Day 71

Today was filled with lots of prep for tomorrow's class and a bit of cooking too. We butchered an Atlantic salmon and were assigned to create a salmon cake over a salad of our choice  and then we will make a poached salmon dish tomorrow along with a scallop appetizer.  

I served my salmon cake over a spinach salad tossed in a creamy poppy seed dressing. I topped the cake with a roasted herb aioli and some beautiful fresh dill.  Instead of taking the raw salmon and blending it into oblivion in a food processor so that I could make a force meat I decided to roast the salmon in the oven and then chill it and flake it into chunks for the base of the cake. The flavor and texture turned out just wonderfully. In fact, it was so wonderful that my instructor asked for the recipe so that he could use it in his curriculum. This recipe could also work for crab cake, shrimp cakes, or trout cake, etc. 

Salmon Cakes

Yield : 2 cakes (3 oz each)

Ingredients:

4 oz Salmon

1 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped

1 tsp lemon zest ( approx half a lemon)

1 tbsp lemon juice (approx half a lemon)

1 tbsp shallot, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, roasted and smashed

1/8 tsp sriracha sauce

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Canola oil

Sea salt

Pepper

Method:

Drizzle oil over salmon, season with salt and pepper, and roast for approx 15 minutes in oven at 350 degrees F (this is a good time to roast your garlic cloves as well).  Pull salmon out and place in refrigerator /reach-in cooler for 10-15 minutes to cool to room temp. Once cooled, flake salmon with hands into bowl and add in rest of ingredients except panko crumbs. Salt and Pepper to taste.  Once you are happy with flavor profile add 1 tbsp of panko into mixture and mix thoroughly. Mold into 2 cakes and then roll cakes in remaining panko crumbs (you are looking for a light coating). Pan fry in a bit of butter until GBD (golden brown and delicious). Serve with aioli of choice. 

We also marinated some of the scrap pieces of the salmon including strips from the belly that we will smoke tomorrow. The marinade was sort of teriyaki-like and had lots of fresh ginger. More details to come on the smoked salmon tomorrow!