Buying Whole Fish (Plus a Hack for No-Hassle Freezing)

If you've been seeing ads from your grocery store or fishmonger offering whole fish for a fraction of the regular retail price but you're not sure how you'd use it, I've put together this handy guide.

There is nothing better, or better for you, than fresh, wild, local fish. Fish are packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, high in protein and low in saturated fat, and the American Heart Association advises eating fish twice a week. Trouble is, the usual price per pound for fresh fillets in the butcher case puts it out of reach for most budgets. Plus many commercially available ocean species can be high in mercury, and farm-raised fish are usually fed high doses of antibiotics—think of them as factory farms for finned creatures—due to the crowded pens they're raised in. And don't get me started on the effects of these farms on our waterways.

Albacore swims just off our coastline.

But those of us on the West Coast are fortunate to have access to some of the most delicious wild fish on the planet in our populations of native wild albacore and salmon. This year the fleet of primarily family-owned boats have been pulling in a supply of albacore from the fishery that stretches from Northern California up into British Columbia. Certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, these albacore are young—just three to five years old, low in mercury and weighing in at 12 to 25 pounds—and individually caught with a hook-and-line system. (Want more info? Read my post, Albacore A to Z, for details.)

Coho spawning in Tillamook State Forest.

Wild salmon, particularly from Alaskan waters, are in plentiful supply right now, too, with stores advertising tempting steaks, fillets and roasts. But if you want to get a real deal, look for special sales events featuring whole fish.

"Whole fish?" you say. "I don't even know where to start with a whole fish!"

Well, let's talk about where you buy it. Make sure the fishmonger is a reputable source—recent studies have found that almost 20% of fish sold to consumers are mislabeled, and fish ordered at restaurants are more likely to be incorrectly labeled than fish bought at markets or grocery stores. I recently bought two whole albacore and two whole Coho salmon at New Seasons Market, a regional chain that buys its whole fish from local boats and has several one or two-day sales events per season.

Whole albacore loins ready to freeze.

When you buy whole fish, you'll need to specify how you want it packaged. The fish are already cleaned, and most stores will butcher your fish at no charge, whether you want steaks or roasts or whole fillets. I always ask for the trimmings to be included, since the head, fins and bones make amazing stock for soups, chowders, risottos and paella, among many other uses. (Here's my technique for using those trimmings.)

Making stock is simple: put fish in pot, add water.

And don't believe those charts meant for chefs that say the yield from a whole albacore, gutted and without the head, is 50 percent of the weight. From the 17-pound fish (head off) that I bought, my yield was more than 80 percent after removing the loins, roasting the carcass (350° for 30 min.), picking off the meat (nearly 2 lbs.) and then making stock from the bones (2 1/2 qts.). The total weight of bones, fins and detritus that went into the compost bin was only two or three pounds. (Kind of tells you about the food waste that happens in restaurants, though, doesn't it?)

Coho fillet ready to freeze.

If you're not going to throw the fish on the grill right away—never a bad idea, but just one good-sized fillet will feed four to six—you'll also need to think about how you want to store it. With a vacuum sealer it's a done deal, since properly packaged fish will keep for as long as a year. The idea is to keep air away from the meat to prevent freezer burn, so if you don't have a vacuum sealer, what do you do?

I quizzed the fellow at the fish counter when I bought my salmon, and he said that his dad, an avid fisherman, would put a single fillet in a zip-lock bag and submerge it in a sink full of water, holding the closure just above the water line. The water pressure pushes the air out, making an airtight seal around the fish. Not having a sealing machine myself, a little smoothing of the wrinkles in the bag while it was underwater did almost as good a job as the machine. (I found that a two-gallon zip-lock bag will hold a good-sized fillet quite nicely.)

Note: Pull those pinbones!

A note: it's good to go over your fish to check for pinbones or other bones that the butchers may have missed. First, it makes it easier to just throw it on the grill without worrying about biting down on one while you're eating and, second, it keeps those pokey bones from puncturing the bag and letting air in. Just hold the fillet and feel for any bones by running your fingers down the flesh, then use a pair of (clean) needle nose pliers to pull out the bones.

