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Salmon Cakes

When you have some leftover salmon, I suggest trying making salmon cakes served over a crisp green salad. We have this for lunch, but it could be served as a light dinner. It is very impressive to see come to the table, and with some practice, your salmon cakes will be the talk of the town!  I personally love when people gossip about my lunches but if you are more private then don’t post photos on Instagram!
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Course Lunch

Ingredients
  

Salmon mixture

  • ½ lb. leftover pre-cooked salmon
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 Scant tablespoon drained capers
  • 3 scallions finely diced
  • 1 Tbs lemon juice (about ¼ of a medium-sized lemon)
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Sea Salt to taste - ½ teaspoon or so is moderate – (careful – the lemon,capers and mustard already add a lot of brine and pucker)
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Bread crumb coating

  • 2 cups panko breadcrumb – regular unseasoned breadcrumb can be substituted.
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 tbs chopped parsley

Instructions
 

  • Break up the salmon but leave it a bit chunky. Add the remaining ingredients. This will be a very wet, soft mixture.
  • Divide the mixture into two even portions. Take a portion into your hand and shape it into a disk – about 2 inches wide and one inch thick.
  • Place the salmon cakes into the breadcrumb, one at a time, and press coat the top and the bottom and sides. Pick up the cake and press it in your hands to set the patty and the crumb coating. Be gentle, but firm. Place the coated cakes onto a plate.
  • Pour enough olive oil into a medium-sized non-stick sauté pan to cover the bottom with 1/3 inch. Add the butter to the oil and heat so it is very hot – but not smoking. Test by dropping a bit of breadcrumb – it should sizzle instantly when it hits the surface of the oil. Place both cakes into the pan to brown. This should take about 2 minutes but may vary depending on the temperature of your pan etc. Check the progress by gently lifting one salmon cake to check the bottom surface browning. When nicely browned, using two spatulas, flip the cake over to finish the remaining side. Transfer to a baking sheet when done.
  • If you are doing a large batch of salmon cakes, you can keep them warm in a 250-degree oven as you are working through the browning process.
  • Toss some greens in some olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Serve the salmon cakes over the salad and garnish with a wedge of lemon. Some tomato slices are another nice accompaniment to this dish.

Notes

You may need to change the oil and butter if you are doing more than 4 cakes. It will start to accumulate bread crumb castings which burn and stick to your cakes which negatively impacts their taste (burnt is not good) and appearance with blackened bits dotting the browned surface. (If you use a composting service, they likely allow used grease to be placed into the compost bin for pick up.