Salmone Siciliano

I adapted a recipe from a Marcella Hazan cookbook for this. Sicilians eat a lot of swordfish, which is the usual fish cooked this way, but Marcella says that salmon’s strong flavor holds up well to the capers and vinegar, and, as usual, she's right.

For a medium-sized salmon filet, or 3-4 lbs of salmon steaks, you'll need a medium onion (red or yellow), 2 celery ribs, a quarter cup or so of capers, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

Cut the onions and celery into very fine dice, about 1/8th inch square. If you can find capers packed in salt (and preferably from Pantelleria), they have a better flavor than the brine-packed ones, but they need to be soaked in several changes of cold water before using. If you use brine-packed capers, rinse them off first.

Heat about a quarter cup of olive oil in a saute pan and add a finely diced onion. Cook until soft, then add two ribs of finely diced celery and about a quarter cup of capers. Cook until the celery is soft, about 10 minutes, and add a quarter cup of good white wine vinegar. Let the vinegar boil up for few seconds, then remove from heat.

Drizzle olive oil over a whole salmon filet and turn to coat completely. Place skin side down (if the skin is still on) in a baking pan, salt and pepper the top, and bake at 400 for about 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filet and how done you like your salmon. If you use steaks, coat with oil and bake until done.

You could also cook the fish on the grill. Arrange the burning coals on both sides of your covered barbecue, but not directly under the fish. Place the oil-coated filet on the grill skin side down and cook, covered, for about 10 minutes or until done. Steaks could be grilled over direct heat.

Transfer to a serving platter, top with the sauce, and serve immediately.