Salmon Cakes

These salmon cakes were inspired by an Ina Garten recipe. They are so moist and packed with flavor, they are sure to be a hit as appetizers or a main course at any get-together. Audrey was visiting me in Palmer when we decided to make these after a successful day of fishing for Sockeye Salmon. A couple of my husband's friends stopped by and my dad joined us. It was raves all around! We used salmon from the carcasses we grilled - instructions here - and veggies I grew. It was an Alaskan meal all around. We cooked these outside in a cast iron skillet over a grill (just for fun) and they came out perfectly. But cooking these indoors on the stove is the traditional method and works just as well. ~Patti

Ingredients:

1 pound cooked salmon, flaked

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, diced small

7 stalks celery, diced small

1 whole red bell pepper, diced small

1 small zucchini, diced small

1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, minced

2 tablespoons rinsed capers

1 teaspoon Sriracha or other hot sauce

3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup Panko crumbs

Serves: 6-8

We grilled our salmon carcasses and used the meat off the bones. Here's a quick link to see how easy it is: 
How to grill salmon carcasses

A quick way to made short work of all the dicing: place onion, celery, bell pepper, zucchini and parsley into a food processor. Pulse quickly into a small dice. Drain all moisture (there will be a lot) from veggies before sautéing.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, zucchini and parsley mix to pan, along with the capers, Worcestershire, hot sauce, Old Bay seasoning and salt & pepper to taste. 

Cook over medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes until veggies are soft. 

Remove from heat, place in a stainer over a bowl and cool. You want as much of the liquid to drain out as possible or else your salmon cakes will fall apart when you grill them.

After completely cool, combine everything together and mix well. The mixture should hold together well and not crumble apart.

Shape into 3 inch cakes and chill in refrigerator for about an hour.

Fry in olive oil over high heat - not smoking but hot enough to make the cakes sizzle when added. They take about 4 minutes per side to get golden brown. 

Patti, wearing heat resistant gloves, which is necessary for cast iron on a grill - but literally both gloves we had were for a left hand! 

Seeing how nice these turned out made me think how easy it would be to whip up the ingredients at home and take them to grill on a camping trip.

As they come out of the frying pan you can stack on an oven safe plate and keep warm in oven (about 250 degrees) until ready to serve.

Serve with your favorite sides. Here we show three beautiful salmon cakes with garlic sautéed kale.

Audrey and I showing off the Sockeye Salmon we caught fly fishing on a beautiful August day in Palmer, Alaska. This is the life for sure :)