I stop into my local supermarket this morning to pick up some salmon for dinner and left with steelhead instead.  I guess, based on the paragraph above I did actually get salmon but since I’ve never grilled steelhead I figured I’d try something a little different. It really wasn’t all that different, the taste was slightly different but most people at the table didn’t really know the different.

Mrs. Grail was cleaning out a cupboard the other day and came across a bottle of Salmonberry Syrup we picked up on a cruise to Alaska several years ago.  I thought it would be nice to come up with a glaze using the syrup for the steelhead.  I served the steelhead on a bed of Israeli Couscous mixed with grilled summer squash. (The recipe for the Grilled Squash Couscous will post tomorrow)

One of the reasons I like to grill this type of fish is because it’s just so easy to do.  Brush the fish with a little olive oil, season and toss it on the grill.  This time around I seasoned the steelhead with Todd’s Crabby Dirt.  Dirt adds a nice flavorful kick to the fish that lets you know it’s there without a huge kick.

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I have shelves and shelves of rubs, spices, seasonings and sauces.  There is even a spare refrigerator in the garage where the overflow of previously enjoyed jars/bottles of sauces are kept.  I love all the unique flavors you can come up with, but when it comes to expensive cuts of meat and seafood I prefer to go with a much more simple approach.  And that’s the case with these wonderful halibut filets my sister-in-law dropped off from a recent trip to Alaska.  The last time I checked halibut this good was over $19.00 a pound.  At prices like that I want to taste the fish, not seasoning.

Halibut is a very firm white fish and holds up well to grilling directly on the grates.  It you’ve had trouble with fish sticking to your grates try oiling the fish and NOT the grates.  This is the technique I use with great success.  Also, trying to turn the fish to early will also give you sticking problems.  If your grates are clean and you oil the fish when its time to turn over the flesh of the fish will “release” from the grates.  Making sure you’re not using too hot of a grill also will make sure your life is much easier.

I served the halibut with a some roasted potatoes and a zucchini fritter.  Just a touch of tartare sauce for some added zing and we had a fantastic meal.  The zucchini fritter was super simple.  Shred three or four zucchini and place them in a mesh strainer.  Mix in 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and let it sit for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes cut the crust off two pieces of white bread.  In a food processor grind the bread into a fine powder.  Squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the zucchini and add the bread crumbs, pepper and a little sliced green onion.  Form into patties and pan fry until crisp and cooked through.

I wanted a little dab of tartare sauce to compliment the fish so I mixed some mayo with a touch of Dijon mustard, pickle relish and grated onion together.  It was a little boring so I chopped up a few candied jalapeno and added them to the sauce and bingo, we had ourselves a winner.

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This month’s “On Our Grills, 4 Ingredient Challenge” posed some real challenges.  Some people have gotten the impression these monthly culinary exercises is a contest amongst our little group of BBQ Bloggers.  But the challenge is more about challenging ourselves and not each other.  And this month was an amazing challenge.  The four ingredients we had to work with were: freshwater fish fillet, broccoli, apple and sourdough bread.

As usual I had to try something out of the box.  Way, way out of the box.  The normal process for the challenge, each month, is to search my library of cookbooks and the internet looking for ideas.  From that point I start to develop some ideas.  I didn’t want to just grill some fish fillets so it was essential to find something else to include the fish in.  First I found recipes for broccoli and apple quiche.  Then I found some recipes for a fish and broccoli “pie.”  The second recipe was basically a quiche and the basic quiche recipes were similar.  So why not combine the two.

No recipe this time.  Just a few photos and descriptions for the Fish & Broccoli/Apple Quiche.

(L) The freshest freshwater fresh fillet I could find was farm raised catfish.  One of the things I learned through this process was if you soaked the fish in milk for a few hours it would make the fish “less fishy.”  It seemed to work.

(R) After the milk soak I grilled the fish with a little seasoning until it was done.  I then let the fish cool and flaked it.  I used 2/3 cup of flaked fish.

The broccoli was steamed and rough chopped.  The apples sliced.  I used a couple eggs, milk and some goat cheese to make up the quiche in a beautiful homemade pastry crust.  (Thanks to the family baker…Mrs. Grail for helping me out on this part.)

Now how to bake the quiche outdoors.  I was, at first, a little baffled as to how to get this done, but after some thought I came up with what turned out to be a pretty darn good.  I used my Char-Broil Big Easy and my trusty dutch oven.  After pre-heating the dutch oven I placed the pie inside the dutch oven, raised off the bottom with another pie pan.  After closing the lid the pie baked to a golden brown.

