Grilled Seafood on the Island Grillstone

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Today’s grilling recipe is the winning entry for the Great Island Grillstone recipe contest running over on the Island Grillstone Facebook page. Our winner Tom Symington, submitted his Grilled Seafood Kabobs recipe for the first week of the Island Grillstone giveaway. As promised, I prepared the seafood recipe on my Island Grillstone, grilling pieces of shrimp, paddock, scallops and mixed vegetables, seasoned with the famous Old Bay seasoning. This recipe is as close as I could get to Tom’s winning entry and I must say, it was a delicious dinner. The Island Grillstone performed as expected, grilling the delicate seafood pieces and vegetables to perfection. No flare-ups, no lost food between the grates, tons of flavor and lots of color, all easily prepared and grilled within minutes. If you are looking for a fast, easy and delicious recipe for your grill, this could very well be a winner on your grill also!

Here is Tom’s winning entry:

 

I’d use it to do an old favorite in a new way. Seafood kabobs, minus the stick on the Island Grillstone.

12 lg scallops

24 lg shrimp

2 lbs of fish steaks cut into lg cubes

zucchini sliced

fresh from the vine cherry tomatoes

small onions

fresh from the garden peppers (various colors)

Usually topped with old bay seasoned butter or olive oil.

I think this recipe on the Island Grillstone would cook more evenly and allow the cook to focus less on the inevitable flare up thus providing a higher quality taste than I’ve ever pulled off before.

 

I did make a couple of changes. Scaled back the portions to feed 4 people, changed out cherry tomatoes for cubed Roma tomatoes and guess at the seasoning quantities. Added some rice to the meal but wished I would have included a nice green salad and fresh french bread to round things out. Overall, this recipe was a big hit here in the outdoor kitchen.

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Best advice I can give for grilling the Seafood is Mise en place (pronounced [miz on plas], literally “putting in place”) is a French phrase defined by the Culinary Institute of America as “everything in place” – Wikipedia.

Prepare all of your ingredients first, then grill. This recipe grills very fast so you need to have everything at the grill and ready to go.

Vegetables and seafood were lightly tossed with extra virgin olive oil, coarse salt, fresh grated black pepper and Old Bay seasoning.

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Vegetables went on the Island Grillstone first, grilling for everything only took a few minutes each. Onions and red peppers first, toss a few times, then add your zucchini.

Note: I pre-heated the Island Grillstone for 25 minutes before starting to grill. Grilling temperature was 350° F

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My tomatoes were added last of all the vegetables, just throw on top to stay off the direct heat of the grillstone.

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Scallops and shrimp were added next, time to see how well the Island Grillstone caramelized the scallops. Just a few minutes on the first side.

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Fresh fish added to recipe just before it is time to flip the seafood. Grill time is fast here, you don’t want to over cook your seafood.

Note how caramelized the vegetables have become! Still crisp, yet developing a beautiful color while it is on the grill.

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Look at the color of those scallops! Just a few minutes on the grill and flip!

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I wasn’t sure what “Old Bay seasoned butter” was, so I melted 2 tbs of butter and a tsp of Old Bay seasoning in the cast iron butter pot to pour over the seafood recipe. The butter pot goes right on the Island Grillstone.

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Grilled seafood, plated up with a bit of rice, Old Bay seasoned butter drizzled over the top.

Tom, this was a great seafood recipe idea and I had a fantastic time putting all of this on the grill. No doubt you’ll do the same when you receive your Island Grillstone. Send me a few pictures!

The Great Island Grillstone giveaway is going on through September 31, 2012!

 



McCormick Grill Mates Spiced Brandy and Herb Marinated Salmon

 

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The McCormick Grill Mates “Grillerhood” representatives delivered several packages of spices and seasonings for me to try this summer. Seeing how Salmon was on the menu I choose the McCormick Grill Mates Brandy and Herb Marinade packet I received. Grilled Salmon is a favorite of mine, filets being the cut of choice at my table, who needs bones! The main problem with filets is their ability to dry out too quickly, marinating can easily cure that issue. Though I  have not in past grilling experiences marinated my Salmon, the Brandy and Herb Marinade proved too difficult to avoid.

