Salmon Cakes with Asian Salad

Oh, these were sooooo good! Master Chow said, "this tastes like restaurant food!" Then he asked me to put it on the "repeat list."

One of my top two favorite cooking magazines is Cuisine at Home (the other is Fine Cooking). This recipe is from their April 2003 issue, and I tried it because I had a frozen piece of salmon that I wanted to use up, and I was desperate to prepare it in a new way. I decided upon this winning recipe, and tweaked it a bit by cutting down on the sugar called for in the dressing, and leaving out some of the herbs in the salad. Next time, I'm going to try it with canned salmon and see how that works.

Salmon Cakes with Asian Salad

Adapted from a recipe in Cuisine at Home, April 2003

Asian Vinaigrette

Whisk together and chill:

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 T. vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
2 T. low-sodium soy sauce
1 T. sugar
2 t. toasted sesame oil
1 t. fresh ginger, grated
1 t. crushed red pepper flakes

For the salmon cakes, combine:

1 lb. salmon, poached, chilled, and flaked
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup scallions, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Poaching salmon: poach in enough water to cover the fish. Add some salt and a few lemon slices to the water, which help keep the flesh firm. Heat until you just start to see bubbles, then add the fish. You do NOT want this to boil or bubble a lot - it should be a gentle simmer. Cook until you can flake the fish, or about 6-10 minutes per pound. It may take a bit longer, so keep an eye on it!

Whisk together, and add to the salmon cake mixture:

4 eggs
3 T. fresh lime juice
3 T. low-sodium soy sauce
2 T. rice vinegar (seasoned rice vinegar has sugar in it, unseasoned does not - use what you have and adjust the rest of the sugar accordingly to suit your taste)
2 T. fresh ginger, minced
2 T. jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 T. sugar
1 t. kosher salt

Once you have mixed all the salmon cake ingredients together, form them into patties, coat with the following, then chill for at least one hour (this is important - chilling the cakes firms them up and makes them easier to handle when you fry them):

1 cup panko crumbs
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Fry cakes in vegetable oil until golden brown. Some suggestions: (1) use a non-stick pan, (2) use a clear vegetable oil, not olive oil, to preserve the taste of the fish, (3) use a fork to place the salmon cakes in the pan to keep from knocking off too much of the coating, (4) handle the cakes gently, or they will fall apart, and (5) do not overcrowd the pan.

For the salad:

10-16 oz. greens, cleaned and spun dry. Toss with vinaigrette and plate. Top with two salmon cakes, and drizzle with more vinaigrette.

Makes 12 cakes, 6 servings.