Salmon Patties

• 1 can of salmon, drained
• 1T chopped parsley (fresh or dried)
• 2t herbs de provence (or other spices)
• 1t onion powder
• 3T mayonnaise
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper
• oil

Mix everything together.  It’s going to seem a little too wet.  Just let it sit for 15 minutes to thicken up.  I measured these out and dropped into a nonstick skillet using a standard ice cream scoop.  It made 7 patties.  I bought the salmon on sale for under $3 for the can.  That probably made these about 50 cents each.  Yikes!  What a bargain!

Variations on the salmon patties

Now, there’s a ton you could do with this recipe.  I’d keep the salmon and eggs but you could go crazy with the rest.  For a more traditional, crab cake-style recipe you could go with Old Bay instead of the herbs de provence.  If you don’t have Old Bay, it’s mainly celery salt with a few other minor seasonings.  I bet a Jamaican jerk seasoning would also be really tasty in this.

Salmon patty sauces

I served this with a sauce that didn’t really go that well, but was super tasty.  It was kind of like a chipotle mayo but with a more subtle and refined flavor from the use of Spanish smoked paprika instead of chipotle.  It would probably be better with a remoulade or tartar sauce, though. 

Pimenton dip

• 3T mayo
• 2T sour cream
• 2T cream
• 1t Spanish smoked paprika
• 1t onion powder
• salt and pepper

Mix it up and let sit for 30 minutes for flavors to mingle.  Add more or less cream to change the thickness.

You could make this with ground or canned chipotle and it would be really tasty.  Adjusting ratios of mayo, sour cream and cream to suit the purpose.  More or less cream will make it thicker or thinner.  You could actually use water too.  I just used cream because I had it handy.  This would be awesome with some plain potato chips.

Quick Tartar Sauce

• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp sweet pickle relish

This is as easy as it gets. Mix and enjoy.

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Real Nova lox involves curing and then cold smoking filets of wild North Atlantic salmon.  It’s a similar process to making bacon, which is also still raw when finished.  This is vastly different from hot smoking methods that simultaneously cook the food, like for smoked sausage and real barbecue.

The following recipe is my frugal version of Nova lox.  Instead of $20/lb, this barely costs more than $5/lb and maybe even cheaper if you find a good deal on salmon.  I’ve had great luck with farm-raised salmon, which is much less expensive than wild salmon.

Frugal Nova Lox

• 2lbs of raw salmon filet, cut into two pieces of the same size and shape
• 1 cup kosher salt (or sea salt, just don’t use table salt)
• 2t liquid smoke (I prefer the mesquite type but hickory would work too)
• 1t black peppercorns, cracked

Mix the salt, liquid smoke and pepper together.  If the salmon still has the skin, cover just the flesh side of both pieces with the salt.  Stack the pieces together with the skin side out.  For skinless salmon, cover both sides with salt.  Wrap tightly in several layers of plastic wrap.  Place into a gallon freezer zip top bag.  Press all the air out by folding the bag around the fish and then seal tightly.  Put into the refrigerator and let sit for 2-4 days.  When ready to eat, remove from the bag and plastic wrap and soak in cold water for 5 minutes to remove the pepper and rinse off some of the salt.  If it still tastes too salty for you, soak it in water for another 5 min.  Slice thinly at an angle to get the largest slices possible.  This should keep in the refrigerator for at least a week, maybe longer.

Any herbs and spices that go well with salmon would be great in this.  Try adding dill or ground coriander to the salt.  You could also try white pepper instead of black.

My favorite way to eat this is to split a freshly baked bagel (I NEVER toast them) and cover with cream cheese.  Then top with thinly sliced red onion and tomato slices.  Place the salmon on top of this and add capers, if you like.  I can hardly think of a better Sunday brunch food.

You can also scramble the salmon into an omelete or use instead of Canadian bacon in Eggs Benedict.  It’s great as an appetizer on top of crackers or toast points.  You can also mix this into cream cheese for an easy bagel spread or use in a dip for crackers or chips.

Enjoy the wonderful flavor and the fact that for 2lbs of fish you just saved about $30!

Oh yeah, my last batch of lox was so delicious that I decided to make homemade bagels to go with it.  Here’s a photo of the bagels just out of the oven.  I’ll post a recipe for these another day.

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