In the KitchenwithBella

A week or two ago I stumbled across an easy salmon cake recipe somewhere. I think it was on one of those frugal housewife blogs. It was a very simple recipe, canned salmon, cracker crumbs, eggs. Not much else. Boring. But it gave me an idea. It had never occurred to me that salmon cakes were within my culinary grasp. This recipe made them sound downright easy. Now all I had to do was tweak it a little to make it more interesting.

I picked up an can of salmon from the bargain aisle at the grocery store the next time I went shopping and waited for the right day, for the creative culinary mood to strike. Friday evening seemed like a good time to run out a new fish recipe.

For further inspiration I went to my favorite cooking sites, food.com and cooksillustrated.com. Food.com is,  of course, the site hosted by the Food Network. The latter site, companion to the television show America’s Test Kitchen and the magazine, Cook’s Illustrated, requires a subscription; but is well worth it for the awesome recipes and great articles. On Food.com I found an interesting recipe for salmon cakes made from canned salmon by Rachel Ray. Like all her stuff, it was quick and easy and looked tasty. Cook’s Illustrated offered a recipe for salmon cakes made from fresh salmon; but had a few interesting twists that looked like they could be applied to my purposes. I printed them both off and headed to the kitchen to experiment and create my own version of salmon cakes made from canned salmon but as tasty as anything I could get in a restaurant.

I had to make a few last-minute creative substitutions. I didn’t have enough of either bread crumbs or crackers, so I actually used a blend of saltines and whole wheat bread ground in the food processor. I added cilantro in place of Rachel Ray’s dill for a more southwestern feel. Hey, I’m a Texan and I’m in love with cilantro. It’s the one fresh herb I almost always have in the refrigerator. For the hot chili sauce I used a blend of Tabasco’s habanero flavor sauce and some extreme hot sauce that Dom swears you can only use a drop of or it will burn off your tongue; but any hot sauce you like should do the trick. Or leave it out if you’re a heat wimp like most of my New Englander friends and family.

I have to say I was extremely pleased with how well these came out. We had 11 salmon cakes, much more than the two of us could eat. I’d say two of these cakes served on a bed of young greens and drizzled with my tangy mayonnaise sauce would probably cost around $15 at a local fine restaurant. And I’d have gladly paid restaurant prices for these delicious cakes. They were lightly crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside.  The taste was delicate, complex, not at all canned or fishy. I’m usually not a big fan of mayonnaise; but the sauce complimented the cakes perfectly and the greens added a cool, crisp accent. This was a perfect summer meal that I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve to company. And it came together very quickly too!

Caveat: I didn’t keep notes as I mixed and I didn’t measure either, so all of the following is an approximation. Cook at your own risk.

Ingredients:

half a medium onion half a medium red bell pepper 1 1/2-2 cups bread crumbs or saltine crumbs 1 can (14.5 oz) salmon, well drained 2 eggs, beaten about 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 cup cilantro, finely chopped 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste about 1 teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs vegetable oil for frying for mayonnaise sauce 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup cilantro, finely chopped juice and zest of 1 lime your favorite chili sauce to taste salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Finely chop onion and bell pepper in food processor.

Blend salmon and 1 1/2 cups of bread/cracker crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, pepper and onion, cilantro, cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and hot sauce. Mix well. If mixture is too wet, you may need to add more bread crumbs.

Form salmon mixture into small cakes (about 1 inch thick, 3 inches wide). Spread panko crumbs in pie plate and coat salmon cakes on both sides with crumbs.

Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Fry salmon cakes about 2-4 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove and let drain on plate with paper towels.

Mix mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and zest, hot sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl. Taste and adjust flavorings as you wish.

Serve salmon cakes on a bed of baby lettuce and drizzle with mayonnaise sauce. You may add other salad veggies as well; but don’t overwhelm the dish by adding too many. We had a few slices of tomato, bell pepper, mushrooms and cucumber left over from last night’s salad and I threw a small pile at the edge of each plate for a colorful accent. The salad doesn’t need any other dressing besides the mayo sauce.

Enjoy! And if you make this dish or some variation of it, please leave a comment and let me know how it works for you.