Salmon Croquettes

I came to eating in diners in adulthood, and to my surprise, one of the items of diner food I found delicious was salmon croquettes. There are no diners nearby, and sometimes I get a hankering for salmon croquettes.

This week's were the best. The one pound can of salmon came from Ocean State Job Lot, and it cost around $3.55. I found an old powdered Hollandaise sauce in the spice drawer and made it. Didn't exactly taste like fresh-made Hollandaise, but it tasted o.k.

Here is the recipe. Best I've ever eaten. Note: I used more salmon than the recipe called for.


Salmon Croquettes
Yields 12 Servings 8 oz Canned Salmon
1 small Onion, Chopped Fine
1 1/2 Cups Cooked Potato, Mashed
- Salt
- Pepper
1 tsp Curry Powder
1 Whole Egg, For Glazing
2 Tbls Parsley, Chopped
1 Egg Yolk, Lightly Beaten
1 Tbls Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Milk
- Dry Bread Crumbs

Drain the salmon.
Remove the bones.
Flake the salmon into a bowl.
Add the chopped onion, mashed potato, curry powder, parsley, lemon juice,
lightly beaten egg yolk, salt and pepper.
Mix thoroughly.
Refrigerate until firm.
Mold the salmon mixture into croquette shaped (1" x 2") ovals.
Combine the whole egg with the milk.
Dip the croquettes into the mixture.
Dip the coated croquettes into the bread crumbs, press on firmly.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oil in the deep fryer.
Deep fry until golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve hot.


This recipe is from New Zealand. The web site is: http://www.binary.co.nz/salmon.html#1

Mega yum. The curry adds a je ne sais pas. I use a hot curry powder, so I only added 1/2 teaspoon. It was perfect. I also used part panko, part regular bread crumbs. The only down side of the recipe is that the house reeks from the cooking oil. Tonight I opened the kitchen window, so maybe tomorrow will be better. I used Instant Mashed potatoes made with butter and low-fat milk. The potato gives them a lightness not ordinarily associated with croquettes.

Serve with Hollandaise or a white sauce. A bit of bechamel would be nice.

Way to go, New Zealand! Serves 4 people with leftovers or 4 very hungry people.

The Cheeseparer

Frugality Fatigue and some recipes

Today, a Boston Globe writer discussed something called "Frugality Fatigue" and how it seems to be creeping up on a lot of us. Tired of cheese paring? Me, too. However, we have been coping quite well with our little strategems, and I would hate for them to fall by the wayside and for DEBT to read it's ugly head.

Have you noticed that people who sell goods and services are nice these days? Isn't that nice?

I have devised a way to get a free meal. We are now buying chicken breasts with the skin and bone on them. I poach them with aromatic vegetables (onion, celery, carrots) and fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme!!!) When the breast is cooked, I remove it, let it cool and return the skin, fat and bones to the cookpot. I cook the broth down somewhat to let a flavor develop. When I remove the bones again, there's always a bit of meat here and there. I save these bits. Sometimes it's almost a cup. Strain the broth. By now, it's lovely. Now you have the makings of chicken soup. Saute an onion, some chopped carrots, more celery and herbs and add your chicken broth. Voila! This week I had some mushrooms and spinach to toss in. It's kind of a clean-the-veggies-out-of-the-fridge before they become past prime. A sun dried (not in oil) tomato enriches the broth. At the end, I cook some small pasta, ditalini or orzo will do. We usually get dinner and a lunch. Costs practically nothing. Nourishing, tasty.

Yum!

Brunch and other meals

Feeding houseguests always presents a challenge if you have to deal with food dislikes, time in the kitchen and budget considerations. We did this recently with a fair amount of elegance. Main courses were tortilla soup, pot roast, and seafood marinara. The pot roast covered two meals, and no one ever complains about leftover pot roast and gravy. I cooked fresh vegetables each night. Root vegetables: carrots, parsnips, potatoes and onions are cheap, as is celery. Loads of parsley from the garden. All you need is a salad.

The seafood marinara (pictured) had limited quantities of seafood and was served over pasta, so that worked out well. I went to a first rate fish market and bought scallops untreated with chemicals and large (not giant) shrimp.

Below is the brunch dish I served. Notice it calls for bread, milk, eggs and sausage, none of which break the bank. Neither are prunes gold-plated. It serves a lot and tastes great. We buy maple syrup at the Ocean State Job Lot and use it sparingly. Enjoy!

Raisin-Bread Strata with Sausage and Dried Plums

8 – 10 servings

1 pound bulk breakfast sausage ( I used pork, turkey will work)
8 large eggs
4 cups whole milk
1 ½ t. salt
¾ t. ground black pepper
1 16 ounce loaf sliced raisin-cinnamon swirl bread, each slice halved on the diagonal. (Pepperidge Farm makes a good raisin cinnamon swirl).
18 dried pitted plums (prunes) each cut into 3 pieces

Pure Maple Syrup

Sauté sausage in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until brown and cooked through, breaking up with back of fork, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, remove sausage to bowl; cool.
Butter a 13 x 9 x 2 inch glass baking dish.
Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper in medium bowl. Arrange half of bread in bottom of prepared dish with bases of triangles facing in same direction. Scatter half of sausage, then half of plums over bread. Arrange remaining bread in dish with triangles facing in opposite direction. Scatter remaining sausage and plums over. Pour milk mixture over; press on bread to submerge. Cover and chill overnight.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Place strata on rimmed baking sheet. Bake uncovered until strata is pulled and golden and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes. Cut strata into squares and serve with maple syrup.

