Salmon Cakes with Mixed Sweet Peppers and a Lemon Dill Creme Fraiche

Want something elegant, easy, delicious, and healthy? Is that too good to be true?

Make a Salmon Cake!

I know what you’re thinking…salmon cakes? Isn’t it only supposed to be crab cakes?

No.

Any delicious fish belongs in crushed cracker meal mixed with a lightly beaten egg. And what’s the best part about this recipe? If you know how to make this cake, you can substitute any seafood you want. You learn one cake, you learn them all–you could probably make ten different renditions of this and still be considered some chef savant.

Make it fancy and add lobster. Go frugal and add tilapia, flounder, or tuna. The possibilities are endless. As long as it’s a fresh and flaky fish, it will work for this recipe. I promise.

This could be placed over a bed of peppery arugula as an appetizer, you can eat it as a meal with soup, or you can make it a sandwich. I think it’s great as a light lunch or a dinner appetizer.

Salmon Cakes with Mixed Sweet Peppers and a Lemon Dill Creme Fraiche Recipe:

Cast of Characters:

1/2 pound fresh salmon
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups small-diced celery (4 stalks)
1/2 cup small-diced red bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1/2 cup small-diced yellow bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay
1 sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers
1/2 cup good mayonnaise (I live Olive Oil based ones)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

Showtime:

1.) Sauté peppers and parsley in olive oil and butter for fifteen minutes. Sprinkle Old Bay, Lea & Perrin’s (Worchestershire sauce), salt, and pepper on vegetables. Remove and let cool after softened.

2.) Meanwhile, roast salmon for 30 minutes at 350 degrees in a toaster oven or regular oven with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Flake with a fork when cooled.  In other words, use the fork to pull the salmon apart in short, upward motions. If you’re feeling lazy, you can also stick the salmon in the microwave for about four minutes (assuming slightly thawed)–it’s being mixed up, so you could very well skip the roasting part. Your choice!

3.) Stick flaked salmon in refrigerator.

4.) Meanwhile, mush up one sleeve (about one cup) of Ritz crackers to a pulsed bread crumb. Lightly beat two eggs into breadcrumbs. Also, put in mayo and Dijon mustard.

5.) When vegetables and salmon are cooled, mix in with aforementioned mixture. Then using an ice cream scooper, round off cakes onto a plate. Chill cakes for at least a half an hour to keep consistency.

6.) After chilling, put olive oil (only a few tablespoons, but be sure the whole pan is coated with oil–do not deep fry) and heat at medium. If desired, grab cakes and round off with hands and flatten. If it feels very soft, it’s okay–they’ll come out moist and will remain together as they cook!

7.) When oil is ready, place cakes in oil.  Flip once after three to four minutes, and drain them on a paper towel. You can use a work to flip them, however, be sure to creep underneath to make sure you’re cooking them only to a nice, golden brown.

8.) Place on a bed of peppery arugula. Stare and admire their beauty.

Lemon Dill Creme Fraiche

For the sauce, mix half a cup of sour cream or Creme Fraiche and two to three tablespoons of fresh dill.  Honestly, it’s okay if you don’t have Creme Fraiche–it’s a less sour, thicker, fattier French version of sour cream. Squeeze a quarter of a lemon, and add two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Salt and pepper to taste.  It tastes a little slightly acidic alone, so make sure as you are tasting it that you are trying it with the salmon cake. Put light dollop onto Salmon Cake. Presentation is key!