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salmon fish cakes

Thursday, January 27, 2011 by alana

I’m totally that mom these days. I’m the one who sighs when you ask me how I am, and then I say, “busy! crazy! but good!” Then I run, literally run, to my next thing.
Sadie asked me this morning if I have a meeting tonight. “Nope, I’m with you.” I told her. “Yay!” she put her arms up and Rosie joined in too.
But it all comes in waves, and this one just might be breaking. I got my draft into my editor the other night (yay, arms up!) and now I’m taking a few weeks off from that while I wait for final comments. Town business has been, well, let’s just say challenging, and also inspiring me to swear more often, and probably making parts of my brain work that haven’t quite been exercised before. That part of my brain that figures out how to communicate with people I really don’t agree with–it’s getting buff.
And then? There’s the move. Today, I move into my new kitchen.
I know, I know! For lack of a better word, totally awesome.
I’ll introduce you to the new kitchen soon, but I’ll tell you now that it has orange walls. And open shelves. And two sinks. And two ovens. We’re going to make some magic in that kitchen, you and I. It’s going to be (oh, dear, here I go again)…totally awesome.

The other night, I made salmon cakes. I wanted to make something exciting for dinner as a break from all that soup, and I wanted to have something to tell you about, and I also wanted to get over my juvenile and without-grounds prejudice against Jamie Oliver. My step father Chris brought a book of his home for me from the library, and so here, yes, I’m cooking out of Jamie Oliver. I made this beautiful salad with greens topped with old and still-perfect beets from October, and I made salmon fish cakes. Except mid-way through frying, I had to go to… you guessed it, a meeting, and so Joey had to take over, and I burned my hand and my mouth shoving a newly fried fish cake into my mouth as I scraped snow off my car and I left the rest of the family to eat the beautiful dinner while I sat in a tiny conference room perfumed with the essence of my fried salmon that pulsed off my clothes. (Hence, also, no photo of finished fish cakes)
But when I got home hours later, the kids were asleep, and Joey was upstairs, and there was a plate sitting there for me on the table, and it was so lovely–it was art. I dropped my coat on the floor, picked up the fork, and I dined alone, and in bliss.

Salmon Fish Cakes
from Jamie Oliver, Jamie’s Food Revolution

Sea salt and pepper
1 1/4 pounds potatoes
1 pound salmon fillets, skin on, scales and bones removed
olive oil
a small bunch of flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 large egg
2 lemons

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2-inch or so chunks. Rub the salmon fillets all over with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Add the potatoes to the boiling water and bring the water back up to a boil. Put the fish into a large colander that fits over the pot without going into the boiling water. Cover the fish loosely with foil, and place it over the pot to steam it while the potatoes cook. Lower the heat, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the fish is cooked through. Remove the fish from the colander and set it aside. Drain the potatoes in the colander, then return them to the empty pot. Pick the greens off the parsley, and roughly chop them. Mash the potatoes in the pot– you want them to cool quickly. Remove any skin from the fish, and flake the fish into the pot with the mashed potato with 1 tablespoon of flour. Add the egg, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and the zest of the two lemons to the mix. Mash up the whole thing and mix it well.
Lightly dust a plate with flour. Pat the mixture into small patties, dusting them with flour as you go. Depending on the size of the cakes, this recipe will make between 8 and 12 fish cakes. Pop the plate in the fridge for up to an hour (but for me it was 5 minutes, and that was okay)
Put a large frying pan over medium heat and add several glugs of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the fish cakes and fry about 3 minutes on each side, or until they are golden. Cook them in two batches. Serve with wedges of the lemon that you zested.

Filed Under: Bites, Family, Fish, Mains Tagged With: dinner

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I’m Alana, and I write about food, family and the wonderful chaos that ensues when the two combine. If you’re new to the site, here are a few good places to start, or learn more about me on my about page.

