Nothing screams his-kind-of-food louder than salmon.
Except these salmon cakes are a wee bit different than the bagels and lox he grew up eating. First, there’s beans and corn and although Scott is not a bean fan, they were in the can with the corn so into the salmon cakes they went. He said the beans were fine because they were small. Okay, I’ll go with that.
And rather than breadcrumbs I used Fritos. Definitely not traditional but Scott loved it. I had leftover Fritos after making the Chips and Cheese Chili Casserole and because I never keep breadcrumbs on hand, I figured the corn chips could do double-duty as seasoned breadcrumbs.
And they worked perfectly. If you don’t have Fritos, you could try corn chips or Doritos. Using breadcrumbs would of course work, too, but isn’t as fun. Not to mention, you don’t get to clean out the random end-of-the-bag-of-chips-scraps that linger and clutter your cabinets.
I served these cakes on a bed of “fluffy lettuce” as five year old Skylar calls it, aka alfalfa sprouts. The dipping sauce made with sour cream, lemon juice, and chili powder has a slight kick but overall is cool and creamy and the hot cakes went for a nice cool bath in it.
Let’s make salmon cakes: Place Fritos in a mixing bowl and chop-chop with a wooden spoon. Not worthy of dirtying the food processor. Or use the grab-a-fistful-squeeze-and-crush-into-crumbs method.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, add the salmon, corn and bean medley, season, and stir. Combine the wet salmon mixture with the dry crumbs and stir.
Form five patties or four larger ones. Pan-sear them for a few minutes on each side with butter and moments later your house will reek of fish but that’s okay because your husband will be grateful.
Scott likes his food well-browned and although I prefer things lighter, these were for him so I made sure to make them nice and golden. With salmon cakes (or crab or tuna cakes), a well-done and crisper exterior is a nice contrast to the softer interior. The same could be said for cookies, but I like those on the under-baked side, too.
Scott loved the flavor of these between the Southwestern seasonings layered with corn and corn chips. And he got over the beans. And no, for the record, you cannot taste the Fritos in them. In this application, Fritos are simply well-seasoned breadcrumbs or cornbread-breadcrumbs.
Related Recipes
Chips and Cheese Chili Casserole (vegetarian/vegan, GF) – This recipe is why I had leftover Fritos Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes!
Pan-seared easy fish and seafood recipes: Pan Seared Caribbean Citrus Mahi Mahi with Brown Rice Noodles
Pan Seared Lemon Pepper Grouper with Sweet Dipping Sauce Szechuan Shrimp Stir Fry with Fried Rice
