Recipe Salmon Cakes with Garlic Sauce

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I'm surprised I haven't posted this one yet. The only modification to my original recipe was using yogurt in place of mayo for the sauce. I had it on a bun here, but to be honest the bun got in the way of all the flavors packed into the cakes.

Ingredients

1 lb salmon
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dill finely chopped (for salmon cakes)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 ounce green onions, finely chopped
1 egg
4 tablespoons olive oil mayonnaise
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup bell peppers
3 campari tomatoes, cored seeded and diced
1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning (such as Old Bay)
1 cup fat free greek yogurt (for sauce)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (for sauce)
1 tablespoon dill finely chopped (for sauce)
1 medium garlic clove, minced (for sauce)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (for sauce)

Regardless of your thoughts on Weight Watchers, these are absurdly healthy (nutritional info shown for patty + sauce):

Directions

1. Set aside ingredients for sauce to be mixed separately.

2. Mix together salmon, chopped dill, garlic powder, and kosher salt. NOTE: fresh salmon tastes much better, but canned salmon can also be used. Add pepper as desired.

3. Chop bell pepper finely. Beat together egg, yogurt, hot sauce and mustard and blend with ingredients in the bowl.

4. Admire how beautiful all this looks in the bowl, then combine all ingredients (except sauce ingredients) and mix well.

NOTE: The mixture will appear loose, which is how it's supposed to be. Most recipes load up on bread crumbs as a binder, which makes the patties more firm, but also cheats you out of some of the beautiful salmon.

5. Set out sheets of wax paper that are larger than the salmon cakes. Season bread crumbs with a little bit of salt and pepper and place in a shallow bowl. Dust a bit of the wax paper with the bread crumb mixture, then place 1/12 of the salmon mixture on top. Form into patties (I used a ring mold).

NOTE: with a good teflon pan, you shouldn't need to use oil or cooking spray.

6. Heat a pan to medium temperature. Pick up the wax paper along with the salmon patty, then flip over onto the pan, discarding wax paper sheet. Cook for about 3 minutes, then flip over and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until lightly brown.

7. Mix sauce ingredients together thoroughly and top as desired.

 

[CraigC]

If I liked salmon (that wasn't cured or smoked), I would try it.

 

[Morning Glory]

If I liked salmon (that wasn't cured or smoked), I would try it.

I'm the same I like cured but not fresh. I find it 'cloying' and oily. But - I think my daughter and partner would eat them so I could try them. It would be helpful to divide ingredients up so the sauce ingredients are separated - I was a bit unclear about what went into the cakes and what went into the sauce.

I am having trouble believing the calories as calculated as 116 per portion. The recipe has 4 tbs of mayo in it. 4 tbsp mayo = 376 cals.

1lb of salmon has 943 calories. Divided by 8 = 117.8 cals

Another site lists 1lb of salmon as 830 cals. Divided by 8 = 103.75 cals

Taking the lower figure this would allow only 12.25 cals for all the other ingredients.

Or am I misunderstanding?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I am having trouble believing the calories as calculated as 116 per portion. The recipe has 4 tbs of mayo in it. 4 tbsp mayo = 376 cals.

It looks like my website that calculates the nutritional info didn't flag olive oil mayo as an unrecognized ingredient, but also didn't add it to the total. Olive oil mayo is 50 calories a tablespoon, so 200 total divided by 8 = 25 extra calories. So, 141 calories per cake + sauce isn't quite as wispy as 116, but it's still small.

I'm not sure what criteria they use for calculating calories on items they do recognize, however.

 

[Morning Glory]

It looks like my website that calculates the nutritional info didn't flag olive oil mayo as an unrecognized ingredient, but also didn't add it to the total. Olive oil mayo is 50 calories a tablespoon, so 200 total divided by 8 = 25 extra calories. So, 141 calories per cake + sauce isn't quite as wispy as 116, but it's still small.

I'm not sure what criteria they use for calculating calories on items they do recognize, however.

I didn't just mean the mayo. Lets take the mayo out altogether. The raw salmon is 103.5 cals per portion - how can all the other ingredients only equal 12.5 cals per portion?

1 egg = 80 cals (approx) so that is another 10 cals per portion.
Quarter a cup of breadcrumbs = 106 cals (approx) so that is another 13.25 cals per portion
1 cup yoghurt = 133 cals (approx) so that's another 16.6 cals per portion

This all adds up to 143. 35 cals without the mayo. I don't know how they calculate all the other ingredients after the ones I listed - that are all low calorie though. Lets assume 5 extra calories for everything else per portion. So the fishcakes including mayo are probably more like 173 cals - still reasonably low but not as low as the tool you are using suggests.

Sorry to nit pick - the reason I'm doing so is because I'm interested in using a tool like this myself for my website/blog and I'm curious about the accuracy!

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

As I said, I don't know what criteria are used for determining nutritional value on that site. But, I like using it because it gives me a general idea of what I'm making. I'd certainly be happy to find another site that does the job better, even if I have to pay a nominal fee, but I haven't found such a site yet.