All this is to say that you can have more fresh, local, sustainable fish in your diet without paying dearly for the privilege. As the old commercial used to say, "Try it, you'll like it!"

For fabulous salmon recipes, click here.

For to-die-for albacore recipes, click here.

Farms and Mines and Salmon

Sandwiched between the eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, an environmental disaster of potentially devastating proportions occured just north of us in the Puget Sound. Up to 300,000 farmed Atlantic salmon were dumped into the Sound when their pens collapsed for as-yet-undetermined reasons. My friend Cynthia Nims, an expert on fish and the fishing industry, posted the following on her blog, Mon Appétit.

It’s been a big week for salmon, at least here in the Seattle area, with two sizeable stories in play. One new, one older but with a new timeliness.

Three king salmon on left, farmed Atlantic salmon on right. The farmed fish show signs of yellow mouth disease, a bacterial infection.

The new news was the terrible failure of farmed salmon pens near the San Juan Islands. I’ll admit to not having been aware of how many salmon farms operate in the Puget Sound area, so along with the massive dump of Atlantic salmon into the native habitat of wild salmon comes the wake-up call about how much more potential impact could come from other active farms. No limit of controversy looms in the days following the incident Sunday, with contrary perspectives on to what degree extreme eclipse-related tidal activity was at fault (and why those high tides proved surprising), on how much impact those nonnative salmon will have on native populations, on the likelihood of them perishing before they get very far into regional river systems.

[Update: In an article posted on Sept. 1 by KUOW in Seattle, reporter John Ryan reveals that "Cooke Aquaculture and state officials knew at least six months ago that the floating salmon farm that collapsed in August was 'nearing the end of serviceable life,' with accelerating corrosion eating away at its hinges and steel structure. Even so, they agreed to fill the damaged structure with a full load of 3.1 million pounds of Atlantic salmon in an area regularly swept by strong currents."]

Kurt Beardslee of the Wild Fish Conservancy and Bill McMillan testing for diseases on spilled Atlantic salmon.

One article I read earlier this week suggested the Atlantics would be as likely to survive out of their controlled farm environment as a dairy cow released into the Serengeti. But an article Friday noted that Lummi Tribe fishers have caught Atlantics in the Skagit River and the latest piece I read this morning says that Makah Nation fishers have netted Atlantics on the Seiku River near Neah Bay, suggesting their ability to survive may have been underestimated. Having spent time on Lummi Island with salmon-fisher Riley Starks—including a visit to the Lummi Island Wild reef-netting operation he’s part of—it’s been particularly heartbreaking to hear the extraordinary challenge the fish dump has been in that region.

[Update: The KUOW article mentioned above reports that as of Sept. 1, the Atlantic salmon have been found "throughout Puget Sound and into Canadian waters. Some have swum up to 150 miles away, into the Pacific Ocean off the outer coast of Vancouver Island." Top photo shows Lummi Nation fishers Jay Julius and Steven Solomon working in Deepwater Bay at Cypress Island to rid Salish Sea waters of spilled Atlantic salmon.]

Many times this week I’ve had flashbacks to a conversation I had with the manager of a salmon processor up on Alaska’s Kodiak Island the summer of 1997. He was lamenting the rapid growth of salmon farming and its effect on overall market price for salmon, even prized wild salmon. I recall saying something to the effect of “farmed salmon are clearly here to stay, can’t fight that wave of production, but we can make a point of celebrating the value and appeal of wild salmon as a premium product.” I was editor at Simply Seafood magazine during much of the 1990s, a time when farmed fish was a big and relatively new topic. Farmed salmon, and other fish, may be anathema to those of us who–for ecological or gastronomic reasons, if not both–will always choose wild, but they have become mainstream fare for much of the population. I’ve always considered that wild salmon stands out against farmed salmon the way a gorgeous piece of artisan cheese stands out next to a piece of commercial cheddar. They’re just entirely different products.

