Holiday recipe: Barbecued Baked Salmon

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How to Cook Barbecued Baked Salmon ~ Rakaia Style!

Rakaia is a rural community set in the Canterbury Plains of the South Island of New Zealand with a population of just over 1,000. The settlement is built on the  banks of the Rakaia river which is a braided river that runs 150 kilometres in length from the Southern Alps until it enters the Pacific ocean some 50kms downwind from Christchurch.  This magnificent river is the home of the well regarded Chinook salmon, making Rakaia the Salmon capital of New Zealand. With such an important claim to fame, anglers and keen fishermen of all ages flock to this friendly country town to dip their toe in the salmon pond and if they’re lucky, take home a prize so they can produce their own barbecued baked salmon.

With Rakaia’s  population smaller than some Urban high schools how could it  be that when I move from my homeland of New Zealand to Sydney (Australia) that I meet not one, but two of the good folks of Rakaia. It seems almost surreal that I find myself friends with two separate people from the same small rural town, one whose parents owned the local holiday caravan park and the other whose Mother was the principal of the local school.

South Islanders are renowned for their hospitality. Rakaia folk even make mention on their town website how they make special effort to make newcomers feel welcome.  *sigh* If only every town had a motto like this one! A recent dinner invitation to our dear friends’ Karen and Jayne’s house  proved that you can take the girl out of Rakaia but you can’t take Rakaia out of the girl, as Karen treated us to an incredible evening with the crowning glory, a beautiful and expertly cooked Baked Salmon on the barbecue.

How Good Was This Baked Salmon

The salmon was glorious ~   All succulent  3 kilos of it! It was  gutted but kept whole and stuffed with fragrant herbs, seeds and citrus before being wrapped in two sections of the Sydney Morning herald, tied with kitchen twine, dampened with cold water and placed in a preheated barbecue. It gently cooked using in direct heat from the barbecue whilst we sipped champagne under the afternoon glow of a warm summer’s day. 1 hour later, a slightly smoking parcel was unwrapped and we sat down to dine on a magnificent whole salmon complete with licked fingers and expertly matched champagne by our resident expert @champagnejayne .

This method of preparing baked salmon works equally well on an outdoor hooded barbecue or in an oven. It also lends itself well to an open fire and hot embers, provided you soak your wrapped package well in water before placing it in the embers.

Thank you to Karen for a touch of Rakaia in the urban jungle and to Jayne for the superbly matched Mumm Rose Champagne that accompanied our juicy whole baked salmon.

Barbecued Baked Salmon Recipe

1 large whole fresh salmon, gutted and washed clean under cold running water. A 3kg salmon will feed 8- 10 with salad and vegetables

2 lemons, sliced into thick rounds with the rind on

1 handful of fresh basil

1 handful of fresh mint

1 handful of fresh tarragon

2 Tbsp of fennel seeds

2 Tbsp of cumin seeds

1/2 Tbsp of corainder seeds

Sea salt flakes and black pepper

• Dry roast the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds in a heavy bottomed frying pan on medium to high heat until the seeds go ‘pop’ in the pan. Pour the seeds into a mortar and bash lightly with a pestle to release all the aromatics!
• Preheat a hooded barbecue or oven to 230C.
• Pat dry the salmon, ensuring that the internal cavity is clean and dry also.
• Insert the lemon, herbs and seeds into the internal cavity and season well with salt and pepper.
• Using 2 full spread sections of a large newspaper  ~ or loads of layers of a small newspaper, wrap the salmon to completely enclose it in its newspaper confines and tie securely with kitchen twine.
• Space permitting, submerge the wrapped salmon in a sink or basin of cold water to ensure the parcel is well soaked. If space is an issue, run  place the parcel under cold running water.
• Place the salmon parcel on a warming rack within the barbecue so it is NOT directly over the flames and lower the hood and cook for 30 minutes.
• Turn the salmon over and lower the temperature on the barbecue to 160C and cook for a further 15 minutes with the hood down.
• Turn the barbecue off and leave the salmon for a further 15 minutes with the hood down to retain the heat.
• Carefully unwrap the parcel by cutting the strings and cutting through the smoldering newspaper.
• Slice the salmon flesh into large chunks and serve immediately with a fresh garden salad and roasted vine  tomatoes and zuchinni

Champagne match :  G.H Mumm Rose by @champagnejayne

Enjoy your baked salmon everyone!