 

[Morning Glory]

As I said, I don't know what criteria are used for determining nutritional value on that site. But, I like using it because it gives me a general idea of what I'm making. I'd certainly be happy to find another site that does the job better, even if I have to pay a nominal fee, but I haven't found such a site yet.

Its all a bit tricky really and I've noticed there can be wide differences in the calorie contents quoted for the same amounts of an ingredient on different websites.

Anyway - back to your recipe.! I commend you for coming up with such a complex recipe which is also low calorie and looks good too.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

I put this through the food diary on the diet website I use. Its not perfect, but its a paid-for one with a back-office team who actively curate the food diary so its probably one of the more accurate ones around.

Based on the recipe making 12 servings, I get 134 cals per fishcake + 12 cals per serving of sauce. Which isn't bad really - two of those would make a very nice light lunch


By the way......what is in Old Bay seasoning?

 

[Charys]

Well, I'm going to try this...it sounds absolutely perfect with ingredients for our 'likes'. Thanks for posting, will be back with results. I'm a big fan of homemade 'cakes' of any sort and these sound superb.

Mind, a wee bit confused by 'green onions' and 'campari tomatoes' ?

 

[MrsDangermouse]

Mind, a wee bit confused by 'green onions' and 'campari tomatoes' ?

I think green onions are spring onions.
And looking at pictures on Google, Campari tomatoes look like a kind of cherry tomato.

Can I also add "spicy brown mustard" to the list of clarifications please....I'm guessing its not English mustard (as that is most definitely bright yellow), looking at the photo of everything in the bowl it looks a bit like Dijon (but Dijon isn't really that hot)? Maybe wholegrain would be a good choice here?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I think green onions are spring onions.
And looking at pictures on Google, Campari tomatoes look like a kind of cherry tomato.

Can I also add "spicy brown mustard" to the list of clarifications please....I'm guessing its not English mustard (as that is most definitely bright yellow), looking at the photo of everything in the bowl it looks a bit like Dijon (but Dijon isn't really that hot)? Maybe wholegrain would be a good choice here?

You're right about green onions = spring onions. Campari tomatoes are a bit larger than a cherry tomato, but really any on-the-vine tomato will do.

As for the mustard, here's what I found about the differences between these types:

Dijon mustard seeds are soaked in white wine or a similar liquid; spicy brown mustard seeds are soaked in vinegar.

I'm not sure if adding a dash of vinegar could give you the same sort of flavor. A stone-ground mustard, if you have it, would be closer, and maybe then add a bit more hot sauce to give you the extra little bit of spice (which, really, you won't notice...these aren't even remotely spicy). But, to be honest, I think a dijon mustard would work very nicely here. Having said that, I did find this on amazon.co.uk:

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I put this through the food diary on the diet website I use. Its not perfect, but its a paid-for one with a back-office team who actively curate the food diary so its probably one of the more accurate ones around.

Based on the recipe making 12 servings, I get 134 cals per fishcake + 12 cals per serving of sauce. Which isn't bad really - two of those would make a very nice light lunch


By the way......what is in Old Bay seasoning?

What is the diet website that you use?

By the way, Old Bay Seasoning is this; it's also available on amazon.co.uk:

It's not cheap on the other side of the pond (it's made in Maryland), but you really only need a small amount each time you use it. I consider it essential for seafood preparations: there's something about it that brings out the flavor of the sea without changing the flavor of the seafood. If you have some other seafood seasoning, it would probably also work.

And, as I look at the picture now, I didn't realize it could also be used for poultry! I will definitely incorporate this in my upcoming chicken preparations and see how they play together.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

What is the diet website that you use?

I use weightlossresources.co.uk - its very similar principle to myfitnesspal, but I find it much nicer to use. Some of that is because the food diary is more UK-centric (though there are international members) so its easier to find the right entry. They used to offer a few day's free trial, but I think its now only 24 hours. I think I have some codes somewhere for a 7 day free trial - so if anyone's interested they can PM me.

I don't tend to cook much seafood as hubby doesn't like it so I don't have any seafood-specific seasoning mixes. In fact I think I've stopped buying ready-made seasoning mixes because they always end up languishing at the back of the cupboard and losing all their flavour So I tend to make my own from the same basic ingredients, its a shame the ingredients on the Old Bay seasoning are so vague: celery salt, spices (including red pepper and black pepper) and paprika. The way its written makes it sound like there might be other "spices" in there that aren't listed, but I have all the ones that they do list so I can probably experiment a bit
I think substituting some of the mayo for extra Dijon mustard might work too...we have loads of that as we buy it in huge jars and bring it back from holiday with us.

 

[Charys]

Thanks for clarifications. Okayyyy, so I'm going to have to make quite a few alterations for 'British products'. A wee bit concerned about the Old Bay seasoning, will just use celery salt, paprika I think.....

 

[Morning Glory]

Thanks for clarifications. Okayyyy, so I'm going to have to make quite a few alterations for 'British products'. A wee bit concerned about the Old Bay seasoning, will just use celery salt, paprika I think.....

When are you planning on making the recipe? I've ordered some Old Bay (out of curiosity) arriving today and will happily pop some in the post for you if you PM me a postal address.