Salmon Patties

So, I decided to give "Mad Men" a try and after watching the first couple of episodes I  found myself wanting to make things like cheese stuffed celery, jell-o, pineapple upside down cake and salmon patties. Does this sort of thing happen to anyone else? Probably not.

Anyway, I tried making salmon patties for the first time in my life a few weeks ago and they  were a hit with my family. Even my non-fish-lovers didn't complain. In fact, one of my kids went back when I wasn't looking and sneaked the one I was saving for Specs (who wasn't feeling well and fell asleep before dinner).

I served them with a tossed salad and that was it. It was a great light dinner, perfect for a warm day. They were easy to make too. You can fix them in a hurry which is great if you are like me and have lots of things pulling you a dozen different directions on school nights. 

Here's the recipe I used with the modifications (original recipe here):  

2 eggs, lightly beaten 
1 teaspoon onion powder 
1/4 cup potato pearls (or mashed potato flakes) 
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs 
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dill weed 
1/4 teaspoon pepper 
1/8 teaspoon celery salt 
1 can (14-3/4 ounces) salmon, drained, bones and skin removed 
1 teaspoon olive oil

In a small bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Crumble salmon over mixture and mix well. Using 1/4 of the mixture for each patty, shape into seven patties.

In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook patties in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side or until browned. Yield: 7 servings.

I garnished them with a small dollop of real mayonnaise, lemon juice and a sprinkling of dill.  You could use tartar sauce, cocktail sauce or lemon juice too. Or just eat them plain. They have plenty of good flavor on their own.

Today's Poem:

"The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop
I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled and barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.