Tart London: How to make wild salmon carpaccio
Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison feel the heat with a fresh jalapeño salmon carpaccio
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It’s great that we’re more aware of making healthy choices and eating ethically, but it does mean a trip to the supermarket can involve a lot of dilemmas. Regular bread or gluten free? Are these chickens really free range? Is this almond milk full of sugar?
By the time you get to the fish counter, it’s tempting to give up and buy the first thing you see. But there’s no need to despair — in fact, making the right fish choices can be easy so long as you’re aware of a few ground rules.
First of all, when buying salmon, which we use here, it should be a vibrant pink with clear eyes. It’s also definitely worth trying to get hold of wild fish. Although fish farming has vastly improved, you still come across horror stories about overcrowded breeding tanks, disease and sea ice.
And don’t always assume that fresh is better than frozen. Sometimes the reverse is true as fish will have been put in the freezer on the boat to preserve freshness. Finally, if you’re concerned about sustainability it’s worth downloading the Seafood Watch app, which provides in-depth recommendations on all types of farmed and wild fish.
In this recipe, we use fresh, wild salmon of the highest possible quality. The majority of the salmon you find is Atlantic salmon, flown in from as far away as the US or Canada, and this will be farmed, so we recommend going to a fishmonger and asking for sushi-grade fresh salmon. Once you’ve got it, the rest is easy — the beauty of this dish is its simplicity. Just combine the ingredients as instructed and enjoy.
Wild salmon carpaccio with jalapeño and avocado salsa
Ingredients (Serves 4 as a starter)
Salmon
400g sushi-grade wild salmon
2 fresh jalapeños, finely sliced
1 large red chilli, finely sliced
Small bunch spring onions (we like to use the purple ones to add colour to the dish)
Small bunch chives, chopped
1 handful coriander
1 lime
Good quality extra virgin
olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salsa
1 avocado, peeled and stone removed
8-10 stems mint, stems removed and discarded
25g coriander
½ jar jalepeños
½ lime, juice
1 tbsp crème fraiche
Method
First make the salsa. Put all the salsa ingredients in the food processor and whiz until blended. Leave to one side (if too hot for you then add more crème fraiche or avocado).
With a sharp knife slice the salmon into thin strips and divide between four plates.
With a teaspoon, dot the salsa over the salmon — not too much as it’s quite spicy.
Sprinkle the jalepeños, chilli, spring onions and chives over the dish, then squeeze over the lime and drizzle with olive oil. Place a little pile of coriander leaves in the middle and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
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