Salmon Crudo with Tropical Fruit

Crudo means “raw” in Italian, and since there’s no actual cooking happening here, every ingredient really matters. Start with the freshest, best-quality salmon you can find, good olive oil, fresh citrus, herbs, and ripe fruit. When the ingredients are this good, you really don’t need to do much to them.

Yield: 6–8 appetizer servings

Ingredients

1 lb. sushi-grade Scottish salmon

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

¼ cup high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill

⅓ cup finely diced mango

⅓ cup finely diced dragon fruit

⅓ cup finely diced avocado

½ to 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and very finely diced, to taste

Instructions

1: Combine the kosher salt and sugar. Coat the salmon evenly on all sides with the mixture, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2: Unwrap the salmon and rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove the cure. Pat completely dry with paper towels.

3: Using a very sharp knife, slice the salmon thinly and arrange on a serving platter.

4: Blend the dill with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until the dill is finely broken down and evenly dispersed throughout the oil.

5: Drizzle the salmon with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, soy sauce, and lemon juice. Spoon the dill oil over the top.

6: Finish with the mango, dragon fruit, avocado, and Scotch bonnet pepper. Serve chilled.

Recipe and styling by Yocheved Shvarzblat

Photo by Sruly Fryde