So I recently purchased a fantastic cookbook at Half-Price Books entitled The Complete Ste-by-Step Family Cookbook, by Gina Steer. H and I were looking through it together recently, and as we did so, she mentioned that she had purchased some beautiful wild salmon at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, when she froze it, she didn’t realize it had been previously frozen, and thus was seeking a use for it that didn’t depend on nice texture. We happened upon this salmon fish cake recipe in the book and thought, aha, we have all the ingredients for this between the two of us! Not shopping for specific recipes = exciting, so it was on :)
Salmon Fish Cakes
Following the recipe from the Complete Step-by-Step Family Cookbook
Ingredients (makes 7 3-inch-wide cakes):
- 1/2lb or about 225g Wild Sockeye salmon fillet, skinned and de-thawed
- 2 medium-sized Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 tablespoon soy butter
- 1 tablespoon organic fat-free milk
- 1 medium-sized tomato, carved out and chopped into a fine dice
- 2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh parsley
- approx. 3/4 cup wholemeal bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg (organic, cage-free!), beaten
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- seal salt & freshly-cracked black pepper
- for garnish: fan-cut cherry tomatoes, uncut parsley sprigs, and large dollops of low-fat sour cream
Process:
- Lightly season the salmon fillet with salt and pepper, then poach in water for about 10 minutes, until cooked through. Drain thoroughly, place onto a cutting board, and flake (use a flat wok spatula or similar item to flake the salmon out).
- Rinse the potatoes, then poke a few holes on either side with a fork, place on a paper towel, and put in mocrowave for 3 minutes. Then flip the potatoes and cook for another 3 minutes. Continue repeating this 3-minutes-and-flip process until the potatoes are cooked through entirely (if you press down upon one and it caves inward, then it’s done!)
- Peel the potatoes, and place in a bowl. Add the butter, milk, a dash of salt and a dash of pepper (optional: pinch of nutmeg) and mash. Add in the flaked fish, diced tomatoes, and half the parsley and mix. Place in freezer for 25-30 minutes to firm.
- While the mixture is firming and cooling, prepare the three dipping bowls. Place the flour in the first, and beaten egg in the second. For the third, mix together the breadcrumbs and grated cheese with the remaining parsley.
- Form the now-cooled mixture into 7 cakes, about .5-inch thick and 3 inches across and place in the flour (thin coat), then egg, then the breadcrumb mixture (pat it on thoroughly). Place aside onto a plate until all the cakes are dipped and ready to cook.
- Heat some of the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes for about 3 minutes per side (until a nice seared, golden-brown colour appears) and well-crisp. For garnish, serve with a fan-cut cherry tomato, fresh parsley sprigs, and large dollops of cold and creamy low-fat sour cream. (the book suggests raita with mint but I that seems overpowering to me).
They’re delicious, very convenient as a keep-in-fridge thing to heat up later on and they go so well with the sour cream! This was also my first successful fan tomato, so I was quite happy with that :)
