Salmon en Papillote

This recipe came from Eric and is a very tasty way to prepare salmon if it is not too thick.

Preheat oven to 425F. 

Wrap the salmon in parchment in a shallow pan, adding the following on top: mint, parsley, tomato, capers, zest of 1 lemon, leek, salt, pepper and evoo.

Cook for 20 min.

Salmon Patties

Blame it on the rare hot weather, the abundance of tomatoes & fresh vegetables or just plain homesickness, but I've been doing more Southern cooking lately.

Tonight will be Salmon Patties as I remember them from my childhood - almost. Actually, I can't stand anything from my childhood without substantial modification. Except tomatoes and peaches.

I used the Whole Foods brand of salmon, but I think any reasonable brand or type would do. I mixed the 2 types because I couldn't decide. There is no significance in this strange behavior.

• 1 14.75 oz can of Pink Salmon with liquid
• 1 7.5 oz can of Red Sockeye Salmon with liquid
• 2 eggs
• 1 box Ak-Mak crackers (20 crackers)
• seasoning to taste - one time I used:
• 1 tsp ground roasted cumin seeds
• a generous grind of black pepper
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• a dash of ground cayenne
• 1 Tbs El Yucatan Chipotle Sauce (smoky, a little hot  & sweet

Crush the crackers as fine as you care to, mix with other ingredients and feel free to experiment. Smash up and mix well to get the lumps out. Use more or less crackers, or add water, milk or other liquid if needed. No salt is needed, the salmon and crackers have enough already.

Shape into patties - I used a 1/3 cup portion per patty. Press in hot skillet to about 1/2 inch thick.

Fry in light oil (peanut, safflower, ...) in medium heat until browned on both sides. This should not be rushed. Give the eggs time to get cooked under not too hot heat.

Mid-Century Potato Salad

We made a salad plate with potato salad, poached salmon, for a mid-century potluck dinner. The recipe came from a 1957 USDA pamphlet Potatoes in Popular Ways. My parents didn't have cookbooks. Maybe people just knew how to cook back then, perhaps we were poor. The ingredients were arranged in typical 1950's style in lettuce cups with lots of parsley for garnish, but the potato salad was not chilled so it didn't mold into nice rounded shapes. It was still good enough that I might try it again. We replaced the canned salmon with the very trendy salmon from a local butcher shop.

Salmon & Potato Salad (1950's style)
1 lb salmon - poached w fennel seeds
Potato Salad (recipe below)
Lettuce cups (this would be iceberg lettuce)
3 tomatoes - sliced
1/2 cucumber, peels & sliced
1 lemon
curly leaf parsley

Arrange 4 molded hemispheres of potato salad on lettuce cups.
Decorate with the other stuff. The fussier, the better.

Potato Salad

4 medium potatoes
2 Tbs finely chopped scallions
1 cup hot dressing (see below)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp finely diced green pepper
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup diced cucumbers

Hard boil 2 eggs. Peel & chop.
Peel, dice and cook potatoes. Drain and add onions.
While the potatoes are still hot, add hot dressing to potatoes and onions and stir gently. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients.
Chill for several hours - or consume warm. - up to you.

Dressing

2 Tbs flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
dash cayenne
1 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten

Prepare dressing:
Mix flour, sugar, mustard & salt in top of double boiler over heat.
Gradually add milk, stirring continuously untill thickened.
Continue to cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
Add a small amount of hot liquid to egg, then add egg into hot liquid.
Cook for another 3 minutes.

I recently made the potato salad for a 4th of July potluck, doubling the recipe, using red, un-peeled potatoes and substituting red bell peppers for green.  It fit nicely in grandma's old brown bowl with a sprinkling of paprika instead of the fussy presentation.