FM Recipe: Cedar Plank Salmon & Viking Power Sea Scallops

FISHERMAN'S MARKET | TUE-SAT: 10AM-6PM & SUN: 10AM-4PM | 255 POPES ISLAND, NEW BEDFORD, MA | NEWBEDFORDSEAFOOD.COM

Ingredients:
- Whole Fillet of Salmon
- Viking Power Sea Scallops: Big Boy Premiums
- Untreated Cedar Planks
- 2 Gallons of Apple Cider Vinegar
- Large Plastic Tub / Cooler
- Jar of Chopped Garlic
- Olive Oil (spray is for ease of application)
- 2 Lemons
- Fresh Thyme
- Creole Seasoning (any seafood seasoning of your choice is fine)

How to Prepare:

1. Begin by making sure your cedar planks can fit inside your grill and then soak your cedar planks in a large plastic tub. We used a cooler as it fit and contained the 2 gallons of apple cider vinegar. Soak for at least 1 hour, but 4 or 5 hours is even better. This helps flavor the beautiful wooden notes as well as protect the wood from going up in flames on the grill, although eventually we will want that to occur.

2. Set your grill on medium high heat and let it get nice and hot. You will want to have an internal temperature of around 300-350 degrees F.

3. Place your entire fillet of salmon skin side down on the first cedar plank as seen in photos above. Next, place your scallops on the other cedar plank and space them out in a staggered formation.

4. Use the olive oil spray to give a nice coating to all of the scallops and salmon.

5. Apply a generous amount of chopped garlic to your salmon. A little garlic on the scallops never is a bad thing either.

6. Apply a generous amount of fresh thyme sprigs all over your salmon fillet. Note, lightly pulling in the opposite direction of your thyme sprigs will ease the herbs off and you can discard the stems. For visual and flavor reasons, we left some of the whole sprigs on top as well.

7. Apply your seafood seasoning evenly across your fillet and each scallop.

8. Cut lemons into thick small slices and place across your fillet of salmon as seen in the photos above.

9. Place both cedar planks inside the grill and close the cover.

10. Check back often. If your wood starts to catch fire, that is okay as the wood smoke will provide a nice flavor and the fire will go out as soon as it gets to the skin of the salmon. If a fire breaks out on your scallops cedar plank, we recommend putting it out with some water sprayed from a bottle. The scallops do not have the protective skin that the salmon does and a fire will only scorch your scallops resulting in an overcooked, rubbery finish.

11. A temperature thermometer is very helpful for the salmon. Measure the internal temperature after 15 minutes on the grill in the thickest part of your salmon. If you see hot spots are cooking one side too much you will want to push the cedar planks around to evenly cook your salmon. Remember, guidelines tell us to cook all fish to an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees F.

12. Your scallops will finish much sooner than your salmon. You can try to use the top rack of your grill to get both to finish more simultaneously. When you start to see a golden brown color on the top of your scallops, be sure to flip them over to cook evenly throughout.

13. Remove the scallops and serve with one of Fisherman's Market Seafood Sauces. Again, your scallops will take a significant less amount of time to finish versus the salmon fillet.

14. Once the thickest part of your fillet nears 145 degrees, you can begin to cut into the middle of your salmon to see how cooked it really is throughout. You can also now, with the heat still on, begin to use your spatula to separate the skin from the fillet which should come off easily as the skin will adhere to the cedar plank. Use your spatula to cut servings up and lift each skinless fillet off and onto serving plate. Use Fisherman's Market Seafood Sauces to finish. We found that the best combination was FM's Mango Salsa for Seafood and FM's Creamy Cucumber Crab Cake Sauce! See photos above.