POUR &
TASTE
Savory salmon cakes Recipe by Fred Obee of the Port Townsend Leader
1 egg 1 large onion 4 stalks celery 3 cloves fresh garlic 12 sprigs fresh dill 2 large dollops Spectrum organic mayonnaise
1 half-pound fresh salmon fillet 1 large dollop Annie’s organic yellow mustard (honey mustard is good, too) ½ cup Edward & Sons lightly salted organic bread crumbs ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Place the fresh, filleted salmon in a lightly oiled baking dish and bake at 375 degrees. It will be done in 20 minutes to half an hour. Heat extra-virgin olive oil in a large frying pan. Add chopped onion and saute. Add finely chopped stalks of celery. Turn down the heat and cook until you like how crunchy the celery is. Some people like pretty crunchy. Others prefer the celery soft. When the mix looks good to you, add a few cloves of finely chopped fresh garlic and swish it around for a few minutes until the kitchen smells really good, then remove from heat and empty into a large bowl. Depending on how fast or slow you are at chopping, your baking salmon probably is pretty close to being done by now.
Check it out. If it flakes easily, is a consistent color and looks dry, remove from the oven and add, minus the skin and bones, to your onions and celery. Use a fork to break the salmon into tiny pieces that will mix easily. Add mayonnaise, mustard, Parmigiano-Reggiano, bread crumbs and egg. Mix it all up. The final result should be moist but not too wet, a consistency that holds together well when pressed into cakes. If it feels too wet, add more bread crumbs. Press into cakes dredged in bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add cakes when hot. Cook on medium heat until cakes are crusty and brown. I highly recommend making a big batch. Frying up a few cakes from the already prepared mixture is a super quick, easy and delicious dinner on day two. A lot of salmon cake recipes call for canned salmon, but I prefer a fresh fillet. And make sure you use wild, not farmed, salmon. Here on the peninsula, we have fresh, wild fish in abundance. There’s absolutely no reason to eat anything else. I like these served with baked asparagus that is dredged in olive oil before it goes in the oven. Add a nice local wine and it’s a meal fit for just about anybody. Here’s a map of local wineries: www.olympicpeninsulawineries.org/map.php. Find one close to you or look for their products in local stores.
Here on the Olympic Peninsula we are blessed with lots of great seafood – salmon, crab, shellfish, halibut. It’s all around us in profusion. One great way to make fresh fish or crab go further is to mix with breadcrumbs and seasoning and fry them until they are golden brown and crunchy. It’s a no fail way to go. You don’t have to measure carefully, you can pretty much use whatever you have in the fridge and there are endless variations you can try. At our house, we love salmon cakes. This recipe is how we fix them, but feel free to experiment. I suggest certain brands here, but you can use the ones you like, just remember that fresh, high quality ingredients make for tastier meals. Make a bunch at once. This mixture seems to get even better after a day in the fridge. Makes 8 servings PER SERVING: 127 CAL. 9.7 G PROTEIN 6.2 G FAT (1.1 G SAT.) 8.0 G CARB (1.1 G FIBER) 224.5 MG SODIUM 43.8 MG CHOLESTEROL
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