Cake for dinner?
Some days we have a little more time to spend cooking dinner.
When I feel that way, recipes such as this can take center stage. It's not that this recipe takes long to cook; only a few minutes. However, the preparation will take you a while. But believe me the end result is well worth the effort.
Many restaurants carry crab cakes for appetizers and main entrées. This is a bit of a take off on that dish. Instead of crab, we’ll be using salmon. Salmon has a rich high fish oil flavor and is an excellent source of nutrition. This recipe, as printed, serves two, so simply double your amounts if you want to cook this for four.
I like to use an electric frying pan to cook up these cakes. It allows me more accurate control of the temperature of the oil. Speaking of oil, be sure to not put too much in your fry pan, as I did last week. By the time I had my four salmon cakes sizzling in the pan, the oil level had come up to the top of my cakes. This is much too high. Use enough oil so that when you add your salmon cakes the oil level only comes up to the center of the side of the cake. Once you’ve added your salmon cakes, if you see you have too much oil, quickly and safely ladle a little out into a heat-proof bowl.
Salmon Cakes
Serves two
8 oz salmon fillets, boneless skinless and cut into chunks
1/2 leek, sautéed
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp teriyaki sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed, (optional, add one clove roasted garlic)
1/8 tsp salt
3 grinds fresh black pepper
1 egg
3 Tbl Panko bread crumbs
1 cup Panko bread crumbs for dredging
In small fry pan, sauté leek with a small amount of butter until soft and translucent; do not brown. Remove from heat and set aside. You may substitute a chopped, uncooked, green onion here.
Place salmon chunks in food processor and give two or three one-second pulses. Just enough to grind it up a little bit. Add the leeks, Dijon, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, garlic, salt and black pepper, give two more one-second pulses to combine these ingredients and turn the result out into a stainless steel mixing bowl. You do not want to puree your salmon.
Fold in the egg and the three tablespoons of Panko bread crumbs. Now divide this mixture into four and refrigerate for 45 minutes.
While the salmon mixture is refrigerating, prepare your electric fry pan with about one-quarter inch of canola oil. When salmon mixture is ready, form each ball into a patty and dredge into the one cup of Panko bread crumbs.
Bring your oil up to 350 degrees, add your Panko breaded salmon cakes and fry on the first side until a light golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Turn to the second side and fry to the same light golden brown, probably 2 to 3 minutes. Remove to a paper towel.
Later in the week, we’ll look at some sauces to serve with this tasty dish.
