Recipe: Cedar Plank Salmon with Roasted-Tomato Butter

This recipe, which hails from Cakebread Cellars, is featured in “Gather: Casual Cooking from Wine Country Gardens” (Harry N. Abrams, $40) by Janet Fletcher.

The Napa-based food writer is known for her “Planet Cheese” newsletter, as well as her cookbooks highlighting wine, cheese and farm-to-table fare. Her latest book highlights more than 60 recipes from 13 edible gardens in wine country, including this Cakebread-inspired salmon dish.

For this recipe, you’ll need an untreated 1-inch by 6-inch cedar plank, which is used to infuse the salmon with smoke without having to use a smoker. It should be available at most lumber stores. The recipe may also generate a bit of extra roasted-tomato butter. Freeze it for later and serve it with other seafood dishes like steamed clams, grilled lobster or swordfish. The salmon goes well with sides like fresh potatoes, green beans or corn on the cob, according to Fletcher.

Cedar Plank Salmon with Roasted-Tomato Butter

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

Roasted-Tomato Butter

½ pound San Marzano or Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Pinch of ground Espelette or cayenne pepper

Salmon

2 pounds skin-on salmon fillets, pin bones removed

Extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Soak a 1-by-6 cedar plank in cold water to cover for at least 2 hours.

Prepare the roasted-tomato butter: Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Turn on the convection fan, if available. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the tomatoes, cut side up, on the pan. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper, then drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with the thyme. Put the garlic cloves on the baking sheet as well. Bake the tomatoes until they are tender and starting to color and shrink, about 45 minutes.

Let the tomatoes cool, then remove the skins and put the flesh into a food processor with any juices from the pan. Squeeze the garlic flesh out of its skins into the food processor, then add the butter and pulse until smooth and creamy. Add the basil, lemon juice and Espelette pepper and pulse to blend. Taste for salt. Scoop into a bowl and set aside.

Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to high. Brush the fish lightly all over with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the fillets, skin side down, on the plank and set the plank on the grill directly over the fire. Watch carefully and have the grill lid ready with vents open. The smoldering plank will generate a lot of smoke. When the edges of the plank start to flame, cover the grill and cook the salmon until you can easily slide a metal offset spatula between the skin and the flesh, 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

With the spatula, transfer the fillets to dinner plates, leaving the skin behind. Top each portion with 1 tablespoon of the tomato butter.

Serve immediately.

Recommended wine pairing: Cakebread Cellars Two Creeks Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley.

— Janet Fletcher, “Gather: Casual Cooking from Wine Country Gardens” (Harry N. Abrams, $40)

Cakebread Cellars, 8300 St. Helena Highway, Rutherford, www.cakebread.com.