Farming fish in the same waters that are home to their wild counterparts never seemed like a good idea to me. Land-based closed systems of course require more work to establish than dropping pens into existing natural habitat. But they alleviate the potential issues that come with dropping pens into wild habitat, which introduces a hyper-concentrated population where impact (feces, excess feed, potential for disease) surely can’t be fully benign–even when everything goes as planned. Trying to stop fish farming is unrealistic and not the answer, the potential for healthy protein this aquaculture provides is important for feeding the planet. Taking those farms to parts of the world where the production of healthful protein would be most beneficial–and the farming operation itself an economic benefit to the region–always made the most sense to me. We should not be farming salmon in the land of wild salmon. The concept’s not bad, but the location certainly is.

On the old-but-new salmon news front, I joined a few dozen from the restaurant industry at Hot Stove Society downtown Seattle on Wednesday for updates on what’s going on with the Pebble Mine project that is being proposed for Southwest Alaska. We’d all been hearing quite a lot in recent years about the Pebble Mine, which is in the vicinity of Bristol Bay. The potential value of the copper and gold that could be pulled from the earth there is mind boggling (I’ve read in the hundreds of billions of dollars). But so is the potential for disaster that could beset the region if mining safeguards fail and this unique, pristine, vibrant watershed is ravaged….

Read the rest of Cynthia's post here.

Photos by Riley Starks, used with permission. Check Riley Starks' Facebook page for the videos he's been posting about the spill.

The "L" Word: Leftover Salmon Makes a Salad

Salmon season is in high gear with wild Chinook and Sockeye salmon and their cousin, the Steelhead (really a large trout), running in the Columbia River. Out in the ocean there are Pacific Ocean King and Ivory King, both Chinook salmon, being troll-caught off our coast, with Kenai Red—a Sockeye that is new to me—and Coho being hauled onto the doughty fleet of boats in Alaska's Pacific waters. (I know this because Lyf Gildersleeve of Flying Fish Company shared the salmon update in his latest newsletter.)

Kenai Red salmon.

The other evening Dave had smoked a luscious fillet of Kenai Red that I'd been given as a sample from the Kenai Red Fish Company, which offers a subscription—instead of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) it's called a CSF (Community Supported Fishery)—for a season's share of the salmon caught in the Cook Inlet near Homer, Alaska.

There were a couple of cups of the fillet left over from dinner, so I put it away thinking I might throw it into a chowder or use it for a batch of salmon cakes in the coming week. Then, when my brother asked us over for dinner a couple of nights later I queried him about what we could contribute. He said, "How about an appetizer?"

Hmmmm…

The ingredients, pre-tossing.

That's when I remembered the salmon I'd stowed in the fridge, and after rummaging in the vegetable bin I came up with half a fennel bulb, some green onions and two local yellow plums. Maybe a fresh, crunchy salad to put on crackers or crostini would fit the bill.

Salmon Salad

2-3 c. leftover salmon, flaked
1/2 med. bulb fennel, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp. fennel fronds, chopped
2 med. plums, halved and sliced thinly
1-2 Tbsp. capers
2 green onions, sliced thinly
3 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon, added to taste
Salt, to taste

Put salmon, fennel, fennel fronds, plums, capers, green onions and pine nuts in large mixing bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the ingredients and add half of lemon juice. Toss gently to combine but don't break up the salmon too much. Adjust lemon juice and add salt to taste.

This would be a great lunch salad or light entrée served on a bed of fresh-from-the-garden (or farmers' market) lettuce. It would also be terrific combined with pasta or a cooked grain like farro, barley or parched green wheat (frikeh).

Salmon Sings with Roasted Local Grapes

Working the sorting line during the grape harvest one year, one of the great pleasures was picking up a beautiful cluster off the belt as it glided by and chomping into it. The mouthful of grapes exploded with juice, some of it invariably running down my chin, and the full flavor of the wine-to-be filled my head. If you haven't eaten grapes this way, you owe it to yourself to do it at least once, with a cluster of wine grapes or some from a neighbor's vines. (Ask first!)

