Seeking perfection: Salmon Cakes

I have been cooking, I just haven't been blogging. Sometimes because I'm making old favorites, sometimes from laziness, and sometimes because dishes don't turn out the way I want them.

Case in point: This is my second attempt at salmon cakes and I've gotten closer to what I want, but more importantly, I'm pretty sure what I want to do next.

Preheat over to 350 F

Ingredients for this batch:

• 1 14.5 ounce can of salmon (who the hell decided on 14.5 ounce cans?), drained.
• .5 Cup Ka-Me wasabi flavor rice cracker crumbs (I used a coffee grinder, more on that in a bit)
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Penzey's Wasabi powder (thank you Gina!)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons plain yogurt (I'm a fan of Fage Total)
• 1 Tablespoon mayonaise

Vacate salmon from can with a fork, breaking up the chunks until it is more flaky than chunky, stir in the green onions, cracker crumbs and egg until everything is mixed to the point where you don't see cracker crumbs. Stir in yogurt and mayo.

You could form these into balls or patties, but I decided to use a muffin tin to help me get six cakes, with the idea of 2 as a main dish serving:

I baked these for about 20 minutes and then broiled for about 4 minutes to get a nice crunchy top. They didn't come out of the pan in one piece because they were just too wet. Still tasty and a nice warmth from the wasabi. I'm not sure if wasabi paste would give the same, but if I try, I'll let you know.

For a condiment, I mixed up some garlic-chili sauce with some plain yogurt and on the side were some sliced cucumbers with sesame seeds.

So, my critique:

• I should have crumbed (yes, that is now a word) the crackers in a food processor or used a rolling pin or my favorite mallet to get bigger pieces. I think they would have absorbed the liquid better if they were closer to the flaky fluffy consistency of panko.
• I probably also needed at least 2 Tablespoons more of crumbs
• More green onions. At least two more.
• Peppers of some kind? Maybe, I'm not sure. Red bell might work. Or well-drained peppadew. These were creamy, with the crust being where a different texture is. A little crunch might not be a bad idea.
• Just yogurt, no mayo to get more of a tang.

So we shall see what happens next. 

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......

Fishy Indulgence

When I go to restaurants, I like to get something I haven't tried before or something I wouldn't likely make at home. I don't usually try to recreate restaurant dishes, but this entry's recipe is an exception.

From 2010 to 2016, Nexx and I lived in Stamford, CT, which is home to some pretty damn fine food. One of my favorites is Remo's Pizza, if you like thin crust, go here. It's on Bedford Street, but I digress, that's not the place that inspired today's dish.

Another Italian place on the same street used to make a pasta dish I loved. Farfalle, smoked salmon, fresh salmon, and a champagne-cream sauce with chives. I ordered this regularly until they took it off the menu. The bastards.

I'm really happy with how this came out, and it was pretty easy. The only change I think I'd make is a drier champagne.

The ingredients list:

• 8 ounces smoked salmon
• 8 ounces cooked fresh salmon
• 1 pound orchiette (Nexx doesn't like farfalle and I wanted a pasta that would hold a sauce
• 1 pint (16 fluid ounces) cream
• 8 fluid ounces dry champagne
• 4 tablespoons of chopped chives
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• Black pepper to taste
• Capers for garnish

I cooked the salmon with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper in the immersion circulator for 45 minutes. You can also bake a salmon filet about that size at 350 F for about 25 minutes (check frequently).

While the salmon was cooking, I started the sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan on medium-low heat, then gradually whisking in the flour until I had a roux. After that, I added the cream a bit at a time until everything was incorporated and smooth, then stirred in the chives.

Now comes a challenge. How to add the champagne and not have the acid curdle the cream? First, I turned the heat down to low. Next, I popped the champagne and poured it into one of my big coffee mugs. I know that sounds weird, but I had a reason. The way I figured it, if I kept the heat low and added the champagne just a bit at a time, I could easily use the Tablespoon to access the liquid without spilling so to add a little bit of booze at a time. It worked beautifully. I kept the sauce on low while the pasta was cooking, stirring every few minutes.

While the pasta water was boiling, I removed the pin bones from the salmon filet and removed most of it from the skin by flaking it off with a fork. Nexx took the skin, put it in his favorite cast-iron pan and crisped it up with the creme bruleé torch and had a snack. I cut the smoked salmon into bite-sized pieces--between 2 and 3 square inches.

I drained the pasta and returned it to the pot, added a Tablespoon of champagne and stirred in the salmon. Once it was incorporated, I added the cream sauce and then ladled into bowls.

I put black pepper and capers on the table to be added as we liked. Even if you love capers, go easy on them because they could quickly become front and center, and you'd lose the lovely interplay between fresh and smoked salmon.

I hope you enjoy!

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!

Happy New Year!

This has been an interesting month. I wrapped up 2011 being sort of sick, which kind of killed the week I had taken off from my day job. I've made a few things, some memorable and some less so. I'm going to talk about a couple of the less memorable ones, that might be able to be saved.

The first one was an herbed chicken I put together. I've used yogurt and spices as a successful coating for baked chicken before. My vision was marjoram and black pepper and nice juicy chicken.  

I think I goofed in trying to use Greek yogurt for this one. I did thin it out a little bit, but it was more like a frosting than a coating. I just wasn't thrilled with the results. My sweetie liked some of it, but we agreed that this was not my best effort. I will be experimenting some more with this one.

Another one, I made last night. I didn't make a New Year's resolution to eat more fish, but we are starting to do so. Salmon is very low in mercury (unlike two of my favorite, tuna and halibut), so I think I'll be looking for a lot of salmon recipes in the future. Fish is also the easiest protein for me to chew these days. I can only eat so much soup, yogurt and quiche.

Now I like the herb dill as much as the next chef. Heck, I have a friend called Dill (though that's short for Dillanger). Still, I wanted something a little different. This gets challenging with a couple of different palates in the house. The sweetie doesn't like teriaki, and the mustard/brown sugar glaze I made when we still lived with Austin didn't go over too well either.

So you can imagine my delight when I found this recipe. That is, until I made it:

• 3 lbs salmon (I actually had about 3/4 of a pound, two small fillets, and this recipe was just enough to marinate.
• 1/3 cup soy sauce (I use Kikoman)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 T oil (I used vegetable, as my other choices were peanut, olive or sesame and I wasn't sure any of them would work)
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed (or in my case, pressed)
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• Handful fresh chopped parsley. (Whose hand, I ask you? My hands aren't very big, someone who's over six feet is going to have  much bigger ones. I decided on a generous quarter up)

Marinade for 2-3 hours. Broil

Definitely trying for three hours next time. On my sweetie's suggestion, I will be cutting down on the soy sauce. It overwhelmed everything. I think I will also increase the lemon peel, cut down on the oil and add a little more garlic. Possibly, there will be some thickener to make the marinade into a glaze afterwards. We'll see how it goes.

Comments? Questions? Recipes to try? Let's hear from you!