Fritter Chronicles: Tuna or Kale, It's All Good!

Contributor Jim Dixon of Real Good Food is a fritter fanatic, and he's back on track sharing his recipes for some phenomenal fritter satisfaction.

Sicilian Fritters with Oregon Albacore (Polpette di Tonno con Fiore di Finocchio)

These small tuna won’t be running for another 6 months, but Oregon albacore in a can or jar* is in season all year. Buy it canned in its own juice (and don’t drain it off!). If you can’t find any at your favorite market, order directly from the folks who catch it. In Sicily a mix of tuna and swordfish often goes into these, but they’re great with just the canned albacore.

At the fish market in Palermo.

Dump the fish and the juices in the can into a bowl and flake it with a fork. For each can of fish (typically 6-7 ounces), mix in an egg, a chopped shallot, about a tablespoon of bread crumbs, pinch of salt, and a teaspoon or so of fennel pollen (fiore, flower, in Italian). If the mixture seems dry, add another egg.

Use two soup spoons to form walnut-sized “meatballs.” I make mine more flat than round, but only because it’s a little easier than rolling them into balls. Pan fry in extra virgin olive oil until brown. Traditionally served in a simple tomato sauce, they’re pretty good plain.

* Sweet Creek Foods also has Oregon albacore, and is available at New Seasons and other markets.

Kale Fritters

These are the best thing to do with leftover cooked vegetables of any kind. But it's also pretty easy to drop a bunch of greens in a pot of boiling water. Any of the leafy kales—green, red, or Italian—work well, but I prefer the Italian for both flavor and texture. Drop a bunch into a pot of salted water and cook for about 5 minutes (or microwave for a few minutes). You want the kale wilted and partially cooked.

Kale fritters frying in olive oil.

Chop the kale into small pieces, the stem ends even smaller than the leafy ends. Use the whole stem, but make sure the thicker pieces are chopped small. You can do it in the processor, but I think the hand-cut texture is much better.

Combine the chopped kale in bowl with about a quarter cup of breadcrumbs, roughly the same amount of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, a nice pinch of salt and a couple of eggs. Mix well, then see if you can form a small, walnut-sized fritter using two soup spoons. If it won’t hold together, add another egg or two (and if it’s really soupy, more breadcrumbs).

Use the two spoons (the classic quenelle technique) to make the fritters, sliding each into hot extra virgin olive oil as you make it. Gently flatten each fritter, cook over medium until nicely browned, then flip and cook the other side. Sprinkle with flor de sal after they come out of the pan. These are good hot or cold, and they reheat in a skillet nicely. A little Crystal hot sauce is a nice touch.

Latkes, Fritters, Cakes…Whatever, Just Make 'Em!

No matter what you call them, you can count on Jim Dixon of Real Good Food to be on top of the fried goodness of the season!

I made these recently and wanted to get you the recipe before Chanuka starts on Saturday!

Smoky Sweet Potato & Beet Latkes

Mine were roughly 2 parts sweet potato, 1 part beet, but don’t worry too much about exact measurements. I also peeled the beets, but not the sweet potatoes. And while the orange-fleshed roots are often labeled as yams, they’re really sweet potatoes. You could use the white-fleshed version, but I think the orange ones are sweeter. Golden beets, similar to the pinkish Chioggia beets, are also sweeter; unlike the earthier-tasting red beets, they don’t stain everything in the kitchen.

Make these just like potato latkes (grate the roots, combine with egg and flour, add salt, fry in extra virgin olive oil). Add a teaspoon or more of pimenton, the smoky Spanish paprika. Use a lower cooking temperature, too. The extra sugars in both the sweet potatoes and beets caramelize more quickly and they’ll burn if you’re not careful.

For more details on all things latke, at least from the Real Good Food perspective, start at Secular Latkes. Or go right the basic latke recipe (you can skip the squeezing step with sweet potatoes).

Leftover Salmon? Make Cakes!

With salmon filets and steaks running up toward twenty bucks a pound at the fish counter, this time of year, when I'm craving it, I buy the whole fish, head on, for much less per pound. This way you get the (cleaned) fish, which you can throw on the grill with herbs and lemon stuffed into the cavity. You can also have your fishmonger filet it, or you can slice it into steaks yourself. But any way you choose to cook it, make sure to save the head, fins and tail to make a terrific fish broth for your next risotto or paella.

Cake for breakfast? Oh, yeah!

With out-of-town friends coming over for dinner, and wanting to share some of the crazy goodness of the Northwest, we grilled a whole salmon with a side of wild mushroom risotto and a salad of seasonal greens. Throw in some local red to go with the fish, a fruit crisp made with the last of the frozen berries to top off the meal, and they were putty in our hands. Even with everyone eating their fill, there was a good amount of fish left over…which fit into my clever plan to make salmon cakes for dinner a couple of nights later.