Canadice grapes.

My friend and neighbor Ann is one of those avid grape-growers, with vines trailing along the arbor her husband built next to their driveway. The variety she grows is Canadice, a pinkish seedless grape named for Canadice Lake in the Finger Lakes of New York State. (Read what contributor Anthony Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm has to say about this grape and how to pronounce its name.)

The grape harvest this year in Oregon came at least a month ahead of schedule, and coincided nicely with the run of coho salmon that were gleaming in fishmonger's cases around town. With her grape vines bearing scads of clusters—it's been a very good harvest this year despite the lack of rain—Ann looked up a simple recipe she'd seen in Sunset magazine that called for roasting grapes and fillets of salmon, then serving them on a bed of dressed arugula.

Lucky for us she also thought to invite Dave and I for dinner, so now I can share her brilliant inspiration with you. And, note to cooks, please try to use local grapes from the farmers' market or a store that carries local produce with this recipe. The giant red or green grapes in bags at the supermarket just don't have the intensity of flavor that'll make this dish sing. And if it's okay with the farmer, don't forget to do the chomp test (or, barring that, just taste one or two)!

Salmon with Roasted Grapes and Arugula Salad
Adapted from Sunset Magazine, Oct. 2015

1/4 c. pine nuts
4 salmon fillets (each 6 oz. and about 1/2 in. thick), pin bones removed
2 c. seedless grapes
6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme leaves, divided
3/4 tsp. fine sea salt, divided
1/2 tsp. pepper, divided
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
6 c. loosely packed baby arugula
Lemon wedges (optional)

Preheat broiler with a rack set about 3" from heat.

Toast pine nuts in a medium frying pan over medium-low heat until golden, stirring often, 4 to 7 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let cool.

Set salmon and grapes on a rimmed baking sheet, leaving some space around fish. Drizzle everything with 1 tbsp. oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp. thyme and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper. Turn fish and grapes to coat, setting salmon skin side down if fillets have skin.

Broil until fish is still a bit rare in center (cut to test), 4 to 6 minutes; fillets will continue to cook as they sit. Grapes should be a bit wrinkled; if not, transfer fish to a plate and broil grapes a few minutes longer. Sprinkle fish and grapes with remaining 1/2 tsp. thyme.

In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 5 Tbsp. oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper with the vinegar, mustard and garlic until emulsified. In a large bowl, toss arugula with half of pine nuts and a third of balsamic dressing.

Arrange salad on a platter. Set salmon on top, overlapping pieces a bit. Gently combine remaining pine nuts with grapes; spoon grape mixture over fish. Serve with remaining dressing on the side and lemon wedges if you like.

Canned Salmon, Then and Now

Canned salmon was one of the odder foods that my mother would, on occasion, serve for dinner. I can't say "cook" or "prepare" for dinner because, really, she just opened the can and dumped it out in a bowl. There it would sit, the cylindrical, fishy flesh still stamped with the rings from the can, sitting in a puddle of its juices.

I remember she actually liked it…it may have been one of those food memories from WWII, when a can of salmon, along with other foods like Spam and margarine, were considered an exotic treat in the small town in Eastern Oregon where she grew up. Her three children, on the other hand, mostly poked at it, trying to extricate the bones that were hiding somewhere in the cold flesh, nibbling just enough of it to qualify the diner for dessert.

These days, luckily, a tin of salmon can be a treat, especially when it's packed in its own juices. Just look on the label (above left) and if all you see on the ingredient list is salmon and salt—with no water or oil added—then you know it was packed fresh. It was just such a can that I was given as part of a swag bag at the Tribal Food Summit last week, a sample of wild pink salmon caught and processed by the Swinomish Fish Company in LaConner, Washington.

But what to do with it?

Something simple, for sure, to be able to appreciate the flavor of the salmon. I was originally thinking of a variation on a favorite recipe for pasta with tuna and lemon, but when I was pulling out the book containing the recipe, I also spied local author Diane Morgan's gorgeous book, Salmon (right), and pulled that out, too. Intrigued by her pasta recipe calling for an olive-mustard butter, I ended up combining those elements with the other recipe.