From Bon Appetit

Salpicon

We've been on a two-meals a day soup/salad binge with occasional "regular" meals. Last night we cooked a roast beef (not prime rib, not sirloin, just a plain 'ol roast beef like your old fashioned mother might have served for Sunday dinner) on the barbecue.

This was an inspired way to cook. First I marinated in red wine, olive oil, onions and garlic for 12 hours. Then I dried the meat off and sprinkled it heavily with Penzey's Barbecue of the Americas rub. Yummo!

My Significant Other prepared the grill, half hot, half less so. On the hot side over the coals he browned the roast on all sides, then rolled it over to cook on "indirect" heat for the remainder of the cook time. We took it out when it was medium, a thing of beauty.

http://www.penzeys.com/

This was way beyond your mother's Sunday dreams. We also grilled zucchini and summer squash along with a red pepper. In the oven, I baked some thick (unpeeled) potato slices in olive oil and chopped fresh herbs from the garden.

It was one of those meals where extreme discipline was required so as not to make a pig of oneself.

Tonight, I took 1/2 pound of the roast and cut it into small cubes and made salpicon, a delicious south of the border salad, that alas, you won't often find on a menu.

Here is a recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/Salpicon-Spicy-Mexican-Beef-Salad-65156

I took a short cut with the meat, (see above) and added finely chopped cucumber, green onion, tomato, jalapeno and Colby Longhorn cheese and Monterey Jack cheese (4 oz. each).

Mix together the juice of one lime, 1/3 cup salad oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the other ingredients. Serve on a bed of lettuce dusted with good quality chili powder and more minced scallions.

It's a winner. We ate it with some corn tortillas I fried up. You only eat corn tortillas, right? Flour tortillas are a tasteless abomination and belong with astroturf and the wave.

Note that the Salpicon uses only inexpensive, easily found ingredients!
Paring more cheese,

The Cheeseparer

Tasty Vegetarian

Chances are, meat, produce and dairy are your biggest expenditures at the grocery store. By cooking vegetarian once or twice a week, you can cut out the meat expense. Last week, mozzarella and cheddar (already grated, yet) were on sale, as was broccoli and eggplant.

This week, we're having Eggplant Parmegiana and Cheddar-Broccoli soup. Both entrees are heary fare that only needs a salad and perhaps a soupcon of dessert to make a complete meal. The cheese is full of calcium and also has protein, and the soup uses milk as well.

Some homemade French bread would be fantastic. The cool fall days and nights call for something hearty, but hearty doesn't have to always be meaty. I'm thinking chili weather will be here soon.

I'll give you my two fave chili recipes. Chili is economical, too, and you can make it so many ways. I like both beef and chicken. White chili rocks. I ate it for the first time in Wisconsin and it was such a revelation.

It is true. Travel is broadening. With the sour cream and cheese, that statement is true in multiple ways.

The Cheeseparer

I Love BOGOS

Buy one, get one! That's the long way of saying, BOGO!

Today Roche Brothers had a BOGO on beef roasts. I got two, and cut one in half before I froze it. We'll cook one (indirect heat) on the grill sometime this fall. It will easily feed four or maybe more if we don't make pigs of ourselves. Served with lots of grilled vegetables, it's really tasty.

The other roast, the free one, if you will, I cut in half. I'll make bouef bourgignon with one half and goulash soup with the other. That should provide 8 servings. So if we figure 14 servings for $13.00, that ain't bad. And for lean, good quality protein. Plus unlike tofu, it actually tastes good. Have you ever noticed that tofu doesn't really taste like much of anything. You have to just season the hell out of whatever you're making. Szechwan peppercorns do well. Beef only needs salt and pepper, but the wine stew and the goulash soup will be loaded with flavor and veggies and the heartiness that we usually omit for summer main dishes.

I'm making a "diet" chicken pot pie this week, and I'll let you know how it turns out. The "Pie" part is potatoes mashed with low-fat Greek yogurt. The remainder is chicken breast and veggies and sauce. It came from either Gourmet or Bon Appetit, so you know that it's good. Well, we hope.

Onward. We're going to a neighborhood barbeque this evening, and the fare will not be diet. Yum! Licking my chops already.

The cheeseparer

I dreamt I went to Moscow with my cast iron skillet

Dreams are just incredibly weird. A few nights ago, I dreamt I was to take a bus to Moscow. I arrived at the bus stop carrying my big (heavy) 12-inch cast iron skillet. But no pocketbook, as we say in New England. I ran home to get my pocketbook, but instead, mysteriously arrived at the bus stop with my small non-stick skillet. The bus looked like a two-car MBTA trolley, and the first car was crammed to the gills with a bunch of standees, but the second car was half-empty.

I guessed the standees were friends who wanted to stay together. I ran home again to get my pocketbook, and that was the end of the dream.

A cast iron skillet will last your lifetime and the lifetime of your kids and their kids. It is one of the best investments you'll ever make. Sometimes you can find them at tag sales or swap meets. A cast-iron dutch oven isn't bad either.

Nothing fries a chicken or makes corn bread as good as a cast iron skillet. Once you get it seasoned, you're in business, and never heed the twaddle about not washing it with detergent, blah-blah-blah. I use soap in mine all the time and it never needs reseasoning. It also doubles as a wok and can withstand high heat.

The heaviness of the skillet works your arms, never a bad thing.

No wonder I was taking mine to Moscow. Sears used to sell them, maybe still does, as do hardware stores. The iron that leaches out of the skillet is also good for you.

A frugal find!

The Cheeseparer