Salmon Carpaccio

Have you ever heard the phrase, “every new flavour tasted extends your life by one day”?  Salmon Carpaccio will extend your life by several weeks.  As you eat, flavours change as you experience the mixture of acids from the lemon, heady aroma of fresh basil, and the sharp yet sweet flavour that bites through the delicate yet totally clean tasting sockeye.

Cooking with acid is nothing new.  Lemon and vinegar's have been used all over the world to cook meats.  This dish requires no heat as the acids do the cooking.  It’s hard to describe except its similar to something you might get with a sous-vide technique.

You can use other types of salmon of course, spring is good or a nice red Coho, but sockeye is the best.  I have done this with scallops, shrimp and even shaved halibut, but salmon is king for this dish.

For those not a fan of raw onion, you’ll be surprised.  The acid causes the onion to almost melt, taking away the texture of the raw onion, the part that most people find kinda ech...

I used to cater back in the day and made this for one of my clients.  They hated seafood so this was a bit of a risque dish.  The client tried it not knowing what it was in the kitchen while I was bringing out other foods.  She ate almost half of it and was a bit shocked when she heard what she was eating.  Carpaccio is just one of those foods that surprises everyone, give it a shot

Step 1: Ingredients

• 1 large Sockeye fillet 2-3lbs
• 1 bottle small capers
• 1 cup fresh packed basil
• 1 medium sized red onion
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• lots of salt and pepper

Step 2: Slice

Chop Chop Chop

1. Slice your salmon fillet across the grain as thin as you can without making it into mush
2. Shave your red onion as fine as you can, thicker if you like that sort of thing - ech
3. Roll you basil into a cigar shape, this make it easier to thinly slice into strips
4. Toss it all into a non reactive bowl

Step 3: Mix

1. Add the whole bottle of capers to the salmon mixture
2. Pour in 1 cup of lemon juice
3. Add your 1/2 cup of olive oil
4. add about 1/2 a tablespoon of salt and freshly ground pepper
5. Mix it all together

Step 4: Acid Action Cooking

Seal up the bowl and place in the fridge, the acids will slowly cook the salmon over a period of 4 hours.  My wife usually can't wait so after a couple hours I snag a bit and saute it up and pour it over some freshly cooked pasta

Step 5: Nom Nom Nom...

After 4 hours your ready to eat, though you can let it keep cooking for 24 hours more.

Slice some baguette or crunchy bread and spoon on the salmon like you would with bruschetta and prepare to have your life extended!