Salmon Cakelets

For my niece Anna as she steps into fish world!

This is a riff on a Jamie Oliver recipe. I will start by saying that. There are some changes, however, so do not call out the plagiarism police on me! After all, as Coco Chanel said, “imitation is the highest form of flattery”. The idea came about because we were having a family nibble night for a myriad of celebrations. College graduation, impending birthday, upcoming family reunion for July 4th. There were a lot of tastes involved and we all contributed something in some way. My niece, Anna, is beginning to try seafood after years as a vegetarian. So I thought of a recipe that I had seen on the Jamie Oliver channel and thought I could downsize the cakes (hence cakelets). I gave her a list of ingredients and she loved them all so we decided to make them together. From start to finish. Including tasting for taste. It was great fun. I give you Salmon Cakelets.

For this recipe, I used 2 pounds of Atlantic salmon which I skinned. If you are not comfortable skinning the fish, ask your fish purveyor to do it for you. It is quite easy and the skin makes fabulous cracklings. Different recipe….. Also needed were 2 stalks of lemon grass (use lemon rind or lime rind if you cannot find lemon grass and taste for flavor), about a 1-1/2 inch piece of peeled ginger, a bunch of cilantro, and chili oil. I make my own chili oil so I used that, but included a picture of what you need should you make this. Cooking time is enough time to fry the cakes, but allow about 1/2 hour before cooking for resting in fridge.

First, peel the salmon skin and chop into 1/4 inch pieces. Flatten the lemon grass and remove the outer hard bits. Chop as finely as possible. Do the same with the ginger and the cilantro, using leaves and stalks.

I have combined the lemon grass and ginger in a bowl. I separated out the cilantro because not everyone is a fan so I made half with and half without to please everyone.

Now take 1/2 of the cubed salmon and cut down to almost a paste. You can do this in a food processor, but why take out a piece of equipment when a knife works just as well and is easier to clean! Besides, great stress reliever….. Add the lemon grass/ginger mix as you chop. You will. have this:

Add the remaining salmon chunks to this minced down product and continue to chop all together keeping the bigger chunks bigger than the minced bits but making a somewhat homogenous mix.

Quite frankly, I took this photo and chopped a bit further because Anna thought the cakelets were not holding together. She was right. If you make larger cakes it is a bit easier for the finished product to set. You will notice that there is cilantro in this photo. I split out the with and without prior to taking this pix, but if you are not splitting, just mix it all in when you add the ginger and lemon grass (or grated lemon rind or lime rind). Add salt. I think next time I will use soy sauce for this. It will give a better flavor. At this point, if you are a sushi eater, you can taste for seasoning (as I did which is when I realized it needed more salt). If you rather have it cooked, make a small patty to taste.

For patties (cakelets). Form a 1 1/2-2 inch ball and press to form a chunky pancake like thing. Make all the patties at once and then refrigerate for about 1/2 hour.

The best way to cook is to use a non-stick skillet but one was not available so I used cooking spray. Heat the skillet and then spray. Hot Pan Cold Oil. Good trick to remember to keep things from sticking. Learned that at a Chinese cooking class. (the actual quote is hot wok cold oil…).

When you have prepped your pan, add the cakes and cook. Flip when you see the sides of the cakes turning white. If you have prepped the pan or if you are using a non-stick skillet, this will be quite easy. Cook the other side and then put aside. Remember, the salmon will cook after it is taken off the pan. Don’t overcook or the cakelets will be dry. Top with some of the chili oil, crisp, or spice of your choice. You will have this.

This recipe made 24 cakelets. Needless to say, if you want them larger to put on a salad or into a bun, have at it! BTW, none left. Even the 4 year old took some. But Anna? she love making them, chimed in on what was working in shape and taste, loved the finished flavor and hopefully she will make them on her own.

For everyone else? 🙂

SAY WHAT?

Retro to present day.

I was going to sub out the main product of this nibble until I saw my most recent issue of Food and Wine where they showcased, wait for it, SPAM. Yup. Sizzle, Pork and MMMM. So I figured if it is good enough for Food and Wine, it is good enough for Nibbles and Bits. If SPAM isn’t your thing, I will have a few subs at the end of the post.