Turns out that capers, lemon, mustard and olives play quite well with tinned salmon. I only wish I could have made it for my mom.

Salmon Pasta with Mustard, Capers and Olives

1 lb. dried pasta
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 yellow onion
3 shallots
1 c. roughly chopped Castelvetrano olives (kalamata or oil-cured olives would also work well)
1 Tbsp. stone-ground or Dijon mustard
2-3 Tbsp. capers
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes or a pinch of cayenne
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 lemon, juiced
4-6 oz. canned salmon, flaked, or leftover roasted salmon
Salt to taste, if needed
Parmesan

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook till al dente.

While pasta cooks, heat oil in large skillet. When the oil shimmers, add onions and shallots and sauté till tender. Mix in olives, mustard, capers and red pepper flakes. Sauté briefly. Just before pasta is done, add lemon zest, lemon juice and salmon and combine. Keep over very low heat while you drain the pasta. Put pasta in serving bowl, add salmon mixture and toss to combine. Taste for salt, and add more if needed. Sprinkle with parmesan, with more parmesan in a bowl on the table.

The "L" Word: Salmon Two Ways

I went a little crazy buying fish this past year, but my excuse is that the stores were offering such darn great prices. I mean, two whole albacore tunas and two gigantic salmon, both filleted on the spot with the bones and heads bagged and ready to go in the stock pot for half (or less) of what they normally go for? It was a deal I obviously couldn't resist.

Beautiful Northwest salmon. Wow.

All this is to introduce a dilemma, albeit a delicious one, that I faced last week: a friend from New York was visiting his family over the Thanksgiving holiday and we'd cajoled him into stopping by before he flew out of town. A freelance writer and playwright, his first produced play will be opening in January in the Big Apple, a pretty darn momentous event that deserved to be celebrated.

Contestant #1: Salmon mac'n'cheese.

My thoughts immediately swam to one of those amazing salmon fillets waiting patiently in the freezer, envisioning it glistening from the heat and smoke of the grill, served with a risotto of wild chanterelles and an oh-so-Northwest kale salad. So that took care of dinner. For four people. Which meant that there was a huge amount, probably at least two pounds, of gorgeously smoky cooked salmon left over.

Contestant #2: Salmon and corn chowder.

What to do? Well, two ideas came to mind, one a completely over-the-top, possibly much-too-much, macaroni and cheese casserole with chunked salmon folded in at the last minute. The other was a more sedate, but totally delicious, salmon chowder with corn and bacon.

I made both (on separate nights) and put them to a family vote. Which did they like better?

To my surprise, the mac'n'cheese (top photo) was the winner, selected because, well, it's a darn good recipe for that cheesy classic and the smoky salmon was perfectly complemented, but not overwhelmed by, the sharp cheddar. Though the voters said that any time I wanted to make the salmon chowder again, they'd be willing to help make it disappear. So nice!

Decadent Macaroni and Cheese with Salmon

1 lb. dried pasta
4 Tbsp. butter*
4 Tbsp. flour
2 c. milk*
3/4 lb. extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. cream cheese*
1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 c. cooked salmon, chunked into bite-sized pieces
Smoked Spanish paprika (pimenton), optional

Boil large pot of water. While water is heating, melt butter in medium-sized saucepan. Remove from burner and add flour, stirring to combine. Place back on burner and cook on low heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add milk gradually, stirring/whisking until it thickened, then add cheese in handfuls until melted. Add cream cheese and stir until sauce is thick and creamy, then add hot sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook till al dente. Drain and put back in pasta pot, add salmon and cheese sauce and stir gently to combine. Transfer to baking dish. Sprinkle with smoked paprika, if desired. Bake in 350 degree oven 30 minutes.

* For Dave, who is lactose intolerant, I use margarine instead of butter, substitute lactose-free whole milk for the regular milk and Tofutti cream cheese for the cream cheese. It works great…even the lactose-loving will rave.

