Salmon Ceviche with Prawns and Lime

A dish for sybarites this, with sea flavours perfectly preserved by a brief marination in fresh citrus juice; lime, lemon and bitter orange are all suitable dressings. An hour or two in the marinade is enough to turn the fish's flesh opaque, allowing the flavour and texture to remain fresh and bright. The technique is suitable for any firm-fleshed fish, alone or in combination; try tuna, bass, bream, scallops (without the coral), squid or oysters, for instance. If you like, the prawns can be replaced with diced avocado.

Preparation time :	25 minutes, plus marinating
Total time :	25 minutes, plus marinating

Serves: 4 as a starter

Ingredients

350g salmon steak, skinned and boned
Juice and grated zest of 3 limes
Salt
1 red onion, finely sliced
100g cooked fantail prawns
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped coriander
1-2 ripe tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and diced (optional)

To Serve
1-2 limes, quartered
8 wheat flour tortillas

Method

1. Cut the salmon into thin slices. Mix it with the juice and zest of two of the limes, sprinkle with a level teaspoon of salt, cover and leave at room temperature for an hour, or set in the fridge for 2-3 hours, stirring the fish delicately every now and then to allow it all to come into contact with the marinade. While the fish is marinating, put the sliced onion to soak in a little lightly salted water, to soften it and reduce its pungency.
2. Once the fish has turned opaque, drain it and toss with the prawns, remaining lime juice and zest, chilli and most of the coriander. Drain the onion and fold it into the mixture with the optional diced tomato. Garnish with the remaining coriander and serve with quartered limes and wheat flour tortillas, heated in a griddle pan.
3. To eat, roll some ceviche up in a warm tortilla, holding one end closed with your finger so the juices don't run down your chin.
4. In Peru, where ceviche ranks as the national dish, it's eaten with slices of fresh corn on the cob and patacones - slices of plantain flattened with a rolling pin and deep-fried till perfectly crisp.

Drinks recommendation

This dish has a mouth-puckering tang that needs balancing with a clean, zesty white wine with a sympathetically high level of acidity. A limey, Bramley apple-flavoured Loire white would be great.