Sunday Family Dinners

As often as we can, cousin Jules and I gather our families together for Family Sunday Dinners either at her house or at mine. Aside from our own families, Julie's two brothers and their families (GB's and my cousins) usually join us and there's always the various friends joining us too (MentalM and her crew often). Jules and I have definitely created a family tradition that will be carried along by our own children, pictured above. Matter of fact, the kids get quite crotchety with us if we miss too many Sunday's in a row.

Last Sunday we had Cedar-Planked salmon and yummy roasted veggies a-la Rachel Ray served over brown rice. Below, behold the glorious feast:

Delicious! Here's the recipe:

Cedar-Planked Salmon

The amounts aren't really exact - add more or less to your taste

2 - 4 Tbs. canola oil, just enough to make a paste
3 or so Tbs. brown sugar (brownulated or regular brown sugar)
1 Tbs. dried dill (don't bother with fresh for this)
1 tsp. to 1 Tbs. Williams-Sonoma Potlatch Seasoning (love it) OR
cayenne pepper to your taste

Combine the above ingredients

juice of 1 lemon (to squeeze over the salmon)

Soak cedar plank in hot water at least 20 minutes, weighing it down so it’s completely covered. I personally think that hot water better seeps into the wood. I have no idea if this is factual or not. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to high; adjust to med. low after 15 minutes. (If cooking over charcoal, allow the coals to burn until they are covered with white ash.) Above is the drained plank.

Place the salmon fillet skin-side down on the drained cedar plank. Score salmon down to the skin into serving-size pieces. That last slice on the right is made up of a bunch of little pieces that were hanging over the side of the plank. Cut a lemon in two and squeeze it's juice all over the salmon. This time we had farm-raised salmon. While it's delicious, I really prefer wild salmon, but at $15.99 a pound.....

Pat the brown sugar mixture evenly over the entire salmon surface.

Place the planked salmon on the grilling grate and cook, with grill covered, about 15 - 20 minutes or just until the surface fat begins to turn white or when fork is inserted, the salmon easily flakes. Rainy Day Method: Preheat oven to 325º. Prepare the salmon as described above, then roast on the cedar plank for about 25 minutes.

Serve on the cedar plank, but do set it on top of a wood platter, or, as in our case that night, just carry it back in on the cookie sheet and serve it from there.

Here are the roasted veggies. Jules followed Rachel's recipe pretty much. She didn't use eggplant and served it on brown rice instead of the whole wheat pasta Rachel called for. It was wonderful!

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Hope you enjoy this as much as we did. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to e me - or leave it in the comments section here!

Bon Appetit!

P. S. Tonight Sunday Family Dinner is Jules' Italian Roast Beef -
it's fabulous, and NO you won't be getting that recipe! ;-)

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xoabb