They quiche cooked in about 25 minutes.  Normally I would have expected it to cook in about 15 minutes.  Because it’s difficult to tell what the temperature of this “oven” is I don’t know how close to 350 degrees it was.  I’m not sure viable this technique is for baking other items, but I’m going to give it a try on a fruit pie just so I can say I did it.

I figured the best way to use the sourdough bread was just as bread and butter.  Some sliced apples on the plate for a little color.

No recipe this time.  If you really want the measurements drop me an email and I’ll send them to you.

Additional participants in this month’s Ingredient Challenge include:

Paul Haight of No Excuses BBQ – ENTRY HERE

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of cooking outdoors at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world. Somewhere along the way things got out of control…

Marc Van Der Wouw of Grill Adventures-ENTRY HERE

Grilladventures by broadcastmarc is started on march of 2010.I started the BBQ thing when I was 30,before that we eat a lot outside.have fun,but when the kids came in our life We start serious cooking.Most of it is realy healthy I think;-)The grill has a special place in my heart,We love to do things outside..Everything I make is an adventure,and sometimes we use the books.We try to grill as much as we can year round.

Bob Fukushima of Bob’s Brew & Que – ENTRY HERE

Bob started Bob’s Brew and ‘Que in August of 2009 with the intent of sharing his views on food and drink. Originally focused on BBQ and Homebrew, it was inevitable that the influences of his upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area and it’s wealth of ingredients as well as his heritage as an American of Japanese ancestry would help focus his blog, as it has his approach to food and drink.

Hanneke Eerden of The Dutchess Cooks – ENTRY HERE

After years of cooking, grilling, baking and reading other people’s blogs, I thought “why not start my own blog??” And I did, in 2010, but already after a short period of time, a blog wasn’t enough, and I started my own website. It’s not my goal to publish or come up with fancy and difficult recipes:  just good and delicious food with an international twist! Straight from my plate to yours!

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Each month three or four of my favorite internet BBQ friends will use the same four or five ingredients to cook a meal.  The only real rule is that the “protein” must be cooked outdoors.  It should be interesting to see what each of these experienced outdoor chefs have up their sleeves each month.  At the end of this post you will find a brief description of their blogs and links to the great creations they’ve come up with.

This month’s challenge was to come up with a meal that contained the following ingredients:

• Fish
• Couscous
• Figs
• Eggplant

When the first ingredients were announced I knew I wanted to do a whole fish.  The main reason was that I have very little experience with grilling whole fish and I knew this would be a good time to give it a try.

One of my favorite markets to shop at when I want the nicest produce and fish is our local Nugget Market.  I know that I can always find something different to cook there.  When I walked into the meat department my eyes were drawn quickly to the bright colors of the (farmed) Golden Trout.

California Golden Trout: Once called the Volcano Creek Golden Trout, this species was designated as the State Fish by the California Legislature in 1947. Their range encompasses approximately 120 miles of stream habitat found mostly within the Golden Trout Wilderness high in the Sierras. The California golden trout is a State Species of Special Concern (Source: Fish Species of Special Concern in California, CA DFG, Second Edition, June 1995.) and a Forest Service classified Sensitive Species. The golden is the most likely California-native species to be federally listed as endangered, due to habitat degradation, primarily by livestock, and planting of non-native trout species. (Courtesy California Trout, Inc.  www.caltrout.org)

Coming up with how to  use Couscous wasn’t all that hard.  I bought a bag of Israeli Couscous and just followed the directions on the package for pilaf type version of Couscous.  I’m not sure if there is any difference between couscous and Israeli Couscous other than the size.  So since I was going to photograph the final plate I chose the much bigger Israeli Couscous.

Very few people in my family like eggplant.  We don’t like the flavor and we don’t like the texture.  So coming up with a way to improve flavor and texture was the biggest goal.  I read a lot about eggplant on the internet and it seems my family is not alone in disliking eggplant.  The first technique I learned was that you could eliminate the bitter taste eggplant sometimes has AND firm it up by slicing and salting it 15 minutes or so before cooking.  (Explanation of how to do this is in the recipe below)

Next up, what to do with figs.  I’ve never eaten a fig, that I know of, other than in a Fig Newton so I had no idea of what do with it.  After considerable reading and searching my cookbooks I decided a Fig Butter would be the best way to go.

Here’s the steps to Maple Planked Grilled Golden Trout:
- Soak your wood plank.  (I use wood planks from Rocky Trail)  Most directions for wood planks state you should soak your planks for 30 minutes.  I have found much better luck soaking them for an extended period of time, no less than 2 hours.