 

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Now looking at this, you might think there was a lot of prep to get the Salmon on my grill, it was pleasantly simple to prepare. The easy and minimal directions only required mixing water, olive oil and the Brandy and Herb Marinade together, then marinating the Salmon with 3/4ths of the marinade for approximately 15 minutes. Reserving the remainder of the marinade for glazing during the last few minutes of grilling time.

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Pre-heating your grill (at least 10 minutes) is essential to perfecting the cherished grill marks, especially with Salmon filets, your grilling time is very short and the Salmon will dry out very fast.

I grilled mine over direct medium heat for 3 minutes flesh side down to “Grill mark it” and finished grilling on the skin side until the Salmon is done, about 10 minutes (times are approximates).

McCormick  Grill Mates Brandy and Herb Marinade was a pleasant surprise for the family, very flavorful with a delightful tang finish. Following mixing instruction and leaving some marinade in reserve for the last few minutes of grilling time resulted in a great glaze to the Salmon leaving a thick tangy coating adding moisture and flavor to the finished dish.

This is another in a series of articles sponsored by McCormick Grill Mates “Grillerhood”

Please take a few minutes to visit them on their “Grillerhood” Facebook page.



Grilled Tuscan Salmon and Marinated Asparagus

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Grilled Salmon paired with marinated asparagus and rice make for a great late spring meal. This salmon recipe is the one I use for my grilling classes, it’s a dry rub, though the rub can be a bit salty for some. The marinated asparagus is just something I tried and it worked so I’ll share the recipe with you also. I used wild salmon for my grilling recipe, the only way to go in my opinion. I just don’t like the idea of added color and the raising conditions of farmed salmon. Fresh wasn’t available but I did get my hands on some very nice flash frozen wild Atlantic salmon. A beautiful filet large enough to feed the family.

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First on the list was to get the asparagus marinated and I wanted to get some of the flavor into the asparagus as opposed to the usual brushed on coating we usually do. My thoughts lead to how long should I marinade; I couldn’t have the asparagus go limpy on me before it hit the grill so I decided to slice the asparagus spears in half lengthwise first to expose the insides of my asparagus to the marinade thus shortening my marinading time.

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I can’t say the bay leaf made a difference in the taste of the marinated asparagus but after looking at the photos I can say it looked good and I’ll leave it in the recipe as optional. Using a ziplock bag makes marinating a breeze, no clean-up necessary. Marinate the asparagus for approximately one hour.

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This Tuscan rubbed grilled salmon recipe came from http://www.relish.com/recipes/tuscan-rubbed-salmon created by Chris Koetke and is top notch in my book. It does call for ground fennel but all I had was whole fennel seeds and just made do with those after a bit of pounding to release some of the flavors in the fennel seed. Follow the link to get his recipe.

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Apply a liberal coating of Olive oil on both sides of the salmon then apply the Tuscan rub to the flesh side before grilling.

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Of course I used my wonderful Island Grillstone for this cook. I have found it to be an indispensable accesory for all of my grill time and this was no exception. The Island Grillstone caused a wondeful crust to sear into the salmon filets. When the salmon was done I simply added the marinated asparagus to the Island Grillstone to cook. With-in 15 minutes I had a wonderful Tuscan rubbed grilled salmon and marinated asparagus recipe for the table.

Marinated Asparagus
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Recipe type: Side dish
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
This marinade is a wonderful way to add additional flavor to your grilled asparagus recipe.
Ingredients
  • 1 1/ 2 pounds fresh asparagus
  • ⅓ cup Balsimic vinegar
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  • ½ tsp course black pepper
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 3 Bay leaves (optional)
Instructions
  1. Wash and trim asparagus
  2. Slice each asparagus in half lengthwise
  3. Place all ingredients into a one gallon ziplock bag
  4. Mix well and refridgerate for one hour
  5. Grill on medium high heat using an Island Grillstone or a vegetable tray for the grill.
  6. Toss frequently while grilling
  7. Grill for approximately 10 minutes



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