Salmon All Day Long! Part II of III- Linguine and Smoked Salmon

After smoking some salmon earlier in the day it was time to use some of it in a wonderful dinner. I had decided to take on the task of making a two entree dinner.

The first was a Linguine and Smoked Salmon dish. My wife found the recipe from a follow blogger, and the original recipe can be found here. There were few tweaks that we thought the recipe needed. First, the dish as a whole needed more of the white cream sauce. Secondly, the amount of lemon needed to be reduced. The recipe below has already been adjusted for your pleasure!

8 oz. linguine,
6-8 ounces smoked salmon, sliced into 2 inch wide strips and set aside - if you want to be fancy,
2 cups heavy cream,
juice of 1 lemon,
1 cup grated parmesan cheese,
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf Italian parsley,
1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese for garnish.

Since I was preparing two different meals at the same time, I did all my prep work first. When I was done I had a counter full of ramekins and other small bowls filled with their respective ingredient. Now it was time to cook.

In a large sauté pan bring the cream to a boil over medium high heat.
While continuing to boil add the lemon juice.
Lower heat to low and add the grated parmesan cheese, stir well.
Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.
Place the drained linguine in the hot sauce and toss to coat well.

Now serve the linguine with the shaved parmesan and salmon strips. Instead of serving it with the salmon strips, we brought the smoked salmon out to the table. Then we each added our own amount of salmon. I took a hearty serving, my pregnant and morning sickness suffering wife took a smaller amount.

This was an easy pasta dish to put together, and proved to be a winner at our table! You could even substitute a different meat into it if you wished. We will be doing this one again and again!

But there was even more at our table...

Salmon All Day Long! Part I - Smoked Salmon

Last weekend I had a yearning for salmon, that turned into an obsession by the end of the day.

I started the day by smoking some salmon. Smoking is easy with a little practice. It can be done in your oven (make sure you have a ventilation fan, just in case), grill, or a smoker.

The Smokers:

I have two smokers. The first one, a Luhr Jensen Little Chief, was given to me by my grandpa. I can remember growing up, he and his friends would hook it up in the garage and smoke what ever the catch of the day was. I got to have some too, and it was brilliant, smoky goodness! I've owned it now for about 15 years and the only maintenance I've had to do to it was replacing the heating element.

The newest addition to my arsenal is Brinkmann Gourmet Electric Smoker, which came my way thanks to the TVW estates. This was the first time I've used it which meant I had to do a quick cleaning and check to make sure all the parts were there and working. The task of cleaning ended up taking a little longer than expected, but doesn't it always? All of the parts were there and working, I only needed some lava rocks that this model required. With lava rocks in hand the only thing left to do was to start smoking!

So, back to the salmon. The day before I placed the salmon in a liquid brine. I usually use a basic brine recipe.

1/2 cup regular sugar,

1/2 cup non-idolized salt (kosher salt, sea salt, etc.),
1 quart of warm water. Warm water, not hot! You don't want to poach the meat, you just want the sugar and salt to easily dissolve.

Place the meat in a zip lock bag and pour in the brine solution. Remove as much air as possible when you close the bag. Then put the zip lock bag in a bowl, just in case it leaks.

Leave it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, and up to 2 days. I usually try for around 24 hours.
When you remove the meat, lightly pat it dry with some paper towel, and begin smoking.

The Woods:

This time I decided to use hickory wood. The different woods you use during smoking will give your meats different flavors. Different woods include, but aren't limited to:

Hickory - Zesty, a commercial favorite.

Mesquite - Hearty and clean.
Alder - Mild and sweet.
Apple - One of the sweetest, and mildest, it's delicate and fruity.
Cherry - Distinctive, a good one to mix with other woods for a special taste.

The only recommended action for the wood is to soak it in water about 20 minutes or so before using it in the smoker.

The Smoke:

The smoker is now plugged in and heating up. The wood is on the heat. The water pan is placed inside the smoker. I lay the salmon on the grill. Now before I can put the lid on, the smoke is already bellowing up the sides of the smoker, past the water pan and engulfing everything in it's path.

Due to the anticipation of what is to come, that first smell of smoke is one of those great smells. Like fresh, homemade bread coming out of the oven, or the first campfire of your summer vacation.

Since the smoking process usually takes at least a few hours, you will need to add new wood every 1 to 2 hours. This all depends on the wood and smoker, and the size of wood chips or chunks being used. Like I said before this was the first time using this smoker, so I was guessing this time. I knew the total smoke time would be around 3 hours, so I decided to add more wood at the half way point, an hour and a half in. Afterward I think I could have added it every hour instead. I was using small chipped wood pieces, but this smoker has room for bigger chunks, so I will be using those next time around. Another way I check to see if more wood is needed is to watch the amount of smoke exiting the smoker. When the smoke is at it's prime, it will be trying to escape from any opening or crack that it can as you can see in the picture above. When it subsides, it may be time for more wood.

Checking fish for doneness is easy and it doesn't matter if it's being smoked or cooked the test is the same. Take a fork and stick it in, trying to separate the fish. If it "flakes" off or apart, it's done. This means that the fish cleanly pulls away from itself along the grains of the fillet or steak. After 3 hours of soaking in the smoke I checked to see if the salmon was done. It was! It had a beautiful, light brown crust on the outside. The crust served as a halo above the succulent, deep pink meat underneath. I love smoked salmon, so I enjoy it in the simplest way - by itself. Another is with crackers, Ritz, or saltines are fine for me. It was delicious!

I wasn't done cooking yet though. I had plans for half of this to be used later in dinner...