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The Homemade Pantry, The Homemade Kitchen, Eating From The Ground Up 🍳

Instagram post 2337331591407595410_13442450 Sending off my taxes today with intention and prayer that they will be used to support programs for the most vulnerable, and that my little contribution will join with others to help move us towards the country I know we can be. #taxmagic ✨
Instagram post 2335726864949371764_13442450 Goodies en route to @north_plain_farm today for pickup! Word about town is that LOTS of moolah was raised for BRIDGE in this little #bakersagainstracism bake sale. Thanks to North Plain Farm and @raisinporpoise for the organizing, to everyone who bought and bid, and most of all to BRIDGE for the essential work they do. (Want to learn more about BRIDGE? Head to the link in my profile.)
Instagram post 2332756427273440195_13442450 So technically you’re not supposed to send food when trying to find an agent, but I did it it. 10 years ago, my granola helped seal that deal, and he insisted I send it to publishers when we were selling The Homemade Pantry (another general publishing no no) That Landed-a woman-with-no-platform-a-book deal Granola is up for grabs in this amazing bake sale, as well as goodies by some of my very favorite bakers (@madeinghent , @raisinporpoise , and @thedooryard to name a few). Oh and maybe my favorite item in there are the magical @susanspungen ginger chocolate cookies I mentioned a few weeks back, made by Sadie herself. All of this is to support the work of @multiculturalbridge , and the order form is up in my bio. Get to it! #bakersagainstracism
Instagram post 2330317921708403058_13442450 My friend @afgoldfarb has been part of a team of people working on this vital project. The link to learn more and help out is in my profile.
Instagram post 2330131706816229761_13442450 I’ll be baking up a storm for this! Local bakers- there’s still room for more! Let @north_plain_farm know that you want IN.
Instagram post 2324845496300301430_13442450 To those who ask here? In Great Barrington? YES. In Great Barrington.
Instagram post 2324091364266290851_13442450 I know there are so many resources out there right now, but I want to share one that’s been really helpful for me in the last several months. There are many seasons of this podcast, but I recommend Season 2 on Whiteness as well is Season 4 on Democracy. #sceneonradio
Instagram post 2322615811734696638_13442450 Black lives matter.
Instagram post 2319329508599466327_13442450 I did not bake these cookies, as I am no longer the cookie baker in this house. But this is the second time that  Sadie has made @susanspungen ‘s Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookies (and also the second time I’ve talked about a recipe Sadie has made from the #openkitchencookbook), and I think these might actually be the best cookies I have ever had. I’m often looking for the perfect ginger cookie and this is it, and I’d also choose it over a chocolate chip cookie (or let’s be honest-any other kind of cookie) any day.
Instagram post 2316311882260313364_13442450 No matter how many rulers and pizza cutters and other magical tools I use, it seems that the straight line will always elude me.
Instagram post 2314127252740427104_13442450 Living it up. 💥
Instagram post 2312088043104000827_13442450 Every day my neighbor’s yard gets prettier.
Instagram post 2311325683330503572_13442450 @paulaperlis sent us @susanspungen ‘s new book and of course the first recipe Sadie picked is marked with the *project* heading. She’s been cooking all afternoon and the house smells like ✨✨✨ (With gorgeous images by @gentlandhyers ❤️)
Instagram post 2311141543964321092_13442450 When I took on a day job a few years ago, I found that the first thing to go was all the homemade stuff I’d been making and writing about over the years. I’m still going out to work most days, but I’m finding now with a full and captive house and more downtime in general that those things I love to make are back. For me, it’s granola, yogurt, bread. Hello, old friends!
Instagram post 2308503311808232748_13442450 All the things in the house pasta: roasted cauliflower, a few sad leaves of kale, one jar of fancy tuna saved for a special occasion (how about Wednesday?), Rosemary, homemade breadcrumbs from the freezer fried in butter, crispy sage leaves, pasta water, salt, so much pepper. Success!
Instagram post 2307412630968777107_13442450 @artbywoodgy made this beautiful thing for me for Mother’s Day. All the veggies are on Velcro so I can plan to my hearts delight.
Instagram post 2306345003953662730_13442450 Happy Mother’s Day to my brave and beautiful mom, who birthed two different humans in such different times in her life. With me she was so young, and she figured it all out just as she was learning how to be an adult. This picture was taken nineteen years later, when she was pregnant again and I was almost an adult myself. Thanks for keeping at it, Mom, and for always showing up with love. ❤️
Instagram post 2304888771283579843_13442450 What we do for cake.
Instagram post 2302665269449083186_13442450 It’s a magnolia year for sure.
Instagram post 2295808104927071821_13442450 A long time ago, Joey talked about his crush on this particular alien-like flower with a good friend of ours. Months later, little bulbs arrived in the mail. We put them in the ground last fall, and now they are everywhere. If that isn’t some kind of magic, I don’t know what is. ✨ (🙏🏻 to @wildflowers1 for the cool vase, too.)
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