I have never had coho salmon before that I am aware of, Whole Foods had it on sale over the weekend so I thought I would smoke some up over a blend of hickory,cherry and apple wood. Coho salmon is not quite as strong as sockeye but not as mild as your norweigen or typical salmon. There is a LOT less fat in Coho than norweigan so when preparing you must be very sure to not over cook or it will dry out easily. This meal when leaving the butter and brown sugar off the potato is heart healthy and light. I am big proponent of keeping everything easy and simple, I like to use as few dishes as possible. For this recipe I will use no dishes other than the plates we eat of of – I love that when that happens. Here is GQues recipe for Lemon Pepper Coho Salmon:
Cooking time: 1 hr 15 minutes Prep Time: 10 Minutes
.5 lb of salmon per person for this recipe I had a 1.5 lb cut of Coho
Lemon Pepper seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Stick of Butter
Salt & Pepper
2 Sweet Potatoes
Bundle of Asparagus
1 Cantaloupe
Since I dont want to waste fuel getting any smoke flavor into the sweet potato I just pop those into the oven. I brush EVOO and the S & P on the skin of the potato and poke with a fork a couple of times. I then wrap in foil and bake at 400 until fork tender. The time will vary on size but you should start checking after 45 minutes.
I prep salmon by ensuring all bones are removed – if not you can take them out with a small pair of plyers – I brush a light coat of EVOO then S & P and a dusting of Lemon Pepper seasoning. I cut a slice of lemon and put a pat of butter under each slice of lemon. The butter will slowly melt and keep the salmon moist and tasty as it smokes. I chop about an inch of the bottom of the asparagus place in a ziplock bag with EVOO, S&P and let marinate for 15 mintues. When done I make a foil basket by rolling up the ends of foil to hold tha asparagus as it smokes. I do the same foil basket for the salmon – Keeps the clean up easy and fast!
I get the smoker humming to 300 degrees I put both the asparagus and salmon on at the same time. The salmon you will want to cook to 160 degress, Start checking the temp after 12 minutes should take abobut 15-20 minutes. Asparagus will come out tender yet still hold its shape.
lights, camera, action
I let rest for 5 minutes and plated the Coho with sliced cantaloupe, sweet potatoe, asparagus and Firestone Chardonnay – It was Wonderful!
Smoked Coho and Asparagus with Sweet Potato and Cantalope paired with Firestone Chardonnay
