Salmon in Cedar Paper

Because I am a fan of Food Network I feel kind of strange saying this, it is almost sacrilege.  I know that they turn out some really cool menus and for an hour it is amazing but as I was thinking tonight while I made dinner... Iron Chef... well pansies!  A Japanese guy shows them a table full of food yells something in French then gives them an hour to make dinner for four (with two assistants and access to pantry so opulent that King Henry the VIII  would blush).  Do you know what would make it challenging?  If they had their kids running around kitchen stadium or even better mine.


Here is how dinner went at my house the other day... I picked up the kids from daycare at 5:35 or so and took them home and went through the "just got home" ritual that involves two TVs in two rooms with light snacks and drinks (water for Miss Lu and lemonade for Mr. Man, you can guess mine).  A few minutes later I started to make dinner.  It went like this:


I had picked up some Cedar Paper to wrap salmon and cook on the grill,  I put the cedar paper in a pan of water to soak and then pulled some salmon out of the refrigerator...


Mr Man:  "Me hungry, me want a snack"
Bryan:  "I am making dinner kiddo, do you want to wait"
Mr. Man: "Mommy, Daddy says I can't have a snack!"
Bryan: "You can have a snack, I was just asking"
Mr. Man "Me want peanut butter pretzels"


Peanut butter pretzels are his "crack snack" simply a small dish of peanut butter and a small dish of mini pretzels.  He indulges in this particular culinary invention of Miss Lu's at least once a day.


Bryan: "OK do you want anything else?"
Mr. Man: "Batman with Batgirl in it!" 


Mr. Man has a thing for Batgirl, (this is the Batman, from the mid 60s) so I set up the DVR, then put salmon on the paper, cut a lime and a couple of green onions and...


Mr. Man "Me want juice! cold, in a cup with ice!"
Bryan: "Got it! anybody else want anything?"


Absolute silence...  I go back to the kitchen and get the man some juice in a cup with ice, set the lime, onion and rosemary on my salmon and go back hand Mr. Man his cup.


Miss Lu:  "How come he gets a snack and I don't?"
Bryan:  "I looked right at you and asked; the pillow you are laying on gave me more of a response than you did."
Miss Lu: "Mom, Daddy says I can't have a snack!"
Bryan: "I didn't say that I just mentioned that I asked... what do you want?"
Miss Lu: "I don't know, what do we have?
Bryan: "The same things that we always have I'll get the basket"


I get the basket with about 25 assorted snacky things in it from Nabisco Brownie Bites, or Cheese Crackers to Gummy Bears.  Miss Lu picks a chips Ahoy 100 Calorie pack then I go back to the kitchen, I salt and pepper the fish and add a splash of white wine...


Miss Lu: (entering the kitchen) "Now I am thirsty! water... duh!"  you always hope that the teenage attitude will wait until they are, well in their teens... so far no.


So my hope is to see the kids (hopefully mine) running around kitchen stadium soon just to keep them on their toes.  "Morimoto, me want peanut butter pretzels! and watch cars on the computer!"  "Mario, I want a snack, I'm not sure... what do you have?"  "Bobby, Me want to watch Batman with Batgirl in it, and some juice."

So this entire dish including soaking and cooking takes about 20 - 25 minutes took me closer to an hour an 15.


Take the Cedar paper and soak for about 10 minutes.
Add your ingredients to the top I used for each:
1 4-5 oz salmon fillet
2 slices of lime
2 green onions
a stem of rosemary
a splash of white wine
salt and pepper

Tie it up like a present and put it on the grill for about 3 minutes on each side to cook. Couldn't be simpler and couldn't taste better!  Great citrus flavor and the smokey finish was great.