Salmon or Seafood Cakes

Crab cakes are wonderful and delicious; problem is that good lump crab meat, even the stuff in a can (not the “crab dust” you get in a tuna-style can) is super expensive, i.e. over $10 for even the smallest usable amount. Salmon and other types of fish fillets, and even other types of shellfish like scallops, are much more reasonably priced.

My trick for making a tasty “crab cake” without the crab is to use salmon, instead. This feat can be accomplished, of course, with canned salmon; I still consider that an upgrade because tuna-style canned salmon tends to be of much better quality than the canned crab sitting on the shelf next to it. But if moderate poverty (and not extreme poverty) is driving you toward a cheaper crab alternative, frozen or fresh salmon fillets work swimmingly. I can imagine that tilapia or other types of fish fillets would work just as well.

When I cooked these the other day, I used what my parents had leftover around the house. There were three individually packaged salmon fillets as well as a handful of bay scallops.

SARAH’S AWESOME SEAFOOD CAKES

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 oz or so of seafood, salmon fillets, tilapia, scallops, etc.
1 small apple, peeled and shredded
1/3-1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumb
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder (I use Badia)
1 teaspoon paprika
(optional) 1/4 cup shredded cheddar
salt and black pepper

Cilantro Sauce

mayo
dijon mustard
lime juice
cilantro, chopped

Lightly grill, bake or pan fry any fish fillets. If you’re feeling ambitious you can marinate the fillets ahead of time in citrus juice and ginger. The fillets don’t necessarily need to be baked through (the cakes themselves will be baked, after all), just enough to be able to fork flake the fillet. Shellfish can simply be thawed. Larger pieces can be chopped up.

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. If the mixture is too wet, add more breadcrumbs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape into cakes and arrange on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake until golden brown. Serve with cilantro sauce.

The New Deviled Egg Craze

Anyone who has known me for a span longer than two years has seen me get on “kicks,” preoccupations of various types that turn into hobbies, habits or regular entries in my repertoire of recipes. My latest cooking craze is deviled eggs.

Salmon Eggs before the pastry bag arrivedIt started a few weeks ago when I was hosting a small cocktail party built primarily around the showcasing of two cheese fondues (another of my culinary kicks). I wanted to feature something else besides just fondue on my hors d’oeuvres menu, but I didn’t want to spend much additional money (since I am generally poor and had already spent my weekly “entertainment budget” on the sum of food and booze). Most easy hors d’oeuvres that came immediately to mind were cheese-based spreads and dips, both of which would be silly accompaniments to fondue. Also, I wanted something finger-food-ish, since the fondue would already require much dipping. Any vegetable-based appetizers I found seemed either too complex for a last minute addition or two expensive (fresh vegetables are not cheap, so even something as simple as crudites was off my list).

At long last I discovered a fairly standard deviled eggs recipe when browsing Food.com. I had never really liked hard-boiled eggs because of the predominance of the egg white; on rare occasions when I do have breakfast eggs, I get them sunny-side up, dip bread in the yolks and leave the cooked whites untouched. But I figured, I didn’t really have to eat them, did I? I was embellishing my menu for the sake of my guests, anyway. I would be happy enough making do with fondue alone, and deviled eggs met my other criteria of being a finger food and being cheap (eggs are under $2 a dozen and I had most of the other ingredients for deviled eggs in my cupboards already)

As with most recipes, however, I’m usually not satisfied just to make the “standard” recipe, especially when a classic food seems ripe for experimentation. I delved further into the online recipe archives before finding two varieties of deviled eggs that seemed promising. The first was a recipe for seafood eggs that gave me a starting place, but ended up largely altered from the original.

Snapware Stackable Egg ContainerSARAH’S SEAFOOD DEVILED EGGS

12 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 can crabmeat or salmon, drained and flaked
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives or green onion
paprika, for sprinkling

Cut eggs in half legnth-wise and scoop out the yolks. In a small bowl or container (I use 3 cup measuring cup), combine yolks, mayo, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, Old Bay, fish and chives. I like to use electric egg beaters because they combine the yolk mixture easily and thoroughly without pulverizing the texture of the fish or eliminating the color flecks of the chives like a food processor or immersion blender would. Once the yolk mixture is combined, spoon the mixture into the yolk halves and chill for at least two hours before serving.

I have made the above recipe twice now, once with crabmeat and once with salmon, and it turned out delicious each time. What I especially like about this recipe is the fact that it produces enough filling really to load up the egg. Since the egg white is my least favorite part (I regard it as something of a protein-rich cracker, i.e. merely a means of yummy yolk delivery), the more of it heaped with filling, the better.

Mango Curry Eggs from the pastry bagThe second deviled egg recipe I tried was the biggest hit with my guests that night, and I cannot deny that it was mighty tasty. This recipe was also a bit altered from the original to suit my aesthetics.

