Salmon Cakes-On a not so pleasant day.

The last thing that I want to do is talk about my home being burglarized last Thursday. While I was shopping for ingredients for these canned salmon cakes, among a few other things such as milk, an intruder came into my home and stole all of my jewelry. No one was hurt, and I am very grateful for that, but the last 7 days has been one of the most difficult weeks of my life.

The first reaction to something traumatic such as this is "shock" and some denial, too. In the midst of realizing that 30 years worth of fine jewelry was gone, talking to cops, calling Marty and Whitney, and throwing my wallet across the driveway after the police officer asked my for my license, I still kept thinking about the groceries that were in my trunk that needed to be refrigerated. What a strange thing to think about in the midst of such chaos.

Like running, cooking makes me feel normal. If I'm cooking, I'm okay. So, that night after everything calmed down, I proceeded to make the salmon cakes and creamy dill dressing for the salad. When I plan my recipes, I always take into consideration Marty's schedule. If he has a tennis match in the later evening like he did that night, he prefers a light dinner.

I created this recipe after perusing recipes earlier that day. It's a fairly basic recipe in general, and there are so many variations of crab and salmon cakes. This was what I came up with based on the ingredients that I like.

2 cans of Trader Joe's salmon

2 cups of panko crumbs

1 small onion, diced

3 stalks of celery, diced

the zest of one lemon

the juice of one lemon

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil for frying the cakes

1/2 cup of light mayonnaise

Preheat oven to 375. Saute onion and celery for about five minutes with the olive oil on medium heat. remove from the pan to cool for a few moments. In a medium size bowl. combine canned salmon, onion, celery, zest and juice of lemon, egg, panko crumbs, flat leaf parsley mayo, and salt and pepper. Go easy on the salt because the salmon can be salty. Make 4-6 patties with the mixture, depending on how large you would like them

Using the same pan that was used for the onion and celery, coat the pan with extra virgin olive oil and preheat on high. When the oil is hot, fry the cakes for 3-4 minutes on each side. Once finished, place on a pan in the oven to continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with lemon wedges, cocktail sauce or tartar sauce.

*Note-Feel free to use whole wheat panko crumbs and the whites of two eggs instead of one whole egg. Chopped red pepper added would be a good addition for color and additional nutrients.

Creamy Dill Dressing: I did not like this dressing so I will not be posting the recipe.

Please feel free to send me your variations of crab and salmon cakes. I like the canned salmon cakes because they are so economical. And I must admit, Trader Joe's salmon ROCKS!