Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

One of my reasons for avoiding canned salmon in my sandwiches is that by the time lunch comes around, the "juice" has soaked through my bread. Ew.  

When I was younger I used to make for myself salmon patties all the time. I don't know why, but I had fallen out of the habit. I decided to reclaim that favored dish. 

The fun thing about salmon patties that you can really just add what you want. There are no rules, no official recipe needed. 

I put up in an olive-oiled frying pan some finely diced onions, and let that go a bit. Then I added finely chopped mushrooms (I've used both fresh and canned) and celery. I let the whole bunch saute until it became as small and shriveled as possible. This step isn't necessary; a ground raw onion will do the same. But I wanted to make things interesting. 

While that was cooking, I chucked two cans of salmon into a bowl along with a can of "blah" tuna that needed to be used up. I went seasonings crazy: a squirt of mustard (the regular yellow stuff is healthier than the Dijon), garlic powder (a fresh clove, smashed and diced, could be used as well), black pepper, parsley, dill, and a spoonful of mayo. 

For binding materials: bread or breadcrumbs. Usually I would use a piece of soaked stale bread, but since I didn't have any leftover challah I used Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal and Quaker Oat Bran.

I had completely miscalculated this for my first batch which fell apart, since a healthy amount of bread-ish substance is needed to absorb excess liquids. I have found 1/4 cup of cornmeal and 1/4 cup of oat bran did quite well (or 1/2 cup of either alone).

If more bind-age is needed, chuck in an egg. But I have found the bread or crumbs or meal to be enough.

I mixed into the fish mixture the onions, mushrooms, and celery from the pan. Warmed the pan up again, and not much oil is needed; just enough to coat the bottom. Fry those babies up for a few minutes on each side.

As I mentioned, my first batch didn't have enough breading agent so they oozed apart. I chucked it into my sandwich the next day; it didn't need to be pretty to be fabulously tasty. The last ones came out beautifully shaped.

If one would prefer more official recipes, just google "salmon patties"; a whole bunch of tasty options pop up. These are not only a great lunch, but perfect for dinners as well with some potatoes or pasta (whole-wheat, of course) on the side.