Friday Night - Salmon Ceviche

I've never had salmon ceviche before, and I wasn't entirely sold on it until I came across this recipe. It just sounded so refreshing and light and tasty. Ceviche is a great summertime dish, there's no cooking involved! Just chopping and slicing. It's perfect when you just don't want to turn on the stove or the grill. I've always had ceviche with white fish, but this was so so so good. I'm not a huge fan of salmon sushi, but somehow with all the flavors involved it worked for me. Plus, Trey got a great deal on fresh-caught Columbia river Chinook at Gartner's this week (only $11/lb.!) so we had two huge fillets in the fridge. Let's talk about this fish for a moment - I don't know if we got really lucky or if Gartner's just has a great fish source, but it was flawless. There was zero fishy smell, it was pink (but not too pink!) and there was not a trace of sliminess. It was nice and fatty, too. Really just the perfect salmon. 


Salmon Ceviche:
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeño pepper (with or without seeds, depending on how hot you want it)
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3/4 to 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet, on its skin and in one piece approximately 8-inches long and 8-inches wide

 In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except the salmon.

Assemble the dish at least 2 1/2 hours before serving and as much as 12 hours: With a very sharp, long-bladed knife, slice the salmon as thin as possible, working at a sharp diagonal and cutting in the same direction as the grain of the fish—in other words, the way smoked salmon is usually sliced. Discard the skin.



Arrange half the salmon slices in one layer (they may be very slightly overlapping) in a large, shallow serving dish or 9- by 12-inch glass (or stainless steel) baking (or roasting) pan.

Drizzle on half the sauce.

Cover with the rest of the salmon slices and spread with the remaining sauce.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Serve with wedges of lime, if desired, and thinly sliced white toast or black bread. We used flax and sesame seed chips. It was really good.

Bon Appetit!