Salmon Cakes

Every Friday night, my kids trade off choosing the dinner menu.  This past Friday, Eli choose roasted salmon, roasted carrot soup, stuffed baked potatoes, and artichokes.  I was really happy with this choice. I always buy a little too much.  And as I have said before, I hate throwing food away.  


The next day I took the salmon, flaked it with a fork and whipped up some salmon cakes for lunch.  These are good hot, cold, room temperature.  They are just plain good.  Squeezed some lemon over them, served over field greens.  This is a great way to get a little extra protein into the kids. Plus, if I put it on a mini slider bun, and call it a salmon "burger", slather it with some homemade cocktail sauce, no one complains! It was a simple lunch on a perfect Saturday, shared with my delicious little family!


ingredients:
1/2 lb. cooked salmon
2 Tbls. unsalted butter
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 shallot diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 Tbls. italian parsley, chopped
1 Tbls. capers
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1-2 dashes Sriacha chili sauce
1-2 tsp. old bay seasoning
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
3 Tbls. dijon mustard
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
kosher salt
fresh gound pepper

instructions:
• in a large non-stick sauce pan, melt butter.  add onion, shallot, celery, pepper, capers, and parsley and saute for 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft.  Add the capers, worcestershire sauce, Sriacha, old bay,  1 teaspoon salt, and 10 grinds of fresh ground pepper.  saute for 1 more minute.  let cool
• with a fork, break apart the salmon.  put in a bowl.
• in a separate bowl, whisk the dijon, eggs, and egg yolks, until combined.  add this to the salmon.
• add the bread crumbs.  lastly, add the cooked veggies.
• cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.  once chilled, make into patties ( I use an ice cream scooper for size, then flatten and shape into patties).  Put on a small cookie tray and freeze for 10 minutes.  freezing them helps them to not fall apart.
• heat 2 Tbls. coconut oil in a large saute pan.  Saute the salmon cakes and fry until brown on one side.  flip and do the other side.  set on paper towels to drain while you make the remaining salmon cakes.
• I serve with fresh lemon wedges.

Homemade Bread Crumbs
• cut left over bread into cubes.  put in the bowl of a food process fitted with a metal blade. pulse.
• place crumbs on a large sheet pan and toast crumbs in a pre-heated 350* oven for about 5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  these keep well in the freezer for up to 2 months.