Boned & Barbequed Whole Salmon with Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Mushrooms:                                                               

4 T butter                                                                   

2 T vegetable oil                                                        

500g brown button or wild mushrooms, halved         

2 sprigs thyme                                                           

2 garlic cloves, smashed                                           

Salt and freshly ground pepper                                 

Salmon and assembly:

1 x 2.0kg whole salmon, cleaned and scaled

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon, thinly sliced

4 sprigs each dill and thyme

2 sprigs tarragon

3 T olive oil

Method:

1. Mushrooms: Heat a large frypan, preferably cast iron, over medium-high heat (this can be done on your barbeque or inside on the cooktop).  Add butter and oil and swirl pan until butter is melted.  Add mushrooms, thyme, and garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Cook, tossing often, until mushrooms are golden brown and tender (5 - 8 minutes) then set aside.
2. Salmon and assembly: Preheat the barbeque to a medium-low heat.  Turn the salmon on its back and with a sharp knife, cut along both sides of backbone without piercing through skin on other side.  Carefully remove the backbone without tearing skin, then remove pin bones with small needle-nose pliers or tweezers.
3. Season inside of fish with salt and pepper and stuff lemon slices, dill, thyme, and tarragon inside the cavity. Tie wet kitchen twine around fish in several places to secure. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and rub skin all over with oil.
4. Carefully place fish on the barbeque and cook uncovered until the flesh on the bottom side is mostly opaque but still slightly translucent in the centre (15 - 20 minutes). Carefully turn fish and cook on the other side to the same doneness (15 - 20 minutes further). Transfer the fish to a clean rimmed baking sheet and let rest at least 10 minutes.
5. Reheat the mushrooms. Remove strings from the salmon and peel back the skin (discard).  Break the flesh of top fillet into large pieces and transfer to a platter.  Discard the aromatics and remove the skin from the bottom fillet.  Break up the flesh and add it to the platter. Season with more salt and pepper and spoon warm mushrooms over the top.

 

Note:  This recipe is for a small 2.0kg salmon.  If you don’t want to muck around removing the backbone, just sandwich 2 x 1.0kg fillets together, or cook for longer with the backbone still in.

 

Serves 4

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.com

 

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