Recipe: Planked Fish with Caper-Tarragon Sauce

I purposely was a bit vague in today's recipe title—there are many fish that would be delicious planked with this Caper-Tarragon Sauce. I plan to follow this recipe this weekend, except I'll substitute white fish for the salmon. The white fish fillets are half the thickness of the salmon, so I plan to decrease my grilling time by about 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes when I peek into it with a fork. The salmon are more dense, so I may have more whitefish to grill, depending on their size.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Time to soak plank: at least 3 hours

Ingredients

• 1 cedar plank, large enough to accommodate
• fish (optional but recommended)
• 2 pounds salmon or whitefish fillets
• 1 teaspoon chopped shallot
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (or 1-2 teaspoons dried)

Directions

1. If using a plank, soak at least 3 hours. Prepare charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat. Oil grill grate or soaked plank to prevent skin from sticking.
2. Place fish on plank. Season with kosher salt and pepper.
3. In a processor or blender, pulse shallot, capers, olive oil, Dijon, lemon juice, and tarragon. Brush a tablespoon of the mixture on the uncooked salmon.
4. With grill lid closed, grill fillets, basting fish with sauce, until cooked to desired level of doneness. (It takes longer to grill fish when planked. Total cooking time for our fillets was 25-35 minutes, depending on the thickness of fillet, for the salmon; it should be less for whitefish.)
6. Place fish on plates and drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately.

This recipe was written by Peggy Lampman and originally posted on AnnArbor.com on July 30, 2010.