A recipe from the cookbook Seafood Simple by Eric Ripert (Random House, 2023)
Ingredients
- Snapper Fillets 4 x 6-inch long, skinned
- Fine Sea Salt and Freshly Ground White Pepper
- Extra virgin Olive Oil ¼ cup
- Cherry Tomatoes 8, cut into 1/8th-inch rounds (about 32 rounds)
- Jalapeño Pepper 16 thin slices
- Small Basil Leaves 28
- Lemon 1, halved and seeded
Cook It
- Using a sharp knife, cut each snapper fillet lengthwise into ¼-inch-wide strips, keeping the slices in order.
- Cover a work surface, such as a counter or table, with a large sheet of plastic wrap. Gently place the snapper strips from one fillet in the centre, leaving a small gap between the slices. Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and press firmly down.
- Flatten the fish with a meat pounder (or a heavy bottomed saucepan), using a fluid motion that combines hitting the fish in the centre and sliding the surface of the pounder over the fish, pressing it outward. Continue pounding and pressing out the fish until it forms a very thin, even round, about 9 inches in diameter.
- Place an 8-inch round plate, bowl or cake pan to use as a cutting guide over the fish (still keeping the fish covered in plastic) and use a sharp knife to cut through the fish and both layers of plastic, resulting in an 8-inch round. Leave the plastic on the fish and transfer to a sheet pan. Repeat with each portion of fish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. (The snapper can be pounded and cut up to a few hours ahead; cover the entire tray with plastic and refrigerate.)
- When ready to serve, pull the top sheet of plastic off one snapper round and place the fish in the centre of a large dinner plate, plastic side up. Remove the plastic from the top of the snapper. Repeat with the remaining 3 snapper rounds.
- Season the snapper with sea salt and white pepper. Using a pastry brush, gently coat the top of each round with olive oil. Divide the tomatoes, jalapeño and basil evenly over the snapper and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve immediately.
