Spring Salmon Burgers Made with Canned Salmon

I loooove salmon burgers but pre-cooking a fillet and using that to make burgers -- or mincing up raw fish - is too much to ask of me on a weeknight. So, this recipe uses canned salmon instead. If you make them I think you’ll be amazed at how fancy a simple can of salmon can become with just a few extra ingredients!

Mix in fresh herbs for a burst of flavor: these burgers use parsley and fresh baby dill, which gives each bite a pop or flavor. Onion, garlic and cayenne help too!

Use something that will give the burgers a crispy crust. You can use almond flour or bread crumbs, but my favorite is cornmeal. It toasts up on the edges, giving the burgers a nice crispy finish. Plus, I pretty much always have a quarter cup of cornmeal laying around.

Keep it all together: Because this recipe uses canned salmon, you need something to glue everything together. For this recipe, you need to add an egg into the mix. If you were using raw salmon, you might be able to skip this, but here you need it.

Stir, but not too much: This is more of a personal preference. I mash the mixture with a fork, but only just enough to get the egg, cornmeal, and herbs mixed in. I try to leave some of the salmon in small chunks because it gives the final burgers a flakey texture. If you mash the fish too much, the burgers will still taste fine, they’ll just be lacking some flakiness.

Serve with a creamy, tart sauce. These are served with a lemon-yogurt and dill sauce, which brightens up the dish and compliments the herbs in the burger. Tradition tartar sauce would work too.

In these pictures, I served the burgers over baby greens with radishes and sprouts, but they'd also be fantastic over Green Machine Slaw, or Roasted Asparagus and Raw Radish Salad. Plus, a glass of rosé, which really made my canned salmon meal feel extra fancy 😉

Spring Salmon Burgers Made with Canned Salmon

Published April 17, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 3   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the Salmon Burgers:
• 1 six ounce can of salmon, juices drained
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cornmeal or almond meal
• 1 tablespoon minced parsley
• 1 teaspoon minced dill or 1/4 teaspoon dried dill 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

For the Yougurt Sauce:
• 3 tablespoons greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh dill, minced, OR 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/16 teaspoon each salt & ground cayenne

Directions:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine salmon, egg, cornmeal, parsley, dill, salt, cayenne, and minced garlic & onion. Using a fork, mash just enough to incorporate the ingredients, leaving the fish flakey still.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. When the oil glistens, shape salmon mixture into three equally-sized patties, about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick, and place in skillet. Cook on the first side for about 7 minutes, then, use a spatula to flip to second side. Outside should be crispy and golden.
3. While the salmon burgers cook, make the yogurt sauce: combine ingredients in small bowl and stir until smooth.
4. Serve salmon burgers as desired — on buns, over greens, etc - with a smear of yogurt sauce on top, and extra dill or cayenne if desired.

Coconut Crusted Mahi-Mahi with Cara Cara Orange Salsa

There are days I plan dinner from the moment I wake up. The way the ingredients will feel as I chop them, the way they all come together, and the way they'll taste when finally on my fork. And then there are the days when I have no plan at all. On our drive home Oliver asks, "What’s for dinner?" and it catches me by surprise as if I didn’t know dinner was happening that day. I find this happens the most when I’m busy, the days I have the least time to day dream about recipes.

These are always the days I can’t fit a grocery run in. Instead, I focus on one ingredient that I know we have. In this case, it was frozen mahi-mahi fillets. Then, with mahi-mahi as the muse, I brainstorm recipes. Fish tacos? But we don’t have tortillas. Or salsa. Or cheese. Fish curry? When was the last time I bought coconut milk? Coconut. I have coconut, I thought as I remembered the pink bag of coconut buried with other baking supplies in the pantry.

This is how the pieces fall together. Sometimes it’s a disaster. Other times it’s happy coincidence, like it was meant to be. Like it had been planned. That’s how I first discovered this meal. A win; happy coincidence. I have since made this quite a few times—even planned on making it several times after the one happy coincidence.

The toasted coconut on the outside gives the flaky fish a crispy finish, and while you could probably use whatever fruit salsa you want, the citrus from the cara cara oranges cuts through the fish and coconut, balancing out the dish. Avocado brings it all together (like avocado so often does).

The other wonderful thing about mahi-mahi is that it cooks quite fast — just 10-12 minutes in the oven. And while the oven is doing it’s thing, you can be prepping the salsa. SO while this dinner has an “ooh, wow, pretty” effect on the eyes it’s really not going to take you much time to through together.

