Skip to main content

At Velouté Bistro in Toronto, chef Fawzi Kotb chills his collection of salt plates in the freezer. “I love using them for carpaccio, tartare and my house-cured salmon. The presentation is so beautiful – the pink colour – especially with the salmon.”

At Velouté Bistro in Toronto, chef Fawzi Kotb uses salt plates in the curing process.

Ingredients

1 cup sel marin gris (grey sea salt)

zest of half a lemon

zest of half an orange

2 pieces of star anise

2-3 whole, green cardamom pods

½ tsp turbinado sugar

½ bunch lemon grass, chopped

2 fresh, frozen or dry, whole kaffir lime leaves

1 6-to-8-oz. salmon filet, skin off

1 small, cucumber, washed, skin on, very thinly sliced

1 cup baby arugula, radish sprouts or other peppery green

3 tbsp sour cream

Juice of half a lemon

1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

The day before, place pink Himalayan salt block in the freezer.

Mix the first 8 ingredients together. In a container big enough to lay the salmon down flat, sprinkle 1/3 of the salt mixture. Lay the salmon on top and cover it with the rest of the mixture.

Cover and place in the fridge for 8 hours. Remove from container and rinse both sides well – up to 20 minutes – in cold, gently running water, until the surface of the salmon no longer tastes salty. Set the salmon aside on clean towels to dry, for 30 minutes.

Take salt block from freezer, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Now, place the greens on the oily block. On top of the greens, add the cucumber slices. Cut the salmon into 1-inch-thick slices and lay these on top of the salad.

In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and lemon juice and drizzle over the salmon. Serve immediately.

Interact with The Globe