* * *

Salmon Chowder with Corn and Bacon

3 slices bacon, cut in 1/4" pieces
2 Tbsp. butter*
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 potatoes, chopped into 1/2" dice
2 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 c. chicken stock, fish stock or corn stock
4 c. milk
2-3 c. cooked salmon, flaked
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon pieces in a large soup pot over medium-high heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is cooked but not crispy. Add the onion and garlic and sauté till translucent, then add the butter and allow it to melt. Add potatoes and sauté till slightly tender. Add corn and stir to bring up to temperature, then pour in stock and milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to simmer and cook until potatoes are completely tender. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add the salmon to the pot and stir gently until it's just warmed (a minute or so).

* As in the mac'n'cheese recipe above, margarine was used in place of butter and whole lactose-free milk was substituted for the regular milk.

The "L" Word: Salmon Risotto

Faster than a speeding bullet…no, I'm not talking about caped superheroes leaping tall buildings, I'm talking about how fast word spreads that a store has salmon on sale. In this case it was steelhead, technically a really big trout, but toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.

A friend mentioned that a nearby market had steelhead for $3.99 a pound, and faster than that proverbial bullet I was out the door and headed to the market. On the way I phoned Dave (using my ear buds and speaker…I'm not lawless, just in a hurry) to alert him that he'd be firing up the grill that evening, which always elicits a "Boy howdy!" response.

Long story short, I bought the biggest fish in the case, had the butcher fillet it and put the bones, head and tail in a separate bag. (Even at that price I figure since I'm paying for the whole fish—and the bag of bits on this puppy weighed almost two pounds—I'm going to get my money's worth out of it.)

Normally I'd take the carcass and drop it in a pot of water to make stock (right) for chowder, paella, risotto, etc., but my pal Hank Shaw had just that day posted that he roasts the carcass, then pulls the meat off the bones (above left). This gives him about a pound of fish flesh to use for whatever he wants, often a lovely fish salad.

Following his directions, I did exactly that and ended up with a nice pile of cooked salmon in addition to my two fillets. I gave one fillet to a friend who's been supplying me with scads of goodness from her garden, we had the other fillet for dinner and then a couple of nights later I used the roasted bits and some of the leftover (that's the "L" word around here) fillet to make the risotto below. I'd say that's a pretty good score for little bit of gossip!

Leftover Salmon Risotto

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 Jimmy Nardello pepper or red bell pepper (about 1/2 c.), chopped fine
2 c. arborio rice
1 c. dry white or rosé wine
4 c. stock (I used a light fish stock from a previous carcass)
1 c. frozen corn
1 lb. (or a little more) cooked salmon, flaked
2 egg yolks, stirred to break them up
1/2 c. parmesan or romano cheese, grated, plus more for the table
Salt and pepper, to taste

Melt the butter and margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper and sauté till tender. Add the rice and sauté for 30 seconds until hot, then reduce the heat to low and add the wine. Stir until the wine is absorbed. Add the stock a ladle-full at a time, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking. When the rice is about half done, add the frozen corn and stir to combine. Near the end of cooking, when the rice is still a bit soupy and al dente, add the salmon so it can warm up. When the rice is done, stir in the egg yolks and the half cup of cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with extra cheese for sprinkling.

As always, this can be made in a microwave oven, too. And you can add kale or chard or parsley at will…it's a very flexible dish.

Photo of roasted salmon carcass by Holly Heyser.

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.

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.

Summer's Worth of Grilling

It's all a matter of perspective. I just got back from a terrific camping trip along the Imnaha River in the Wallowa mountains (more on that later), glad to have missed the searing temperatures here in Portland. Though contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood found those same readings virtually balmy compared to what he experienced in Washington, D.C., recently. So with the rest of July and August still to come, Jim has done us the favor of providing recipes for the rest of our outdoor cooking needs. Thanks, Jim!

