Salmon Sashimi with Crispy Belly Skin Chicharrones

Recipe by Eric Keener

I have a long time buddy that has a 26' Osprey and over the years we've got some really nice fish! Even though the bite was super slow for everyone on Sunday (we fished for almost 10 hours), we still managed to wrangle in a few salmon. The largest salmon was peeling line like a tuna no matter how tight I put the drag on... I was fighting for a good few minutes before I felt something pull it super hard and then it went limp... dang sea lion! I reeled in a half of a fish as fast as I could and right before we could get it on the boat, the sea lion grabbed it again and took the rest of it. So he had sushi too.

The other fish I successfully landed, I took home the collar, belly meat, fillets, head and spine. Had a great time last night making sushi with my wife and figuring out fun ways to use the meat from various parts of the fish. I didn't even really need to touch the fillets for the rolls because there was so much meat from everywhere else. One of my biggest challenges when attempting to get inventive in the kitchen is figuring out how to plate the food in an attractive way - I still have a lot to learn. At least it tasted good! I'm super grateful that my wife who was recently pregnant and the thought of fish sickened her, is now back in love with fish!!! I'm really excited to surprise my good buddy with the collar and a fat fillet - he loves fish!

Ingredients:
Salmon with skin (FDA recommends fish be frozen at -4 degrees F for at least 7 days)
2 cups sushi rice
2.5 cups water, plus extra for rinsing rice
1/4 cup rice vinegar (I recently ran out so I used white wine vinegar instead and it tasted great)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Canola Oil
Sriracha
Wasabi
Micro Greens

INSTRUCTIONS
Rice
Place the rice into a mesh strainer. Swirl the rice in the water until the water runs clear. Place the rice and 2.5 cups of water into a medium saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. White it stands, combine the rice vinegar, oil, sugar and salt in a small sauce pan and heat until sugar dissolves. Pour over rice and mix thoroughly to combine and coat each grain of rice with the mixture. Allow to cool to room temperature before using.

Chicharrones
I bent a metal skewer at 90 degrees to shishkabob some salmon skin and fried it. First descale the skin, then drop it in boiling water for 30 seconds. Pull it out and dry it off well. Drop it into piping hot canola oil and watch it puff up!

Plating
Flatten a ball of rice, add thick cuts of meat. top with seasonings and sesame oil. On the side, add sriracha, wasabi, and veggies. The micro greens were an afterthought but it actually made the whole dish pop with awesome and contrasting flavor with a bit of crunch.

If you like sake, I recommend accompanying this dish with an unfiltered, cold sake.

“Bon apetite!!”

Salmon, Recipe and Photo Provided by Eric Keener