Several years ago, Rose and I had carpaccio di pesce for the first time in Hawaii with ahi (tuna). We instantly fell in love with it and returned home determined to recreate something similar with salmon. It may be even better! With salmon you first need to pull any remaining bones out with needle-nosed pliers. Also, you can get a special hammer to make thin slices thinner, but you don’t need it. This dish is amazingly good — enjoy!

Ingredients

1 lb salmon filet
balsamic vinegar (a few tablespoons; we like white balsamic vinegar best)
capers (smaller ones better, to taste)
parmesan cheese (fresh-grated, to taste)
black pepper (fresh-ground, to taste)
onion (chopped, amount to taste)
roasted green chiles (peeled and chopped, to taste)

Sprinkle a light bed of balsamic vinegar on a flat-surfaced plate that has a raised edge.

Cut the skin off of the filet, then slice the fish flat-wise into about 1/8″ thin, flat slices. I find it easiest to do with a filet knife by cutting off the bottom as I hold it down on a very flat cutting board. No need to be exact, but you want it very thin. You can make pieces that are too thick thinner either with a wide-headed kitchen hammer (nice tool, once we got one) or with rolling pin wrapped in saran wrap. Odd-shaped pieces are likely. No problem, just lay them and piece them out onto the balsamic vinegar to make a fairly unbroken sheet of fish that covers the whole plate at approximately the same thickness. We usually get two substantial plates covered.

Sprinkle a little more balsamic vinegar and the chopped onion on top. Grate parmesan over this, then sprinkle on the chopped peppers, capers, and black pepper. If you have a little too much vinegar, gently pour excess off one edge of the plate. Serve still cool (or refrigerate until time to serve).

Arctic Fusion Carpaccio di Pesce

(If you have some small pieces of fish left over, sashimi is always good with soy sauce and wasabi, or we’ve lightly sauteed them the next morning to put into an omelet.)