Since the mercury topped 100 for a couple of the days we were in Washington, DC, coming home to the upper 90s with fairly low humidity was actually pleasant. But I still didn’t want to cook anything inside. For last week’s heat wave I cooked everything on the Weber, which one night included salmon, grilled eggplant and corn on the cob.

Grilled Sockeye with Balsamico

The short Bristol Bay sockeye season is here. My favorite species, sockeye is second only to Chinook in fat content, and the smaller fish yield perfectly sized fillets. I cook them skin side down using indirect heat (I build my fire on one side of the Weber and put the filet on the other). The rich fish is perfect with the sweet, acidic tang of true balsamic vinear, so drizzle the salmon with Profumi Estensi balsamico at the table. (The Bristol Bay fishery is threatened by mining; see details here.)

Grilled Eggplant with Romesco

While the salmon cooks on the indirect heat side, I grilled slices of eggplant over the coals. I never salt eggplant, and I’ve never understood the claims that the vegetable is bitter. The process, to me, is a waste of time. Slice the eggplant about a half inch thick, then brush lightly with olive oil. Grill over a hot fire until nicely browned on both sides. We ate with our fingers, rolled around a dollop of romesco.

For the romesco, roast 3-4 red bell peppers (I had some already roasted and peeled in the freezer, but you can blacken them on the grill before you cook anything else).

An aside: My very first published food article more than 30 years ago was about roasting red peppers, and at the time I used the propane torch I also used for waxing my cross country skiis. Since then I’ve roasted hundreds of peppers using that torch, the burners on my old Wedgewood gas stove, and a hot fire in the Weber, but I think the easiest way is to put the peppers in a hot oven for about 45 minutes. They don’t really need to be completely blackened for the skins to come off, and the step of “sweating” the cooked peppers in a plastic bag can be skipped, too. I often do this step a few days in advance, storing the roasted peppers, skins still on, in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Peel the peppers, and discard the seed core and as many of seeds as you care to pick out. Put them into the food processor with 2-3 roughly chopped cloves of garlic, about a cup of almonds (I use blanched and slivered almonds, but whole almonds or even walnuts or filberts are okay), a half cup or more of extra virgin olive oil, a quarter cup or so of Katz Gravenstein apple cider vinegar (sherry vinegar is traditional, but the Katz vinegars have more flavor than industrial vinegars), a little salt, and about a half teaspoon of pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika). A half cup or so of breadcrumbs is optional, but makes the sauce a little thicker. Process into a chunky paste, adding more olive oil if necessary.

Grilled Corn

You can leave some of the outer husk attached, remove the rest and the silk, then wrap the ears with the husks before grilling. Even easier, husk corn and put right over the coals. Some kernels get a nice char, and the corn is sweet and smoky.

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.

Xnipec! (Gesundheit!)

As Portland's farmers' market scene matures, the infrastructure that supports it does, too. One, the Montavilla Farmers' Market, has added the position of Resident Chef to its roster. The person who fills that position is contributor Kathryn LaSusa Yeomans, who recently wrote a post on making fig jam for GSNW.

The wind and rain welcomed me to the market on my first day as Resident Chef. Thankfully, so did all of the wonderful, brave vendors, holding tight to tents and umbrellas as they protected their bundles of homegrown sunshine from the gusts and gales.

After tooling about the market and visiting with the producers of some of the most spectacular produce, meats and fish that the city has to offer, my thoughts turned to dinner. After all, the Resident Chef has to eat. "And eat well," I thought to myself as I perused the catch of the day at the Wild Oregon booth. Chinook and silver salmon gleamed deep orange from within tidy sealed packages.

The market works in mysterious ways at times—or maybe it's obvious ways. I was thinking of my salmon dinner, and what to pair with this protein, when I glanced up and saw the most beautifully round, pinkish-red radishes nestled together in a bed of vibrant radish greens. Xnipec!

In the Yucatan there is a salsa made with radishes, cilantro, chiles, tomato and bitter orange juice. The Mayan word is xnipec (pronounced shin-ih-pek), which means "hotter than a dog's nose," and describes a salsa that is so picante that it is likely to make a dog's wet nose hot. It pairs beautifully with rich seafood; salmon, scallops and the like.

