Salmon and Potato Chips
Sour Cream and Onion, Preferably
Many Parisian bistros serve steak tartare with a pile of potato chips. It’s part of the whole “we’re tasteful and elegant and we don’t care” thing they do so well in Paris.
This recipe draws from that. It’s a simple appetizer, but if you don’t make it with care it will end up looking clumsy, so use its preparation as a chance to practice your knife skills. Dice your salmon belly into neat little cubes, slice your chili on a mandoline if you have one, mince your chives very fine—take the time to make nice cuts.
One last note: a lot of fishmongers sell salmon offcuts—the scraps that remain after trimming salmon filets. Ask about them, as they’re usually less than half the price of whole-cut salmon and are ideal for a recipe like this one.
Salmon Tartare with Potato Chips
Serves 2 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
For the salmon:
200g raw salmon belly, cut into small, even cubes
1 tbsp Kewpie mayo (or normal mayo, if you must—though I suggest you toss the Hellmann’s and become a Kewpie household)
Dash of fish sauce (I use Squid brand)
1 tsp soy sauce
Zest of 1/2 lime
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chives, finely minced
1/2 a small red chili, sliced very thin
For serving:
Handful potato chips (Ruffles sour cream & onion chips are superb, though if you can’t find them, as I cannot in the United Kingdom, plain chips are just fine)
Lime cheek
Directions:
Add all the salmon ingredients to a large bowl and toss until combined.
Pile dressed salmon onto a plate.
Serve with potato chips and a lime cheek.