• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets, skin and bones removed
• 1 cup silver tequila
• 6 to 7 large flour tortillas
• 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• Fine-grain sea salt
• 1 teaspoon minced chives
• 24 to 32 small pieces of pimento
• 24 to 32 thin half-moon slices white or red onion (about one-quarter of a medium onion)
• Lemon zest for garnish (optional)

Put each salmon fillet into a separate nonreactive container - plastic, ceramic, glass, stainless steel, or anodized aluminum (not regular aluminum).
Sprinkle both sides with cilantro and sea salt.
Add up to 1/4 cup tequila to each container.
Seal and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. (The salmon will keep for up to two weeks.)

When you're ready to assemble the tostadas, preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Using a 2-1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut rounds out of the large flour tortillas, about 4 to 5 rounds per tortilla.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place the rounds on the baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp and golden, about 45 minutes.
Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese with the minced chives.
Set aside.

Remove the salmon fillets from the marinade and pat dry.
Using a very sharp paring knife, cut each fillet crosswise into 6 to 8 wafer-thin slices.

Spread about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on each tostada.
Curl the strips of salmon into rosettes and gently stuff a piece of pimento into the center of each rosette. (See picture)
Place a rosette into the center of each tortilla round and garnish with a half-moon slice of onion and a sprinkling of lemon zest.

Recipe from FONDA SAN MIGUEL: Thirty Years of Food and Art by Tom Gilliland and Miguel Ravago (Shearer Publishing; June 2005; $34.95/hardcover)