Drunken Salmon

[AWMiller]

NOTE:  Everything in this recipe is done 'to taste'..... but you'll love trying it over and over until you find the right blend of seasonings for your taste!!!

Ingredients:

• salmon (not that canned stuff!!
• apple or cherry wood planks (submerge in water for 3 hours prior to cooking)
• frozen stick of butter
• red onion
• sea salt
• fresh thyme
• Tony's Creole Seasoning
• peppercorns
• dark rum
• brown sugar
• fresh dill

Take a skillet and heat up some rum and add brown sugar.  What you're making is the 'drunken glaze' that will go over the fish just before serving.  This is best prepared a day in advance.  You'll need to add a brown sugar until you have a nice slightly thick, syrup-like glaze.  Pour off into a container and let it cool down to room temperature before putting into the refrigerator.  On the day you are preparing this dish, just take out the glaze and put it in a skillet and SLOWLY heat back up.

Heat up your grill and prepare for indirect cooking method (heat on one side).

Rub a frozen butter stick on the plank and coat it well (food side only).  Then lay down paper-thin rings of red onions all over the plank.  A sprinkle of sea salt and lay down a thin bed of stripped thyme.  Then a light sprinkle of the creole seasoning and lay down the salmon fillet on this bed.  I take the thyme sprigs and insert them into the fillets and other times I'll simply lay them on top of the fillets.  Sprinkle on some crushed peppercorns (I like to heat them up in the oven first before putting them into the grinder... really helps in boosting up the flavor!) and a dash of the sea salt and creole seasoning and fresh dill.

Cover with foil and place on grill and cook to your desired done-ness (is that a word?!).

After putting the fish on your plate, take a spoon and scoop up some of the heated glaze and drizzle over the top of the fish.  I serve this dish with a mellow Argentinean white wine spring salad, wild rice and steamed veggies (squash, zucchini, broccoli, etc.).

For added pizazz.... serve the fish while still on the planks!!