Monday, March 4, 2019

Another One That's Gina's Fault: Salmon Cakes

It's lovely when my friends support my hobbies. This past holiday season, I was gifted with a small jar of Penzey's wasabi powder. For the smell of the place alone, I miss living with easy access to a Penzey's.

When I took and experimental whiff of the powder, my brain immediately went, 'salmon,' and I thought I'd make salmon cakes. It didn't take long for the ingredients to come together in my head. I surfed the web a bit until I had a good idea of the proportions and came up with this:


  • 1 14.5 ounce can pink salmon (do not drain)
  • 3 green onions, chopped 
  • 3/4 Cup of bread crumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon of celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon of wasabi powder
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 t light oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon Shichimi Togarashi (a Japanese red pepper mix that I utterly adore)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Carefully (as in be prepared for splashing) de-can the salmon using a fork and take apart any large chunks. Combine with the rest of the ingredients, using a rubber spatula. 

I wanted cakes, not patties, and while I know they're often fried, it made sense to me to use one of my muffin tins. Well, tin is really not the word, I have these:





I didn't press the mixture into the tin, rather I rolled it into six spheres, and then baked for 35 minutes.

For condiments, I put 2 T of mayonaise, 1t of soy sauce and 1 T of a creamy garlic hot sauce by Famous Daves in a ramekin and stirred until everything was evenly distributed. 

For serving, I put 2 cakes on a bed of butterhead lettuce and squeezed a bit of lemon over.

For a first try, I think they're pretty damn good, but I have some plans for improvement most of which can be summed up in one word: MORE. Green onions, wasabi powder, Shichimi Togarashi. I got a little of the wasabi flavor, but not quite enough. Under consideration as additives are finely chopped celery (I rarely buy celery because I need so little at a time. I should check a local salad bar) and a shallot. Also more lemon. Many of the recipes I browsed have red pepper in them, but I think that would take away from the wasabi and I don't want that. Some shishito peppers on the side, maybe.

Now, I need crabmeat to go on sale......

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