Cedar Plank Grilled Grouper with Lime and Dill

As much as I’m enjoying all the fall recipes lately, I wanted a break from the seemingly endless stream of pumpkin, squash, cranberry and so forth.  Living in Florida means grilling outdoors is just fine in the middle of November.  In fact, it’s nicer now that it’s not a steamy inferno out there.

The cedar planks were easy to find at Home Depot.  If you can’t find them locally, there are lots of places to get them online.  If you can’t find planks sold specifically for grilling then almost any piece of wood will do.  Cedar, oak, applewood.  Unfortunately our grapefruit tree, damaged in the wave of hurricanes in  2004, is now dead but I’m betting it’ll make great grilling wood. Just be absolutely SURE that whatever you use is untreated.  You sure don’t want to cook on chemically treated lumber.

Too cold to crank up the grill outside?  Use the planks  in the oven instead.  You’ll still get the great flavor.

• Cedar Plank
• Grouper or other mild fish. Tilapia or Mahi would probably work very well.
• Limes, about six
• Dill, several fresh sprigs
• Butter, 1/3 to 1/2 cup, depending on how much fish you have
• Salt and Pepper
• Oil (to coat the cedar plank)Soak the planks for at least an hour before using them.  You’ll have to use something like we did here, a big can and a big mug of water, to keep them from floating.  Once they’re on the grill they’ll smolder a bit but you don’t want to them really flame up.Juice a few limes, for about 1/3 cup of juice.Slice another lime into thin slices.Combine the lime juice with the melted butter.Take the planks out of the water and pat dry.  Coat one side with a generous amount of oil to keep the fish from sticking.Place the fish on the oiled side of the plank.  Drizzle generously with the butter/lime mixure and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Arrange dill and lime slices on top.Keep the remaining butter/lime mixture for basting.Place the plank of a medium-hot grill and cover.  Cook until the fish is done.  Baste periodically with the butter/lime mixture and check on the plank.  It will get smoky, that’s the idea.  Keep a spray bottle of water handy and if it starts to flame spray it down a bit.Serve on the plank.  We just sat the whole thing on a piece of newspaper to catch the drips but a large platter would certainly look nicer!

We had plenty of fish left over.  I reheated it quickly in a small skillet and it made great fish tacos.

Tagged as: dill, fish, grilling, grouper, lime