These cakes are great as an appetizer or with a salad for a simple dinner, and they also make a great breakfast with eggs, sautéed greens and a slice of homemade bread. It's not necessary to have all the ingredients—the fish, mayo and eggs are the critical ingredients—so the seasonings can go in any direction you desire. These are meant to be mostly meat, with just enough of the other ingredients to (barely) hold it together.

And if you ever happen to have any leftover smoked salmon (does that really happen?), that would be the gilding on this particular lily.

Salmon Cakes

2 c. cooked salmon, flaked
1-2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1/4 c. minced red or green onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely minced
2 Tbsp. cilantro, minced
1/4 c. bread crumbs
Zest of 1 lime

Whisk together and add:
Juice of 1 lime
1 egg

2 Tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil for frying

Combine salmon with other ingredients (except oil) and mix thoroughly. Form into loose cakes about 2" across. Can be refrigerated at this point, which will firm up the cakes a bit, but it's not necessary. Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in medium frying pan until it shimmers. Put cakes in pan, but don't crowd them—do them in batches if necessary. Cook until browned, then carefully flip them over and brown on the other side. Makes about eight cakes.

Fritter Chronicles: Secular Latkes

As regular readers of GoodStuffNW know, contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood is all about the fritters. He's made them from everything from corn to dandelion greens to farro to favas. Here's his take on that all-time Hanukkah classic, latkes.

I’m just a country goy, but I love latkes and Hanukkah starts this week. Whether you celebrate anything at all this time of year, these eastern European potato fritters make winter delicious. And the oil in the miracle of the oil that Hanukkah celebrates was, of course, olive oil. (Bonus spelling trivia: Chanuka vs Hanukkah.)

Instead of copying my favorite latke recipes here, you can go to my secular latke page and find links for basic potato lakes (below), my Tex-Mex version and the super treyf sweet potato bacon latkes. Oy!

Basic Potato Latkes

Grate a couple of russet potatoes into a large mixing bowl. Grab a handful of the grated spuds and squeeze them over the sink, getting as much moisture out as you can. Repeat until you’ve squeezed the whole bowl.

Add an egg, a couple of tablespoons of flour (I use flour; tradition says matzoh meal, but I don’t usually have any when I feel like making latkes), a good pinch of sea salt and a finely chopped medium onion. Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with a slick of extra virgin olive oil, and heat it over medium until it just starts to shimmer. Carefully add large spoonfuls of the latke mix to the hot oil, gently flatttening as you go. Keep the latkes small, about 2 inches across max.

Cook until brown (3-4 minutes), carefully flip, and brown the other side. I like mine with ketchup.

Horn of Plenty

This time of year I can't stay away from the farmers' markets, and apparently I'm not the only one judging by this installment from contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood.

I can’t stop buying the early season vegetables, intensely green, oozing chlorophyll and wonderful with just oil and salt (and sometimes a bit more). I get nettles whenever I can, and the tender tops of fava beans have been a revelation. I’ve grown favas, and I wish I knew you could eat the tops when they were taking over the garden.

My own garden provides sorrel, an astringent herb with a lemony tang. Soup seems to be what most recipe sources make from it, but I like adding it to salads, salsa verde and anything with fish. Last week I combined some with a couple of other early season vegetables for my never-ending parade of fritters.

Sorrel, Nettle, Fava, and Spring Onion Fritters

Start by carefully (tongs or gloves) dropping a bunch of stinging nettles (bunch loosely defined as a clump about the size of cantaloupe) into boiling water. After a minute or so, fish them out and let them cool and drain (save the water for soup or nettle tea). Chop finely.

Dice a spring onion finely; do the same with about as much fresh sorrel as you have cooked nettle (maybe a well-packed cup or so). Ditto the fava leaves and flowers. Combine the vegetables with a couple of eggs, bit of salt, maybe a quarter cup of grated Parmigiano, and enough breadcrumbs to give the mix some body without drying it out too much (roughly half cup, but test the mix to make sure it holds together). Adding a healthy scoop of fresh ricotta, maybe adjusting the bread crumbs up as well, makes these even better.

Use a pair of soup spoons to form walnut size fritters, slide them in enough hot extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet, gently flatten, and cook until browned on both sides. Sprinkle flor de sal over the cooked fritters and eat immediately.

Timing is Everything

Some days it's all about the timing.

I'd been jonesing for some fresh salmon for awhile, and with our friends Kathryn and J— coming over for dinner it seemed like the perfect opportunity to satisfy my longing. While to some that may seem a tad self-centered of me (I am a blogger, remember?), I know very few Northwesterners who would turn down a whole salmon lovingly roasted over hardwood on Dave's Weber.