SARAH’S MANGO CURRY DEVILED EGGS

6 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mango chutney
1 tablespoon green onions or chives, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Cut eggs in half length-wise and scoop out the yolks. In a small bowl or container, combine yolks, mayo, mango chutney, green onions, lemon juice, and spices. Once the yolk mixture is combined, spoon the mixture into the yolk halves and chill for at least two hours before serving.

As I found myself having increasing success with deviled egg recipes, and thus found myself making the recipes more frequently, two points of interest arose. The first was logistical. Shelled hard-boiled eggs are slippery characters, and in my first attempts to transport deviled eggs (even just from the refrigerator to the table, but also in the car to other locales) I discovered how easily the finished deviled egg will tip, depositing filling on its neighbor or on the bottom or sides of its container.

Pastry BagThe logical recourse was, of course, to find a plate or container specifically designed for the purpose of corralling deviled eggs. Seems like a simple enough endeavor, but it turns out that finding a deviled egg tray to suit all my needs was a taller order than I imagined. First of all, most of the trays I found were serving plates… all well and good for the table, but without a lid they did me no good (the deviled egg filling will get dry if stored uncovered in the refrigerator). Most of the containers with deviled egg trays and lids were either too cheap (i.e. cheaply made with a dozen bad reviews on Amazon) or too expensive ($40, really? For a plastic deviled egg tray?)

After much investigation I stumbled upon the Snapware Egg-tainer. Not only is it a stackable tupperware-style container designed for deviled egg transportation and storage, but the indented egg trays are plain white and removable so to be attractive for serving on a table that’s a bit classier than a tupperware spread. Unfortunately Amazon failed me on this one. While I did find it on Amazon, it was only offered by third party sellers, and thus saddled with sizable shipping costs. After some further research I found that it was available in-store at my local Bed, Bath and Beyond for $8.99 (two stacked trays for 12 eggs each). So far I’m getting a lot of use out of my trays, and thinking I may have to get another set sometime soon.

Eggs from the pastry bagThe second point of interest as I delved further into deviled egg cookery was aesthetic, namely that most pictures of deviled eggs in cookbooks feature yolks that have been squeezed out through the starred tip of a pastry bag. To give my eggs a professional appearance, I decided to invest in a pastry bag and tip set. My pastry bag research left me a bit confused as to whether I would need a large or small bag, and whether I would need a coupler attachment. In the end I decided on the Ateco Extra Wide Pastry Decorating Tip Set plus a Large Tip Coupler. Unfortunately the tip coupler did not come with instructions on how to install it on the pastry bag, so I decided to try the bag once without it. The tip was difficult to keep in place, so the next time around I decided to use the coupler. To the best of my assessment the only way to install the coupler would be to cut off a small part of the bag; I did and it seems to hold in place well enough (though I do have to remove the coupler for cleaning). The pastry bag allowed me easily to make stylish deviled eggs, but the unfortunate part of the bag is that it’s difficult to get all the filling out in the end. With my curried egg recipe that doesn’t have much extra bulk, this means that I’m scrambling for filling by the time I get to the last eggs. It’s worth making the more attractive, though.

Check back soon as my adventures in deviled eggs continue.

Adventures in Sushi

One culinary challenge that has long seemed overly daunting to me is the making of sushi. There just seemed to be so many things to contemplate and figure out that I had, up until now, simply decided that sushi would be perpetually worth the price of paying other people to make it for me. But as sushi cravings have hit me with increasing frequency, I resolved (as recently detailed in another article) to attempt making sushi myself.

I started by ordering some books from the library and checking out various sushi making kits on Amazon to see what all they entailed. With some further research on the internet, I was ready to get started. A visit to the Giant Eagle proved that the required implements would be easy, if not super cheap (I suspect an Asian grocery in the Strip would be an improvement in that regard), to come by. I already had some wasabi powder and pickled ginger on hand. Nori at Giant Eagle is $2.99 for 10 sheets; while it can be obtained cheaper in bulk online, this was a reasonable start-up cost considering the convenience. Sushi rice was actually cheaper than what I’d found online, though rice vinegar was a little steep for my liking. Bamboo sushi mats are actually quite a deal at the Giant Eagle at under $2, since most of those I found online rang in at $5 to $6.

My First Sushi PlateAccording to my research, the first major hurdle of sushi making is the recipe for sushi rice. As I’ve gathered, there are many ritualistic methods surrounding the making of sushi rice. Apparently, the important ingredient is rice vinegar (so that’s why they call it rice vinegar), though it must be prepared in a dressing with sugar and salt to temper it. I picked up some rice vinegar that already had sugar and salt in it (I presume for precisely this reason), but I also saw in one of my sushi cookbooks that some recipes called for plain white rice, and so wondered whether the rice vinegar would really make that much of a difference. In the interest of making a simplified first attempt, I decided to forego the vinegar and just concentrate on the rice, since it seemed like a big enough to do in itself!

