Last post was about the super fabulous macaroni and cheese that I made for my friend Phill while he's in town. Part two of the meal he requested was crab cakes. I was all set to make them, until I realized how expensive crab is. Boy howdy, is it expensive. So, Phill decided that he would buy the crab himself, because he really wanted crab cakes. Good to go.
We get to the grocery store, and go to the meat and seafood counter, and that's when we realized that crab is actually way more expensive that I had even realized. 21 dollars for half a pound????? Seriously, seafood counter at Remke? Seriously?? I realize that being in a landlocked state, and not in like, Maryland, means that I have to pay a bit more, but I had no idea it would be that much. So we grabbed the crab(21$ per pound?!?) and headed off to finish shopping. About halfway through the store, one of us, and I'm not sure which one, suggested making salmon cakes instead. We thought about it, and after a quick call to my mom, who assured me that I could basically make the recipe I had been planning on, just substituting salmon for crab, we decided to make the switch. The guy at the seafood counter made fun of us. Not cool, seafood counter guy.
I was a little bit worried about making these, because just last week my husband and brother in law were bellyaching about how their mom had made them eat salmon patties when they were young, and how much they hated them. But let me tell you...these turned out great! There were a few slips and stumbles in the process, but overall, these seemed to be a hit.
Ingredients Needed:
About 1 1/2 pounds of fresh salmon(this part is very important...don't used canned salmon)
2 cups fresh bread crumbs(also very important)
3 small scallions, minced
fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup mayo
old bay seasoning
1 egg
2 tsp dijon mustard
fresh lemon juice
worcestershire sauce
tobasco
To Make:
Start out by cooking the salmon. This is very important it turns out. You can eat crab raw, apparently, so it wouldn't have mattered as much if we had used crab instead of salmon, but unless you like raw fish(which apparently people do....I guess they call it sushi? well, me not so much). How we did it was to cut the salmon into small pieces, then fry it up in just a bit of olive oil, for about 3 minutes or so, then flake the salmon into even smaller pieces.
Now, into a bowl goes the salmon, bread crumbs, parsley, and scallions. Mix together lightly, being careful not to crush the salmon pieces. Sprinkle a bit of the Old Bay into the mix every time you turn it, and that way it will be evenly distributed among the whole mixture.
In another bowl, mix together the mayo, egg, mustard, lemon juice, worcestershire, tobasco, salt and pepper.
Gently fold the mayo mixture into the salmon mixture, again, being careful not to mush the salmon too much. Form into patties. The recipe that I orginally used for this said that you were supposed to cover the patties, and refrigerate for one hour. I didn't do that, mostly because I forgot to, and they still turned out fine. They might have been overwhelmingly awesome had I done that, but I really don't think it adds too much to the recipe.
Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add about 1/2 inch of oil into the pan. When the oil is hot, add the salmon cakes to the pan(be careful not to break them) and fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size of the cake.
So, wow. I've never had salmon cakes, or patties, or croquettes before, and these were great. Crab cakes probably would have been better, because, well....crab. But these were still really good. We served them with a cajun remoulade sauce. SO GOOD. The sauce really pushed these over the top.
Ingredients Needed for Sauce:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 minced celery stalk
lemon juice
1 minced scallion
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp ketchup
splash of worcestershire sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste.
To Make:
Mix all of those things in a small bowl, and you're done. Easy peasy.
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