As funny aside, we had a LUAU party at my condo here in Florida and we purchased a case of SPAM to use as centerpieces along with pineapples and palm fronds. We told the guests that the pineapples and SPAM were party favors to anyone who wanted to take them. Guests were fighting over the SPAM. Pineapples went unloved. Go figure.

In Hawaii, where for some reason post WW11 the product became a staple of the diet, SPAM is treated with far more respect than it is here on the mainland. In fact, there is a dish, Musubi, where SPAM is the principal ingredient. And that is what I have for you here today. Here are your basic ingredients. Count ’em, 2.

That’s it. And that 90 second rice can be replaced by more traditional 20 minute rice, but it works really well in this little nibble. Cook the rice according to package directions. Decan SPAM and slice. Brown, or as the commercial says, sizzle until your desired crispness.

Mold the rice using whatever you have as a mold. I actually have a musubi mold because I am a kitchen toy junkie, one can be purchased on Amazon or at an Asian market for very little and can be used for dishes other than musubi when you want to mold something. Your finished dish will look like this.

I served it for breakfast with some fresh mango. In Hawaii, they wrap it with nori but I plated it just like this. If you like SPAM, it was delicious, but if you don’t, here are some options. Thick mortadella sliced across the diameter and browned and placed atop rice. If meat is not in your diet, you can use a thickly sliced king oyster mushroom or portabella mushroom browned the same way and placed on the rice. If you use the mushrooms or the mortadella, you can top that with a bit of balsamic vinegar that has been boiled down to a syrup. Don’t like mango? Use pineapple. Or thinly sliced apple. Think of what goes with pork and use that with the SPAM or any of the other subs. And there you have. Like the song says, everything old is new again. Enjoy!

Phun with Phyllo

It’s not just for triangles any more.

So my building is having a Lunar New Year Party. I decided to make pork buns and had planned on making the dough for the buns. But recently, I have rediscovered the joy of Phyllo (or Filo) pastry and all the fun things that can be done with it with a bit of planning and butter. For example, I made little buns for Thanksgiving stuffed with stuffing and cranberry sauce. A big hit. Can be made in advance and frozen. Goes from freezer to oven. Ticks all the do ahead boxes and then some. As an aside, they were pretty delicious. Ergo, in trying to simplify my pork buns and get as much done ahead as possible, I started racking my brain for alternative ideas and came up with a concept using phyllo. This gave me multiple options, buns, squares, triangles (sooooo yesterday), and what I finally set out with, spring rolls. And what is a Lunar New Year Party without something spring roll-y or egg roll-y. Same filling, easier to put together and fun to make.

Before we get into the process a few words about phyllo. It is a bit tricky to work with until you get accustomed to it. After that it is very easy to use. The key is that the dough needs to be covered as you work pull the sheets off. I dampen a paper towel and lay it over the remaining sheets as I work. You can use a damp towel, whatever is most comfortable for you. Also, if you are going to work with layers (2 or more sheets) it is really helpful to butter or oil the the sheets as you stack, especially around the edges. If something tears, do not worry. The oiled sheets will stick together and you will not notice the tear. OK. with the recipe.

I used a filling from thewoksoflife.com for mini pork buns. But you can use whatever savory or sweet filling you want. As this was for a Lunar New Year Party, my filling had more of an Asian savory bent. Below are the items I used for the pastry. I melted a stick of butter and added a tablespoon of sesame oil to flavor. You can add a seasoning to the butter omit. I liked the idea of sesame oil as it was also in the mix for the preparation of the pork. I made my little rolls with two layers of dough. See below. The filling had already been cooked and cooled.

You can see the various stages including the final product, the little roll. I made 80 of these little rolls and froze them. I did make one to show you what will be served. I brought one directly from the freezer, preheated the oven to 400F and sprayed the top of the pastry with avocado oil. You can use butter, oil or nothing, but the oil does help in the browning. I cooked for 10 minutes. I would have liked them a bit more brown and crispy, so next time I will add time. After the cooking process, I brushed a bit of sugar water over the top and sprinkled some black sesame seeds. As an aside, the sugar water is made by dissolving sugar into warm water. That’s it.

These are tasty little morsels. Great for a party. The rolling process may be a bit tedious, but I found it a very zen thing. If rolling isn’t your think, ask friends to help and provide wine. The rolling will go much faster! Gang Shi Fat Choi!! Year of the Snake!