Coconut Crusted Mahi-Mahi with Cara Cara Orange Salsa

Published March 20, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 4 four-ounce fillets mahi-mahi (if frozen, thaw first)
• 1/2 cup gluten-free flour (try cassava flour, or cup-for-cup gluten-free flour mix)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup desiccated shredded coconut
• 1 egg

For the salsa:
• 2 cara cara oranges
• 1 avocado
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, minced

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat. (affiliate link!). Set pan aside.
2. Place three bowls on the counter. In the first, whisk flour and salt. In the second, whisk egg until yellow and frothy. In the last, place the coconut.
3. Coat one fish fillet at a time: first, dip it in the flour, coating all sides. Shake off access. Now, place the fillet in the egg, coating each side in egg and then letting excess drip off. Finally, place the fish in the coconut, flipping it over to coat each side. Now, place fillet on prepared baking sheet.
4. Repeat step three until each fillet is coated. Then, bake fish for 10-12 minutes, until it is flakey and opaque (check thickest fillet with a fork).
5. While the fish cooks, prep the salsa: segment oranges (here is a good way to do that). Dice segmented oranges, and place in small mixing bowl. Dice the avocado, and add it to the bowl along with the minced jalapeño and cilantro, and the lime juice. Stir.
6. To serve: place fish on serving plates (I served over a bed of arugula, for more greens) and spoon salsa over top.

Salmon & Mango Poke Bowl

This is my new favorite thing: poke bowls. Which I know is super "trendy" of me, but have you tried them?! Finding sushi-grade fish around these parts was a feat, so perhaps they also taste a bit like a well-deserved victory to me.

I called three grocery stores, none of which said they had sushi grade fish. I went to two, one were the lady said I "could" use the tuna, but the look on her face told me not to. Another where the only sushi-grade fish they had came in an vacuum-sealed, freezer package of small (too small) fillets. 

Finally we visited the Pacific Ocean Market, which is in the next town over. The woman on the phone said they had tuna and salmon for sushi, which was promising. All faith we had in the Pacific Ocean Market dropped to rock-bottom when we actually got there though, and the un-filleted fish were unlabeled, and the guy behind the counter only spoke Chinese. He made a motion, showing us to just point at what we want. How were we (two people that have never been into fishing or lived by the sea) supposed to know what was what? Let alone which was ok for sushi? (I have since learned that none of those would've been ok for sushi, so I'm glad we didn't just point at something random).  

Another customer saw we were struggling, and tried to help (she spoke Chinese). But we were pointed over to a freezer case where some mystery white fish was wrapped up in cellophane and was probably best suited for a fish fry. 

We went to the front counter and found two ladies, who between themselves could piece together some English, but they spoke Vietnamese, not Chinese, so couldn't help with the fish situation. Finally, someone found the store manager--the lady we had originally talked to on the phone- who directed us to the right deep-freeze case of fish. (Sushi fish, in a place like Colorado where it has to be shipped and stored, should be frozen to a certain temperature and for a certain amount of time in order to kill off any parasites). 

We rustled through the unorganized case: Eel, Tuna, Shrimp, Halibut. Our confidence in the quality of the fish had dropped to rock bottom when we had been pointed to the fry-fish. 

In the end I went back to store number two, and bought several tiny packages of salmon in vacuum-sealed plastics, and a box labeled "Sushi and Sashimi." At least I could read it. 

Night one we ate sushi, but when we had one packet left the next day I jumped on the poke train. AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT! Can we all just go to Hawaii now? 🙋🏻✈️

(I spent the first week calling this "poa-kee," which confused everyone. Oliver started calling it "pokemon" just to make fun of me, and finally I looked up the pronunciation: "poa-kay"). So take note and avoid looking like a fool like me! 😉

Salmon & Mango Poke Bowl

Published September 5, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 6 ounces sushi grade salmon
• 2 cups mixed greens 
• 1/4 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/4 cup sliced cucumber
• 1/4 cup diced mango
• 1 diced bell pepper (I used 1/2 of a red and half of a green for color)
• 1/2 of an avocado, sliced
• 1 green onion, sliced 
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds 
• Pickled ginger
• Optional: 1 cup cooked rice
• Optional, for serving: wasabi, soy sauce, hot sauce such as Sriracha 

Directions:

1. Slice salmon into bite-sized pieces.
2. Arrange bowls: If you desire, place a half cup of rice at bottom of bowl. Then arrange mixed greens, shredded cabbage, sliced cucumber, diced mango, bell peppers, and sliced avocado in bowl. Divide salmon between both bowls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion.
3. Serve with pickled ginger and any other accoutrements of your choice: wasabi, soy sauce, Sriracha, etc.