- Pre-heat your wood, charcoal or gas grill to hot.  Although I have all three I think it’s much easier to properly plank cook food on a gas grill than wood or charcoal.  Controlling the heat is key to success and it’s just easier on a gas grill.

- Wash, dry and season your fish with your favorite fish seasoning.  I used just kosher salt.  I wanted to be able to taste all the additional flavors from the lemon and figs.

Mrs. Grail also made some great bread.

- Place wood plank in the middle of your grill.  Once the wood starts to smoke you are ready to put your fish on.

- Place a layer of lemon slices on the wood plank.  To really add flavor to your fish you can also layer some herbs on top of the lemon slices.  Place the fish on top of the lemon slices.  Layer another row of lemon slices on top of the fish.

- Reduce heat to medium and close the lid to your grill.  Don’t open the lid again (if your looking, you ain’t cooking) for about 15 minutes.  Check temperature of your fish.  The recommended internal temperature for properly cooked trout is 145 degrees.  However, I prefer to take my fish off the grill about 10 degrees cooler than that.  Just like every other meat if you cook it to the “recommended” internal temp it’s likely over cooked.

- Let the fish rest for at least five minutes while you plate the couscous.  Lay the whole fish on top of the couscous, spoon the fig butter over the fish and serve immediately.

Recipes:

Fig Compound Butter

• 3 tablespoons fig preserves
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Melt butter in a small skillet.  Add cinnamon, ginger root, salt and zest.  Saute over low heat, just until the ginger is tender.  Add the fig preserves and heat through.  The fig preserves will tak a little coaxing to melt.  Use a whip or hand mixer to completed incorporate all the ingredients.

Grilled Honey Garlic Eggplant

Ingredients:

• 2 baby eggplants
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your grill to high.

With a potato peel remove strips of skin off the eggplant. Slice the eggplant, long ways, into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the eggplant slices on sheets of paper towels.

Season the the eggplant slices with a generous about of salt on both sides. This will cause the eggplant to release most of the liquid they contain, removing the bitterness of the eggplant while causing it to be less watery during grilling. Let the salted eggplant set for about 15 minutes, then pat dry with additional paper towels.

In a bowl mix honey, olive oil, garlic Sriracha, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Dip both sides of each eggplant slice into mixture. Oil grilled. Place eggplant slices on the grill, cover. Grill for about 3 minutes, rotate 90 degrees and grill for an additional 3 minutes. Brush remaining sauce on the slices, flip and repeat process. Adjust heat through the grilling to insure eggplant is not burning.

Serve immediately.

Two more great fish, fig, eggplant and couscous meals:

The No Excuses Website’s entry.   The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of barbecuing at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world.  Somewhere along the way things got out of control, and two years later the streak is intact and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  In the process, No Excuses BBQ has become fairly popular and is listed as one of the top BBQ blogs on Alltop.com.  You can read about Paul’s fish meal

The Into The Flames entry:  Rob launched Into The Flames in the summer of 2010 as a way to share his passion for cooking, eating, and exploring food.

Barramundi have white, flaky flesh, though the larger freshwater ones commonly carry a lot of body fat. Saltwater barramundi, however, have a general reputation as good eating. –Courtesy of Wikipedia

I wanted something a little different than a normal tarter sauce for the fish so I made some Mango Salsa to top the fish.

Mango Salsa Recipe:

• 1 whole mango, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 red onion finely chopped (I think next time I’ll only use 1/4 onion)
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded, finely chopped (want more heat, leave in the seeds and veins)
• 3 tbls Cilantro, finely chopped
• 3 tbls lime juice

After soaking a Sugar Maple Wood Plank for 45 minutes in water I dried it and oiled it up with olive oil. (Read about Maine Wood Planks here) And then laid the fish on top of the plank.

The barramundi was seasoned with Todd’s Cajun Dirt.  Cajun Dirt is a new addition to Todd’s other great products.

I should have used twice as much Dirt.  The flavor was fantastic but it got a little lost with the jalapeno in the salsa.

In order to keep the plank from burning I placed it on a foil wrapped cookie sheet.  The fish was cooked over medium hot coals for about 45 minutes.

Eventually I cut the barramundi filet into three pieces because we were getting a little impatient to eat.

Celeste has been baking some fantastic bread using the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.  This book has revolutionized baking bread for home use.  If you love baking bread, but have found it to be too much hard work give this technique a try.

No pictures of the final plate came out well enough to put on the blog.  The barramundi was fantastic, it has an interesting texture that’s very dense and fatty.  Give it a try yourself.