Cedar-plank salmon menu

A sultry summer afternoon menu of grilled fish, tangy salads and a berry-riffic dessert.

Updated July 23, 2024

Cedar plank salmon recipe
Photo by John Cullen

Take advantage of the flavours of the season with an afternoon cedar-plank salmon menu. The smoky grilled fish, tangy salads and a berry-riffic dessert celebrate the best of chic simplicity. Serve our homemade iced tea (spiked, long-island style — woo hoo!) to guests as they arrive for a rustic refresher that’s perfect weather, and gets the party started.

Game plan

Day Before:
Bake cake. Cook bacon and make vinaigrette for green salad.

Morning of:
Make potato salad. Frost cake.

Hours before:
Slice peaches for cake and combine with berries. Soak cedar planks for salmon. Prepare spiked iced tea. Set the table.

During cocktails:
Grill salmon and finish off green salad.

Spiked iced tea.

Drink
Spiked iced tea
A grown-up Long-Island-style iced tea to serve before your meal.

A platter of baby red potato salad on a table next to a green salad and a bowl of vinaigrette

(Photo: John Cullen)

Sides
Baby red-potato salad recipe
Red potatoes not only add a vibrant pop of colour to this classic side dish, they also hold their shape better than other potato varieties so leftovers will be equally fantastic.

Green salad with bacon and dates. (Photo, John Cullen.)

Green salad with bacon and dates
Crisp bacon and sweet dates meld beautifully in this tossed leafy green mix. A splash of citrusy orange in the dressing and you have one decadent but refreshing starter salad.

Cedar-plank salmon. (Photo, John Cullen.)

Main
Cedar-plank salmon
The cedar plank adds a layer of smokiness, and the fish is marvellously moist. (Be sure to buy untreated planks – check at the fish counter in most supermarkets.)

A vanilla cake with summer fruits—peaches, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries—and a simple icing on a red serving platter

(Photo: John Cullen)

Dessert
Vanilla cake with summer fruit recipe
Beautiful and summery — this cake is loaded with berries and drizzled with icing for a stunning effect.

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