So when I stopped by, of all places, our neighborhood Fred Meyer and saw whole wild sockeye on special for $3.99 a pound, I nearly fell to my knees in praise to the god of dinner parties. Each one weighed in at just about three pounds and, since I know my guests well, I got two assuming we'd polish off more than one yet have leftovers aplenty.

Dinner was awesome, with a simple spring onion and wild mushroom risotto and Kathryn's salad of dressed wild greens with warm goat cheese cakes. It was all washed down by a stunning bottle of Boedecker Pinot Noir that they brought from their cellar. But leftovers there were, and I sent a package home with my guests, extracting a promise from Kathryn that she'd share her recipe for her Asian salmon cakes in exchange.

A couple of days later the recipe arrived with her note that it was a work in progress and that I should feel free to tweak at will. So with thanks to her, here's what I came up with. And I pass along her instruction to bring your creative juices to bear on these fabulous fritters. Just share any discoveries you might make along the way!

Salmon Cakes

2 lbs. fresh salmon (or 3 c. leftover salmon, flaked)
1/2 c. onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 serrano peppers, seeded and finely chopped
3 Tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped
2 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
Zest of half a lime
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. sriracha
2-3 Tbsp. sesame oil
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

If you're starting with fresh salmon, boil 1/2" of water in a deep-sided skillet. Turn down to simmer and poach fish until medium rare in the center. Then flake, removing any bones, and use as directed.

Combine salmon and the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Form into 2" wide and 1/2" thick cakes. Heat vegetable oil in non-stick skillet and fry over medium high heat till browned and crispy.

Excellent served with black rice and baby bok choi with a drizzle of wasabi cream.

How Do I Love Thee?

Who doesn't love little fried cakes? Contributor Jim Dixon of Real Good Food has been cataloging the many and varied forms that fritter love can take, and shares another one of them here.

As you may know, I like to make little fried things I call fritters, usually with some kind of vegetable. Sometimes I’ll cook the vegetable just to make the fritters, but more often I use whatever leftovers I have around.

This batch began as roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips, but would work with just sweet potatoes (either orange or white-fleshed, cooked just to make fritters) or any other combination of root vegetables. Roasting concentrates and caramelizes the sugars in the sweet potatoes, so the leftovers would be my first choice. The farro is a nice addition, but could also be left out.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Parsnip and Farro Fritters

Combine a cup or so of coarsely mashed leftover roasted sweet potatoes and parsnips with chopped shallot, a half cup of cooked farro, a pinch of sea salt and a quarter cup of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Break an egg in to the mix and stir, then add a quarter cup or so of good bread crumbs. The mixture should hold together in a spoon; you can add another egg if too dry, more breadcrumbs if too wet.

Use enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of a heavy skillet; heat until the oil begins to ripple. Use a pair of spoons to form walnut-size fritters. Slip carefully into  the oil and flatten gently. Cook until brown (these brown more quickly because of the sugars in the sweet potatoes, so watch them), then turn and cook the other side. Sprinkle with flor de sal and eat hot. Makes about 8-10 fritters.

Cake Walk

You know all those posts about fritters that GSNW contributor Jim Dixon has been writing the last few months, the ones made from good things like squash and corn, dandelion greens and sardines? And remember those crazy-like-a-fox crab cakes from Mark Bittman that I posted back in December as part of the Crustacean Celebration? Another name for them would be…fish fritters! I actually did a Homer Simpson "D'oh!" at the thought.

So when I found some leftover grilled sockeye salmon sitting in the fridge just waiting to be put to it's best and highest use, my first thought was, yes, fritters! Checking out a few recipes, it looked like I had enough for a batch without resorting to excessive fillers that would compromise its lovely smoky flavor.

Next to a shrimp Louis, fritters are the perfect summer meal. They cook quickly without heating up the kitchen and they're rock star good. All you have to do is mash up leftovers with some sautéed veggies, breadcrumbs and eggs, fry them quickly in hot oil and serve with a cool, refreshing salad. So simple and delightful! And they'd make a fabulous appetizer for your next barbecue…just be sure to make them small and make a lot. You might even want to set a couple aside as you cook them so you can have some for yourself, cause they'll go fast.

Salmon Cakes

Adapted from various recipes

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 ribs celergy, finely chopped
1/2 c. red Italian bell pepper or other sweet pepper like Jimmy Nardello
1 lb. leftover cooked salmon or 3 6-oz. cans salmon, well drained
1 c. bread crumbs
2 large eggs
2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1-2 tsp. hot sauce like Sriracha or Tabasco
1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1/2 c. mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
2 tsp. Dijon
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in frying pan. When it shimmers, add onion and garlic and sauté till translucent. Add celery and chopped pepper and sauté till tender. Cool while you pick the bones out of the salmon.
Put salmon in mixing bowl with bread crumbs, eggs, Old Bay, Worchestershire sauce, mayonnaise and mustard. Add cooled vegetables and stir to combine. Form into 2-3" wide, 1/2" thick cakes and place on cookie sheet. Put in refrigerator and chill 30 minutes. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in skillet until shimmering, then fry cakes a few at a time until browned, adding fresh oil as needed. Keep in warm oven until they're all finished cooking and serve.