Perfect for a "Hey, it's still summer, what's the deal with all this weather?" kind of day, its bright, crisp, fresh flavor would be ideal over warm seared salmon. I was sold. I practically skipped away with my Wild Oregon salmon and Simplicity Gardens radishes (Vyasa and Gopal grow spectacular produce that they line up like glistening jewels at their booth) as I ventured off in search of more salsa ingredients. Recalling Derek's salsa demo earlier in the day, I headed for Hassing Farms to seek out some hot chiles. They have a wide variety from sweet roasting peppers to blow-your-brains-out spicy chiles.

I snatched a few serranos; spicy, grassy, skinny little pointed peppers. Directly across the row I gathered fresh, fragrant cilantro and sleek scallions (green onions) from Maryhill Orchards. 19th Street Farms had nice ripe tomatoes, rounding out my shopping list. Mid-afternoon, the sun peeked out, welcomed by shoppers who streamed into the marketplace.

At home, I assembled the salsa, substituting the bitter orange juice (from Seville oranges, available in the winter, but difficult if not impossible to find this time of year) with fresh squeezed orange juice and a little lime zest and juice. I sautéed the salmon, crisping the skin and searing the flesh golden brown. At the last minute, the salsa was added to the pan, sizzling and bubbling bright and vibrant. I paired the Salmon in Salsa Xnipec with the deep green radish tops that I sautéed separately with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Deeply satisfying, I felt summer linger longer that evening, sun-filled goodness flourishing on my plate.

Salmon in Salsa Xnipec

Serves 2

2 portions of salmon (about 6 ounces each)
Juice of 3 oranges
Zest of 1 lime, plus 2 Tbsp. lime juice
2 serrano chiles, chopped (less if desired)
5 radishes, trimmed and sliced into thin matchsticks, greens reserved
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 bunch cilantro, rough chopped
1 medium heirloom tomato, diced, or 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil plus more for sautéing the fish
Sea salt to taste

Combine the citrus juice and zest, serranos, radishes, green onion, cilantro and tomato. Stir in 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Season with salt and set aside to allow flavors to meld, about a half an hour, and up to 3 hours.

Season the salmon on both sides with salt. Over a medium flame, heat the skillet with enough oil to form a generous film on the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is hot enough to sizzle when the fish is added (the oil should be shimmering but not smoking), slip the filets into the pan and sear on each side, cooking to desired doneness.

When the fish are sautéed to your liking, drain off any excess oil that remains in the pan and all at once, add the salsa to the pan. It should immediately bubble up and boil. Turn the pan off and remove the fish to a serving dish, pouring the salsa over the top. Eat at once, served with sautéed radish greens.

Sautéed Radish Greens

Serves 2

Greens from 1 bunch of radishes, washed and drained
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a skillet. When the oil is hot, shimmering but not smoking, add the radish greens, tossing and cooking for a minute at most, until they wilt and are tender. Season with salt and pepper.

The "L" Word: Creative Challenge

It was kind of like my own version of Iron Chef.

On the table were three potatoes, a few random vegetables, the bottom of a butternut squash and three eggs. The secret ingredient? Leftover roasted salmon! And it had to feed a family of three.

OK? Go!

Roast Salmon Hash

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 potatoes, cut in 1/2" dice
1-2 c. squash, cut in 1/2" dice
1-2 c. roasted salmon, broken into chunks
2 tsp. vinegar (I like red wine vinegar)
3 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley, chopped fine

Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, garlic and celery and sauté till tender. Add potatoes and squash, sauté until they can be easily pierced with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add salmon and fold in, being careful not to break it up too much. Turn off heat and cover.

Boil water in non-stick skillet, adding 2 tsp. vinegar to the water. Turn down heat to simmer and break eggs into water, making sure they don't touch. While they cook, dish hash mixture into three bowls. When they're done (test by lifting out of water with slotted spoon and jiggling), use slotted spoon to set them on top of hash. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.