Salmon Tartare with Fruit Salsa

Once a week, certain streets in residential Paris transforms into a farmer's market with the best produce coming from all over France. Luckily,I live in a part of Paris (Rue Saint Michel, 15eme) where the markets come twice a week on Tuesday and Friday. But more talk and photos about the Market some other time.

Ever since I tried salmon tartare near the Pompidou I just couldn't stop thinking about it. It was made very simple, just raw salmon diced up and served with mangoes, balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil. So i decided to come up with my own version. All fresh ingredients I used came form the Farmer's Market.



Salmon Tartare

1. Mango and Percimon Salsa
1 Slice Mango
1/2 Percimon
1/3 Medium White Onion
1/4 cup Sweet White Wine (for this recipe, i used a Muscat Beaumes de Venise, 2007)
2 tbsp butter
Japanese Chili Powder
Salt

2. Salmon
1 Salmon Belly, with skin on (optional)
1 tbsp Lime juice
Corriander/Cilantro

3. Reduced Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Since we have to serve the salmon tartare chilled, let us begin with the Mango and Percimon Salsa to give time for it to cool down. Begin by finely chopping some onions and sautee them in butter until soft, no color! When the onions have started to soften, add the sweet white wine and let cook until almost all the liquid had evaporated, about 7 minutes then add in the finely diced fruit. Try to look for a consistency that will hold its shape. Add in the Japanese Chili Powder and transfer onto plate and cover with cling film to cool in the refrigerator.

For the balsamic reduction, put some balsamic vinegar into a pot over medium low heat or just enough for it to lightly simmer. Keep on the same heat until the vinegar is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and tastes sweet without any hint of vinegar, about 7-10 minutes depending on the heat and size of pan. Do not overcook. The reduction turns into burnt syrup really fast so keep a close watch. Just a word of advise, do this in a well ventilated area or with the exhaust fan turned on as fumes from the vinegar can irritate your throat.

As for the Salmon Tartare itself, always make sure to only use fresh sashimi grade Salmon. If you cannot find a good quality salmon, just make sure that it has been properly handled. Frozen Salmon can do the job just as good but thaw properly in the refrigerator over night. I like to rinse my fish under cold running water just to make sure there are no dirt or bacteria. Begin by scaling the fish with a fish scaler or with the back of your knife, then separate the skin from the meat of the fish carefully with a flexible fillet knife trying to have as little meat on the skin as possible. Again, search this up on youtube if your not sure on how to do this step. Trim the salmon off any darkened meat from the blood and debone. Cutting across the grain of the fish, make sashimi like slices, then into strips, then into cubes. This is called a brunoise.



Store in refrigerator until ready to use. If using the salmon skin, lightly salt the skin and pan fry in olive oil over high heat until crispy. Trim and set aside.

Assembly

Mix the chopped up salmon with cilantro, and only add the lime juice when you are about to plate and serve. Remember that the lime juice will cook the meat liek a ceviche.

On a food mold, fill up 1/4 with the cooled down mango and percimon salsa and top with the Salmon Tartare mix. You can always add more or less of either ingredient depending on your taste. You can be creative and put a slice of fruit on top of the tartare or simply drizzle some of the reduced balsamic vinaigrette on top and serve the trimmed crispy skin on the side. Be creative and serve with thinly sliced fruits.

I like this dish because the sweetness of all the fruits, wine and reduced balsamic go very well together with the freshness of the salmon mixed with the acidity of the lime, complimented by the crisp and salty skin.