Frittering Is Good!

I love contributor Jim Dixon's recipes because they're easy, seasonal and oh-so-tasty. He's also a fiend for fritters, the best part being they don't need to be deep-fried! Look for his RealGoodFood booth most Saturdays at the Portland Farmers' Market at PSU filled with his incredible olive oils, vinegars, beans and grains.

I must be slipping. I haven’t included a recipe for fritters for weeks (although the pork balls from earlier are really just meat fritters). I still cook and eat some version of these little fried things (called “subrich” in Piemontese dialect and based on a recipe from Faith Willinger’s Italian vegetable cookbook) at least once weekly. Here are a couple I’ve made recently.

Dandelion Green and Herb Fritters

Drop a bunch of dandelion greens into well-salted boiling water, cook for about 2 minutes, then remove, cool and squeeze out as much water as you can. Chop into small pieces.

Mix with about a cup, maybe more, of fresh herbs. I used what I’ve got in my garden: sage, oregano, rosemary and sorrel. Mint would be good, too. Add a finely chopped spring onion (I have these in the garden; shallot, garlic or plain onion work, about a couple of tablespoons total). Grated Parmigiano Reggiano is good, but not absolutely necessary. Add a little salt.

Mix in a couple of eggs and about a cup of breadcrumbs. The mixture can be a little wet, but should hold together enough to form walnut-sized lumps using two tablespoons. Slide the lumps into reasonably hot olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of your skillet, and they should sizzle a bit). Use the spoon to gently flatten the fritters, let cook undisturbed for a few minutes, then turn. You want them nicely browned. Sprinkle with flor de sal and eat immediately.

Sardine and Potato Fritters

Combine a tin of good sardines (I used olive oil-packed) with a couple of potatoes that you’ve cooked, peeled, and crumbled into a bowl. I used yellow spuds, poked and microwaved for about 4 minutes each. Mix in a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic and, if you’ve got them, some salt-packed capers that you’ve soaked and rinsed.

Follow the directions above for adding eggs and breadcrumbs; cook the same way, too.

Here's a recipe for Jim's squash fritters. Top photo from CookThink.com.

Fritter Chronicles: Can't Get Enough

What's not to like about corn? It's sweet, it makes a fun sound and it's happy being a main course, side dish or condiment. Now contributor Jim Dixon of Real Good Food's foments on his fritter fascination with a recipe that includes this versatile vegetable.

I had some leftover corn on the cob, and while I’d planned to do a simple corn and tomato salad, I ended up making corn calas, a rice fritter we’d had when we ate at Cochon in New Orleans. I’ve said before how familiar the simple Cajun food seemed, and the calas sure seemed related to all the other fritters I make.

Calas traditionally were sort of rice beignets, deep fried and served with sugar or cane syrup. These are pan fried, more like corn cakes.

Corn and Rice Calas
Adapted from Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana

Combine the kernels cut from 2-3 ears of cooked corn with half an onion, finely diced, a diced frying pepper (like a Jimmy Nardello, although any sweet or even a hot pepper would work), a couple of eggs, a cup or so of cooked rice, and a few tablespoons each of flour and corn meal. Season with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and healthy dash of cayenne.

Heat a heavy skillet and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom. Drop spoonfulls of the batter into the skillet and flip when nicely browned. Sprinkle with flor de sal.

A Fritter Affliction

Contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood has been plagued, as happens often with those of the foodie persuasion, with a passion for fried hunks of dough. We sympathize and send our condolences, wishing him a recovery in due time.

My fritter affliction continues. They’re fairly easy, cook quickly and are perfect to eat in the kitchen while the rest of dinner is cooking. Lately I’ve been making the little fried things with squash and cornmeal (actually the finely ground corn from Ayers Creek Farm, available periodically at the Hillsdale Sunday Farmers Market). Here’s what I do:

Squash Fritters

Peel, seed and cube a butternut squash. Put the cubes in a glass bowl with about a quarter cup of water, cover and microwave for 4-5 minutes or until easily mashed (if you’re microwave-averse, steam them). Combine about a cup and half of the mashed squash with an equal amount (more or less) of ricotta, about a half cup each of cornmeal and bread crumbs, a couple of eggs, a handful of grated Parmigiano, a finely chopped shallot, and salt. The mixture should hold together but not be too dry.

Use two soup spoons or your hands to form patties about the size of an egg or walnut, slide them into a skillet slicked with a generous amount of good olive oil, flatten gently with a fork, and cook until nicely browned on both sides. Sprinkle with flor de sal and eat immediately.

Photo from The Leftover Queen.