Canned salmon is an appallingly unappetizing ingredient. Earlier this week I cooked with this ingredient for the first time. Excited to be making a childhood favorite, I cheerfully popped the top off the can. At first glance, I was greeted with a pink round of salmon flesh. But dumped from its aluminum cell, the salmon was as listless and greying as an elderly jailbird. Pink and gray aren’t necessarily bad colors together; I even went through pink and gray phase once -a pink cashmere sweater is cute with gray trousers. And, yes, I realize that salmon is a pink and gray fish. But, staring at the clumps of fish my bowl jolted me into a ponderance of the poor creature who so no ignobly ended up de-salmonized in a column of metal. There was no silvery sleekness left in the fish, only a sad, slighly oily heap of muted pink and gray.
Perhaps salmon croquettes are not the most refined way to repair the ignoble justice levied on the creature who made it into my can. But, they do make quite a fine and easy weeknight meal. I paired mine with steamed spinach and half of a baked sweet potato. (See my photo below.)
Lately, I’ve been into this idea of the easy weeknight meal. Sure, I love to do it up in the kitchen, making fancy cakes for birthdays, going all out for the holidays, etc. But, when January rolls around and I realize that a little too much of Christmas has gone to my midsection, my time in the evenings is suddenly taken over by trips to the gym. (This year, I’ve an even greater incentive - trying to get down a size or two before the Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides in Atlanta.) I need healthy and quick recipes to keep me from dropping too much money at my local Vietnamese noodle place. So, for a while at least, I’ll be exploring the joys of the simple weeknight meal.
Back to the croquettes - I had a secret love of salmon croquettes when I was a kid. Oh, they tasted ok to my little kid palate (especially with some syrup poured on them), but there was an unexpected textural component that I really loved. I had a weird fascination with the little toothsome bits of salmon bone. Sounds gross, I know, but don’t knock them until you’ve had the pleasure of a surprising slight crunch in the middle of your croquette.
The croquettes I made were Cooking Light’s Lemon-Dill Salmon Croquettes with Horseradish Sauce. I’d rate the recipe at 3 out of 5 whisks. Overall, the croquettes made a fine dinner. But, as written, the recipe is imperfect. If you make the recipe, consider the following suggestions. (1) Add dill to the horseradish sauce to up the dill quotient. (2) Think about adding an extra 1/2 tsp of lemon zest to the croquettes. (3) Drain the salmon - it doesn’t say this in the recipe, but otherwise they’d be too liquidy to firm up. (4) Try reduced fat, rather than fat free, sour cream. Also, the croquettes were salty, thanks to the briny canned fish. The sauce cuts the saltiness, but not be enough to make these croquettes really pleasing. I plan on retooling this croquette recipe, perhaps subbing in tuna for the salmon, and quantifying the suggestions I make above. So, if you’re a fan of sauteed croquettes, stay tuned for an updated croquettes post soon!
