Supper: Easy Salmon Cakes with Creamy Dill Sauce + Mushroom Sauté + Baked Potato Chips

For our dinner tonight, I tried this recipe for Easy Salmon Cakes for the first time--

• 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 15 ounces canned salmon, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked salmon
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 3/4 cups fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs, (see Tip)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Creamy Dill Sauce, (recipe follows)
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery; cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in parsley; remove from the heat.
3. Place salmon in a medium bowl. Flake apart with a fork; remove any bones and skin. Add egg and mustard; mix well. Add the onion mixture, breadcrumbs and pepper; mix well. Shape the mixture into 8 patties, about 2 1/2 inches wide.
4. Heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in the pan over medium heat. Add 4 patties and cook until the undersides are golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a wide spatula, turn them over onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining patties.
5. Bake the salmon cakes until golden on top and heated through, 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare Creamy Dill Sauce. Serve salmon cakes with sauce and lemon wedges.

--accompanied by this recipe for Creamy Dill Sauce, as recommended.

• 1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill, or parsley
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, scallions, lemon juice, dill (or parsley) and pepper in a small bowl and mix well.

For the salmon patties, I used canned salmon, regular mustard instead of Dijon, and store-bought non-whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs (I ended up being 1/2 cup short on the breadcrumbs, but it worked out just fine; in fact, it felt like the whole amount might have been too much).  I did not have a fresh onion and I strongly dislike chopping onions anyway, so I used some store-bought dried chopped onion that I keep in the cabinet just for such an occasion.  I'm sure some cooks would turn up their noses at such a tacky thing, and that's just fine if they want to chop a fresh onion for me every time I need one. :)  Also didn't have any lemons, so didn't bother with lemon wedges.

For the dill sauce, I did not use lowfat/nonfat ingredients.  We had regular mayonnaise and actually whole-milk yogurt in the refrigerator, and that's what I used.  I almost told you that I used green onions because I didn't have scallions, but then I wondered and I googled and apparently they are the same thing?  I used dill, not parsley, in the sauce.

Beloved Husband said he didn't care for the sauce; I thought it was delicious.  The recipe did make too much for us anyway, though, and I should have halved it (or quartered, even).  I have a tendency to not actually look at how many servings a recipe makes.  I really should do that!  I stuck the leftover sauce in the refrigerator.

Both adults approved of the salmon patties, and even our 3-year-old son tried one and didn't spit it back out!  (This is a kid who, so far, I haven't been able to convince to try much fish or meat.)  I will have to try this again.

We also had sauteed mushrooms, using a recipe that I copied from a mushroom package label some time past:

Mushroom Sauté

2 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 eight-ounce package sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste


Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sauté garlic 30 seconds, then stir in last 3 ingredients.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sauté until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

(Leftovers? ha! This is a mushroom-loving household!)

Again with the dried, pre-chopped onions.  I also keep a store-bought jar of pre-minced garlic in water, and used that here too.  I didn't have fresh thyme, so I used dried, and honestly, even though I know you're supposed to use less dried than fresh, I went with the whole teaspoon still.  *shrug* I like thyme.  It worked fine, wasn't overpowering.

Finally, I wanted some oven fries.  I got this recipe from this post on RaiseHealthyEaters.com.

Baked Potato Chips

2 unpeeled Russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4-1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon rosemary, oregano, or other dried herbs, if desired
 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Toss potato slices in a bowl with all other ingredients.  Lay slices in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray.  Spray the tops of the potatoes, too.  Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly browned & crispy, flipping them once.

I have tried this recipe multiple times, each time tweaking it a little, trying to find the right way for me.  Today, I wanted to use up some small red potatoes we had in the cabinet (about 6 of them), and instead of slicing thinly, I just quickly cut each one into chunks.  I doubled the other ingredients, and went with both rosemary and oregano today.  Using the same cooking time worked fine; I didn't flip them exactly (so I didn't spray the potatoes with nonstick spray this time), only stirred them around good midway through the cooking time.  They were yummy!