Cedar Plank Salmon with Beets Salad

Hello Friends!

Today is a simple smoked salmon dinner day with a summery fresh beets and romaine salad.

A lite and healthy seafood dinner like this one is on our weeknight menu... specially when we are in mood to eat grilled. No carbs, good Omega-3s and lean protein from fish, plus quick cooking time makes me look forward to week days when Salmon is on the menu. 

Just like you, I'm super busy over weekdays and plan most of my weeknight dinners over the weekend. We keep a few individually wrapped salmon fillets in freezer to have at-least one seafood/fish dinner in week.

The best thing about cooking salmon is - quick cooking time. All I need to make sure is a handy recipe say spice blend, or a zingy flavorful marinade to flavor the salmon... and putting dinner on table is never more than 15-20 minutes.

Out of all of the Salmon recipes on the blog, this one is my special favorite. I have fascination for smoking own fish or meat at home and cedar plank makes this dream come true... without learning a lot about elaborate smoking techniques or buying special meat-smokers.

Small chopping board-size cedar planks are easily available wherever grilling equipment such grills, grilling-gear etc are sold. A single plank is good to grill a few batches of salmon. And flavor, or in real words "aroma" it gives to the cooking salmon is phenomenal. I add smoked paprika and cumin in the dry rub to enhance the flavors even more.

In summers, grilling salmon helps with one more thing: no fishy aroma in the kitchen. :) You know what I mean? I live in small apartment and whenever I cook salmon/fish indoor, specially in skillet on stove-top, whole apartment smells like seafood restaurant.. which is nice until we finish the dinner. :-) On the other hand, grilling the fish outdoor, on my husband's fav gas grill, keeps kitchen clean, and I only need to work 10 sweet minutes. Who wouldn't want that for weekday?! ;)

Actually, Vishal is mostly in-charge of outdoor grilling. I just prep, say pre-soak cedar planks in water, mix marinade or apply rub to salmon, and quickly make salad or rice while Vishal brings the smoked salmon from grill. In matter of minutes..... we are enjoying dinner. I call it a weekday-healthy-dinner-mission-accomplished!

Mission? 

Well, glad you asked! Honestly, Vishal is total lamb freak but will agree to eat Salmon if it is cooked properly and tastes good. :-0) gotcha! So, easy salmon or shrimp recipes not just help me honor my commitment to share easy meals with you... It also gives me opportunity to feed Vishal healthier lean-protein dinners. I call it killing-two-birds-with-one-stone a.k.a mission accomplished! 

There were days when I only made Fish Curry in seafood recipes.... and I used to get crazy when asked to make anything else using fish. I have learnt that trying something new may sound scary in the beginning... but it is not that hard after-all. Specially, anything which can help bring a healthier food on the dinner table is a challenge that I'm happy to work for.  Honestly, If I can cook fish, so can you. 

Now, I'm off to plan something interesting to share with you next week... until then stay healthy, cook more at home and do pin this Salmon recipe to try later! -Savita