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Recipe: Salmon cakes with avocado basil cream

katflinn · August 18, 2018 · 10 Comments

If you live in Seattle, it’s required by state law to consume wild salmon during the summer. Or, at least it feels that way. Lately, I’ve been grilling more than we need in order to use the leftovers for these fragrant salmon cakes that I developed last year when faced with a pile of leftover salmon after a rained-out BBQ.  They’re simple to make and freeze well, and offer a healthy alternative to fish sticks. They’re easily dressed up by a simple sauce.

I adore avocados, but my husband is less enthusiastic. So I often end up with halves or slivers of leftover avocado. One day, trying to come up with low-fat, low-cal recipes for a guest chef gig at Rancho La Puerta earlier this year, I decided to use some leftover avocado and added a bit of seltzer water to this salad dressing – and it worked. The result is a light, airy dressing that works well with simple, tossed salads and also with salmon and grilled chicken.

Two slices of toast pulsed for 30 seconds in a small food processor makes about a cup of bread crumbs, and the flavor beats the gritty store-bought variety. If using fresh fish, simply poach it quickly in water. The salmon cakes make enough for two, but the recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Salmon cakes

1/2 lb. cooked salmon or mild white fish filets
1 whole egg + 1 egg white
1 cup bread crumbs, divided in half
1 small handful any combination of chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, dill, basil or cilantro
4 green onions, white and light portions minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch or two to cayenne (optional)
Olive oil or cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Combine egg, half the breadcrumbs, chopped herbs, green onions, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, mustard, ¼ teaspoon coarse salt, cayenne and several grinds of black pepper in a large bowl. Put the remainder of the breadcrumbs into a separate shallow bowl. Discard fish skin. Crumble fish into bowl, sifting to uncover any bones. Mix thoroughly. Coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray or olive oil. Form the fish mixture into small cakes or “stick” shapes, about 1/3-inch thick. Dip both sides of the fish cakes into breadcrumbs and place on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for about five minutes, then broil for about 90 seconds until golden. Turn off broiler, remove sheet from pan and carefully flip cakes. Bake another five minutes and then broil until the top is golden another 90 seconds. Serve warm.

Avocado Basil Dressing

One quarter of a pitted, peeled avocado
6 basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon minced shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons sparkling water
 
Combine the vinaigrette ingredients into a small food processor or blender and mix until smooth. Add salt and cranks of black pepper to taste.
Note: This post was originally published in July 2012; its publish date reflects the addition of updated material.

Related

Filed Under: Fish & Seafood, Healthy, Recipes Tagged With: avocado, easy dinners, Healthy, low-carb, low-fat, salmon

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Comments

  1. Marcus says

    July 17, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Wow, this looks great. The use of the seltzer water is really unique, I have never heard of it.

    Reply
  2. anne says

    February 24, 2013 at 4:48 am

    There were awesome! I used basil and added hot sauce. Will make forever!

    Reply
    • Kathleen Flinn says

      February 27, 2013 at 7:45 am

      Yay! Good work taking them on!

      Reply
  3. Kathryn says

    April 20, 2013 at 7:27 am

    Best salmon cakes ever!!
    And, this sauce is wonderful. I use it for crab cakes as well. Will find more uses I am sure!

    Reply
    • Kathleen Flinn says

      April 30, 2013 at 1:42 am

      Great! I just made a version of this recently with some leftover snapper and it was terrific, too. Thanks!

      Reply
  4. Erica says

    April 29, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    If using canned salmon, how much would you substitute for the freshly cooked salmon? These look great!

    Reply
    • Kathleen Flinn says

      April 30, 2013 at 1:40 am

      I haven’t tried it with canned salmon, but that’s a good thing for me to test. Since it calls for 8 oz., I’d get a can that’s approximately the same size. One thing to note about canned salmon is that the less expensive versions tend to have bones and so there’s some waste. So although it may say it’s 14 oz., you may end up tossing a bit of it due to bones. If you use a larger or smaller can, adjust the recipe according. Let me know how it goes if you try it with canned salmon.

      Reply
  5. Jenna C. says

    March 22, 2015 at 12:36 am

    The trick with the seltzer water in the dressing was genius.

    Reply
  6. chieko makino says

    September 20, 2017 at 7:51 am

    I will try this sauce this weekend! (I’m doing Ketogenic diet so may be on the baked salmon) thank you for sharing!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. » SALMON CAKE WITH AVOCADO BASIL DRESSING says:
    January 19, 2013 at 5:15 am

    […] didn’t want to give my family the same food again so I search some recipe online and found this one fits what I was looking for!  It allowed me turned the plain boring salmon dish into a delicious […]

    Reply

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