why, you ask, would you want to grill a salmon on a plank?  Because it offers extra flavor and the plank won’t burn if you follow our suggestions.

So, without further delay -

Recipe for  –

PLANKED SALMON

You will want to purchase  a cedar plank ahead of time (at least the day before).  Head to a home store such as Home Depot or Lowe’s or somewhere else that sells wood fencing by the piece.  We buy a five foot piece of cedar fencing and have them cut the plank into 12-inch sections.

The day you want to grill your salmon fillet, you will want to soak one of the sections of the board/plank.  In the morning, soak the cedar piece in water to cover in the sink or basin.  If the plank floats, hold it down by putting a can of food on it.  Let the plank/board soak for at least eight hours.

The Salmon - 

Purchase a 3 lb (about 1 1/2 kilo) skin-on salmon – it should be filleted with small bones removed. 

Also in the morning or at least two hours before grilling, immerse your salmon fillet  (3 lbs – about a 1 1/2 kilos) in a marinade, which can be a purchased variety or the following: 

Marinade 

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

2  Tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon of olive oil (go lightly – you don’t want to add too much)

One squeeze of fresh lemon

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 Tablespoon of honey or maple syrup or other sweetener

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of water

Mixture the above ingredients well and put in a container big enough to fit the salmon. Place the salmon in the marinade for at least 2 hours.

Dill Sauce

1 cup of sour cream or plain yogurt

1 Tablespoon of dill weed dried or a 1/4 cup of fresh dill weed, chopped up

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 lb. goat cheese, optional

Stir the ingredients together and chill until the salmon is ready to serve. 

 

Grilled Salmon

Prepare your grill and let the temperature heat to medium high. 

Place the salmon, skin side down on the plank (which you just removed from the water).  If the salmon does not fit, cut it into pieces so it will. 

Place the plank on the grill over the flame and cover the grill.  It should cook in 8-12 minutes, depending on the flame, thickness of the salmon, etc.  If the plank (when you peek, which you will do, of course) is getting a bit charred, move the board away from the direct flame and cover the grill again. Do not attempt to turn the salmon over.  The salmon is cooked when it flakes when poked with a fork.  

Remove the entire plank from the grill.  Make sure you use ovenproof mitts to remove the plank.  Then, scoop the salmon off of the plank with a spatula.  You can cut pieces first to make it easier.  The skin should come off easily.  Sadly, you probably cannot reuse the plank.  But, you have 4 more to use at a fraction of the cost of a fancy packaged board.

Now, serve the salmon with the dill sauce on the side and offer lemon slices to everyone.

Enjoy!

www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/

Tags: Food, Oregon, Recipe, Scenery, Travel, US Domestic Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, August 7th, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Family Fun, Food, Romantic Locations, Scenery, Shopping, Travel, Zoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.