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......

Wrong protein

Another adventure in salmon tonight. I liked this recipe a lot for several reasons. It uses salmon without dill, it uses balsamic vinegar which I love. It's also quick, which means it's good for a weeknight supper and then I can get back to studying or watching Sam Neil be ominous on Alcatraz.


The ingredients sounded like they'd go together:

• 6 5oz salmon fillets
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 T white wine
• 1 T honey
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 t Dijon mustard
• slat & pepper to taste
• 1 T chopped fresh oregano

1. Prehead oven to 400 F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray
2. Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about three minutes (I was not stirring fast enough, obviously, my garlic got kind of toasty).
3. Mix in white wine, honey, vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered for about three minutes, or until slightly thickened. (more like 5-7 minutes before it started getting thick)
4. Arrange salmon fillets on baking sheet. Brush with glaze, sprinkle with oregano.
5. Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily. Brush with remaining glaze and season with salt & pepper

I have a few quibbles with this one. The glaze was tasty and tangy, though I didn't taste the Dijon at all. My sweetie found it too sweet, but admitted that the balsamic would be overwhelming without the honey. The oregano didn't really add much. I think it might be better to add it to the glaze itself, let it release its essential oils into the glaze.


The big thing, though? I kept wishing my salmon was chicken. My sweetie agreed that this would work much better on something white-fleshed, either white fish or poultry. So this means we have some plans. One to make this again, sans Dijon, with a much dryer wine (the labels sometimes lie) with some chicken. Two, we may have a guest post from my sweetie coming up as he designs some enhancing flavors for salmon. Stay tuned!


Coming soon--overstuffed quesadillas!