Many of the recipes I found for sushi rice included elaborate and detailed preparations. Several called for the rice to be rinsed many times to release all excess starch, rinsing devotedly until the water runs clear. Thereafter the rice must then be soaked in water for a prescribed period of time before it is then cooked in a precise rice to water ratio (recipes differ in precisely what that ratio is). Many recipes recommend that the rice be cooked uncovered for a period of time, and then covered on low or no flame for the remaining time. After that the rice must be transferred carefully to a non-metal bowl so not to break the grains and then spread carefully with non-metal utensils.

Spicy Salmon Salad RollI decided it was all a little too elaborate for my purposes. I did listen to the advice that one ought to use proper sushi rice (medium or short grain), and not ordinary long-grain rice, but otherwise, I decided to make up my own rules. After all, I’m from the “put all ingredients in food processor and puree” school of making curry sauce. I decided that I would combine the first two steps by soaking the rice in water for about 30 minutes and then drained the water and considered it rinsed. I then used one and a half times the amount of water as I had rice to cook. I simmered it covered on a low fire while I did other things around the kitchen and turned it off when the water had been nearly absorbed. By the time I had finished up my kitchen chores and sushi ingredients preparation, the rice looked about like cooked rice should. I spooned the rice directly out of my stainless steel cooking pan and onto my nori, and it seemed to work out just time.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m staying away from raw fish until I read up on it more and until I get the hang of making vegetable and cooked fish rolls. One recipe I found online suggested making spicy mayo (i.e. mayo plus sriracha sauce), which is used to make “Spicy” rolls of whatever type, and putting in on tuna from a can to practice. I decided to upgrade a notch in fish and so got canned salmon instead. I used this spicy salmon salad in my first attempt, which was an inside out roll.

The inside out roll is probably more commonly seen at sushi restaurants and delis than the “right side in” roll. It’s the one where the rice is on the outside of the nori. It involves simply spreading the nori with rice, as one would do otherwise, and then flipping it, so that the ingredients are put directly onto the nori and the sushi is rolled with the rice side down, thus ending up with rice on the outside. My rolls looked a little small, so I imagined I went a little light on the rice, but otherwise appeared relatively successful.

Right Side In RollI continued on to make a more traditional roll. Again, I spread the nori (non-shiny side) with rice, added the dregs of the salmon salad and some avocado slices directly onto the rice, then rolled it up. By this time I realized that I wasn’t so much using the bamboo mat to roll the sushi, but rather the plastic freezer bag on top of it. Many sushi-making guides I read recommended covering the bamboo mat in plastic wrap before using it; I was out of plastic wrap so I used a freezer bag instead. Turns out, I found the freezer bag easier to manipulate than the bamboo. I guess all I needed was a freezer bag all along… but I suppose it gives me better street cred to have the bamboo mat underneath it as I roll.

Finally, I found myself out of rice, but with avocado leftover. Apparently one of the most difficult things about making sushi is matching the amount of filler ingredients you prepare with the amount of rice you prepare. I had made my rolls in the morning, so I spent the day considering what else I could do with the remaining half an avocado without having to make a new batch of rice. I researched substitutes for sushi rice, or recipes for no-rice sushi. It would be useful to find a good substitution, not only because I happened to be out of rice at the time, but for making sushi compliant with a low-carb diet (as I often cook for low-carbers).

My research yielded little of interest in terms of low-carb sushi recipes, but after researching sushi rolls in general, I came up with a viable idea. I found many sushi roll recipes containing avocado, crab stick and cream cheese. Such cream cheese is generally cut in strips from a block so that it can fit lengthwise into the center of a roll. I wondered what would happen if I used a spreadable cream cheese in lieu of rice as the sticky medium to keep the roll together. I stopped at the store on my way home and picked up the crab sticks and a tub of whipped cream cheese.

Low Carb RollAfter spreading the cheese on a sheet of nori, I added the avocado and crab stick. I attempted to make a small roll, but it looked like it might end up being rather insubstantial, so I unrolled my nori and set more crab stick and avocado along the entire sheet leaving about an inch free at the end. I then rolled my nori pin-wheel style until the whole sheet of ingredients was wrapped all the way around itself a couple times to the end. I chilled it while I finished dinner preparations and while I sliced and prepared the chilled rolls from earlier in the day.

As it turned out, the low-carb roll was one of my favorites of these first experiments. The other rolls turned out to be quite pleasing. The rice did taste slightly unlike the rice I’m used to in store-bought sushi (probably due to the omission of the vinegar), but after being soaked in soy sauce and wasabi, I barely knew the difference.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my first attempt. Despite the lack of vinegar, raw fish and copious rice cooking rituals, I came up with three rolls that scratched the itch of my sushi craving. Maybe next time I’ll venture to try the vinegar. Watch out for more Adventures in Sushi.