Salmon Avocado Concasse'

This is a Marco classic :) 


I discovered this dish first in a restaurant in Italy and when looking for ideas for a light and fresh appetizer I decided to try to reproduce it at home.


Here's what's needed (4 people):


Two ripe avocados

• 4-6 medium sized tomatoes on the vine (depending on the size)
• A can of chickpeas
• Fresh salmon filet (200gr - 12oz) 
• 2% Milk
• Fresh Thyme
• Honey
• 2 shallots
• Extra Virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Red peppercorn
• Lemon

First thing to do is to marinate the salmon. I prepare a mix with milk, salt, thyme leaves, a bit of honey and let the salmon filet rest in it completely submerged overnight in the fridge.


In a dutch oven saucepan, I then put two teaspoons of oil, salt and chopped shallots and stir until it turns light brown. I then lower the burner and let it cool down for a couple of minutes, after which I add a bit of the marinade mix and lay down the salmon with the skin at the bottom. I then close the dutch oven and let cook for about 20 minutes at medium to low burner. Every 5 minutes I open the pan and make sure that the salmon has not completely dried up, adding the rest of the marinade mix as needed.


Since I'm going to have to chop the filet, I sometimes cut it in the thickest part with a wooden spoon to check if it's cooked all the way through.


Once it's done, I put the salmon on a plate, cover it with another plate and put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.


Now starts the fun part :) The avocado and tomatoes need to be chopped coarsely and stored temporarily in two separate cups.


I know of at least 5 ways of opening an Avocado. This is the one I use: cut in half longitudinally, take the pit out, cut the skin also longitudinally in half for each of the halves and peel it off. If the avocado is ripe, that should come out quite easily.


Once chopped, I put it in a container adding squeezed lemon (it would darken otherwise due to oxidation), olive oil and a pinch of salt.

I then cut the tomatoes, remove most of the seeds, and chop them in chunks of the same size as the avocado. Also put in a container with salt and oil, no lemon this time - the tomato's acidity would do.


Chick peas time. Chopping chick peas with the chopping knife is definitely not recommended. Neither using a blender. It creates a paste and we need a different consistency. I use a food mill or 'passatutto' which is a very manual, very old fashioned but very efficient piece of equipment for food processing, and it also has the added benefit of removing all chick peas skin from the paste.


But it still requires quite a bit of patience since the chickpeas will tend to form a layer on the filter. The secret is to (slowly) turn it backwards to detach the layer and then keep rotating until the only thing left on the inside of the filter are the skins.


I recommend to put a plate underneath the food mill and transfer the ground chickpeas to a container as it fills up. I use the whole can of chickpeas and at the end collect the paste that is stuck at the bottom of the food mill with a spoon. 


Time to take the salmon out of the fridge, and chop it in small pieces with a wooden spoon, putting it in a container with olive oil and a pinch of salt. I somehow do not like to touch it with metal. 


At this moment, in front of me I have four bowls with: chopped Avocado, chopped tomatoes, ground chickpeas, chopped salmon. 


I take four cylindrical glass molds and carefully smear them with olive oil on the inside, using a paper towel.


Then the building phase start: I first put a layer of salmon, then a layer of avocado, then a layer of tomatoes, then a layer of ground chickpeas to 'seal' the bottom. The oil inside the cups will prevent the concasse' to stick.


At this point, I put the four bowls in the fridge and leave them for about 30 minutes.

..and after 30 minutes, I take a large serving plate and, one by one, 'flip' the bowl with a rapid movement, pat the bottom (now top) of the bowl and lift it up gently. The concasse' should stay together nicely. 


Final touch: a bit of oil, and 4-5 red peppercorns on top of each.


And if everything went well, it should look like this

Buon Appetito!