I had my cousins over for dinner the other night and I made Roasted Sockeye Salmon with garlic and citrus (lemon, orange and lime) and topped it with sliced jalapenos.
I made buttermilk mashed potatoes on the side with a corn and zucchini saute.
It was good.
Like, REALLY good.
But that's not why we're here.
I had plenty of leftover mashed potatoes, but not a huge amount of salmon.
Which isn't necessarily a problem, right?
I mean let's face it,
I could eat mashed potatoes all day long, but ...
Hips, thighs and ass will agree that is NOT the best way to keep your girlish figure.
Anyway,... me being me I knew throwing away the extra mashed potatoes wasn't an option, and aside from serving it to my kids for the next week straight,
I had to come up with something to transform them.
That's when I decided to combine the two ingredients, salmon and mashed potatoes, and add a few extra ingredients and turn them into something glorious.
Like saaaayyyyyyyy....
Potato Salmon Cakes.
Glorious, right?
Can you hear the harps and violins playing in the background when you look at the golden, delicious crust of these babies?
No? You can't?
Get your ears checked then, because the heavens are playing a wonderful little ditty at the mere sight of this dish.
The kind of ditty where your hair should be blowing in the wind like you're in a rap video.
It's that good.
There's nothing like turning one dish into a completely different one.
I mean, for a weirdo like me, anyway.
I love the accomplished feeling of using up all the leftover ingredients from the night before and turning it into something that looks nothing like it did the day prior.
I also made a zucchini, mushroom and tomato orzo to go alongside it.
I simply sauteed about a pound of diced mushrooms, 2 medium zucchini, 1 large onion and about 4 minced garlic cloves in 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil.
I mixed that around until the mushrooms gave off their juices.
Don't forget to season it with salt and pepper.
Then I added about 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste and stirred that in.
I added about 1/2 cup of the pasta water (from the orzo that I had cooked and drained on the side) to thin out the tomato paste then added 1 lb. cooked orzo to the mix.
I chopped up a couple of fresh tomatoes that I had that were kind of soft and thew them in as well.
I (heavily) grated some fresh parmigiano reggiano and stirred that in at the end.
Then,
VOILA!
Topped it with some freshly grated parm and freshly chopped parsley and it was a sight to make your eyes pop out yo head.
It made a ton and the kids loved it.
It's a one stop shop for the kids, too.
Carbs and veggies in one bowl.
So try this combo the next time you have some leftover fish and potato.
You will be considered a rock star in the kitchen when whoever you're cooking this for gets a taste of this.
Now, for the Potato Salmon Cake recipe...
POTATO SALMON CAKES
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup leftover salmon, flaked
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, chopped
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
a few dashes hot sauce
**no quoting on precise measurements! I cook with love, not with recipes or measurements.
I'm totally a 'little bit of this, little bit of that' type of cook. So please take these as almost perfect, but not quite measurements. Cuz really, nobody but the Big Guy upstairs is perfect after all, right?! ;)
Mix all the ingredients together and form into patties.
Coat the patties into a bowl of panko breadcrumbs and place in a heated skillet with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
Brown the patties for about 3 minutes on medium high heat and flip with a spatula.
Sear the other side and take them out and place into a warm oven until you've finish frying up all the 'cakes'.
Squeeze some fresh lemon on top and enjoy.
Believe me, the fresh lemon is KEY to the deliciousness of this salmon cake!
Enjoy.
Très creative, darling!
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