Hello everyone! Today I am going to lead you through the unusual process of outdoor salmon grilling. Why unusual? We are going to prepare a whole salmon grilled in the newspaper until it burns all the way through….Yummy…BURNED ALL THE WAY THROUGH…You are kidding you say…Nope! If you got at least curious, follow the post all the way through and you will find out that we did not go mad here. You will not only get an exclusive recipe for grilling fish, you will end up getting the keys to making your dreams come true!
Some long time ago…
I was spending my summer college break at my parent’s house in the rural area helping them to work at the vegetable garden and take care of farm animals (it was my summer job for that very summer due to circumstances). All my friends stayed in the city, found summer jobs, and were enjoying their city entertainment. I was cut off from social life and was sad about it but just a little bit. I actually enjoyed having time to myself. I was reading a lot, having sunbaths being surrounded by field flowers, climbing the trees to get the ripest fruit from the highest limb and watching cooking shows, and experimenting in the parent’s kitchen.
That very summer I got addicted to Jamie Oliver’s “Naked Chef” series and got astonished by all seafood scrumptious recipes he pulled off. We were living far from the sea, which meant that seafood has been priced higher than the best-cut piece of meat. We could not afford seafood, it was something luxurious that we could enjoy watching TV shows but could not even dream of putting at the family table. We ate fish, don’t get me wrong, but it was mostly fish caught at the nearby lakes. So I was watching an episode where Jamie had been cooking at the beach and grilled a huge whole salmon in a newspaper. It was such an unachievable level of cooking skills and opportunity for me at that time, that I could only dream of it. I had time to dream and I pictured myself cooking salmon like that one day for the family and friends, me being a chef and shining with all my proficiency and confidence…
Do you know that when you have a picture of your dream in your head in a relaxed and happy state that dream is 100% is going to become a reality one day? The time depends on the consistency of your visualization process and the true faith that it will happen (even if you don’t know how things will come your way). You have to believe it.
We will have everything we ask God for, everything, but we have to believe. To be honest, at that time I did not think of asking God to give me an opportunity to cook and eat huge salmon grilled in a newspaper one day. I was embarrassed to bother God with such silly requests. He has plenty of more important things to do, I thought. I neither have felt pity for myself that I couldn’t afford that at that time nor jealousy to those who could afford it. My heart had been filled with curiosity, dreams, and peace. Pure peace from being free from exhausting school drills and enjoying doing things I love to do and spending time with my family and helping my parents…
Nowadays…
I live in a seashore area… I went shopping for groceries preparing to the upcoming Father’s Day and saw HIM. Huge Salmon, (plenty of them, actually, resting on a pile of ice, fresh from the water). “Father’s Day special”. Price per pound was almost twice lower than the usual price for salmon fillets, so I did not think too much. I bought this beautiful guy, a whole big thing covered with skin and even scale (I cleaned off the scale by myself and it was so much fun). We were already invited to celebrate Father’s Day at the friend’s house backyard and I knew exactly how I want this guy to be cooked… You guessed it, right?
We chargrilled him! Huge 6lb whole salmon covered with aromatic herbs and lemons, lemongrass, and spices, wrapped in newspaper. Chargrilled and embarrassingly burned outside and carefully steamed in its juices, subtly smoky, juicy, aromatic flesh of salmon inside! It is a complete hit! You going to cook fish this way all the time when you try it, trust me!
Of course, you are going to ask, how come? There were plenty of objections from my friends. Actually, everyone was against this way of cooking. I was adamant. I won the battle. It came out fabulous! The secret is in parchment paper and water. You parcel-wrap your fish in one layer of parchment paper first and tie it. Only after that you parcel wrap fish in a thick layer of newspaper, tie it again and dip into a bucket of water for 5 min. Doing so you protect the paper from quickly burning, being wet it smokes slowly instead, fish is being steamed in its juices not losing a single bit of moisture and flavor, acquiring the smokiness-goodness. This recipe is old as a world, all fishermen know it, not everyone shares it though. I wanted to share it with you my friends together with the story of how to make your dreams come true.
How dreams come true…
I do not want to sound pathetic bragging about an opportunity to have the salmon on our table. I just wanted to share with you the gratitude for having things I dreamed of a long time ago (I even forgot that I dreamed of them). I wanted to share with you the keys to making dreams come true, providing one example from my life. The keys definitely work and here they are:
- Ask God what you want in your prayers (don’t be ashamed of asking small things, He is Almighty He has all the means to fulfill your request if this request will be for your good)
- Picture this happening with all the possible details, (smells, colors, weather, sounds) Just Dream Big!
- Rejoice when you ask and dream. Your heart should be filled with joy, gratitude, and peace, imagine yourself being a kid and dreaming of the fantasy world. We never had blues at that time. It is important. Do not dream and do not ask when your heart filled with negative emotions of any kind. Fix that first.
- Believe. Just believe that things will come your way at the time that is best for you. God knows better when it’s time.
- Rejoice evermore. Stay positive. Find things to be grateful for every day. Be happy. Let go of all the worries. Rejoice!
YOUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE!!!
I just wanted to remind you in a funny way to Dream BIG! To dream like a kid. Dream with no boundaries, with confidence and gratitude in your heart! God knows all our needs and gives us what we need. We just need to ask with faith!
After eating this incredible meal, you will become a pinch happier, I promise!
Bon Appétit!
Whole salmon grilled in newspaper
Ingredients
- 1 6lb whole salmon (skin on)
- 2 lemons
- 2 strings lemongrass
- 1 bunch tarragon
- 1 bunch fresh corriander
- 1 2cm fresh ginger root
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
Instructions
- Prepare your fish (wash thoroughly under cold running water outside and inside (assuming guts are cleaned by fishermen)). Clean it off the scale. Dry with paper towel.
- Prepare your aromatic ingredients.
- Make the marinade.
- Put a big double-folded piece of parchment paper on the table. Put herbs in a line to put the fish alongside them. Massage the fish with marinade inside and outside. Stuff the inside of the fish with herbs and pieces of lemons. Cover fish with lemon pieces first, then with herbs and making an envelope with the paper tie the fish.
- Take the thick layer of newspaper put the fish inside and make another envelope. Put in a bucket of water fully covered for 5 min.
- Chargrill the fish for 25 min on each side putting the fish directly on a charcoal that is white and ready for the grill. Use water to extinguish the fire while fish is grilling. If not putting fish directly on coal but on a grilling rack we recommend фвв 10 more min cooking time and make sure your heat under rack is really strong otherwise you might end up with the fish not fully cooked through.
- Bon Appétit!
