out of the freezer- salmon and prawn cakes

Yesterday was it time to look through what my full packed freezer was hiding, and I found both prawns and salmon pieces. Long time since I made fish cakes, which I love.

It’s a recipe that we often used on our menus with different sauces. The sauce is a recipe that I found in magazine aboard a train in Sweden and it became so popular that we gave it the name, Sauce Gustavson – after my surname.  

The salmon pieces I saved after cutting a side of fresh salmon into portions which I do a couple of times per year. Salmon is my favorite fish …. maybe not, Atlantic cod is my favorite, but so expensive that I hardly buy it anymore.

Salmon is also the most vertical fish there is  for home cooking and the most popular fish on a restaurant menu because the guest knows what they are getting and salmon today is a cheap fish.

You who know my style of cooking know that I’m a big fan of frozen herbs, because of the juice they create when defrosted. Specially dill, the dill we buy in the supermarket hardly smell dill. I have done gravlax for nearly 40 years and I have used frozen dill most of the time.

I’m also a massive fan of Findus frozen herb cubes, that they have stopped produce now because Findus is no  longer Swedish . it’s French just like our outstanding vodka, Absolute. Also, our local dairy is French today. So I blame it on the French. 

The fish spice mix I always use when cooking fish is something I came across at a food exhibition a couple of years ago and can’t be without since then. Don’t ask what it contains … it doesn’t say on the tin, I buy this direct from the manufacture .. but there are similar products at the supermarket. 

So most of the ingredients came out of my freezer, only the cream and egg was fresh. Both the cakes and the sauce is so quick to make.

If using frozen prawns and salmon make sure to squeeze all excess water out of the products. I put them in a colander while defrosting and still I had to squeeze quite a lot of water from it. 

Salmon and Prawn cakes with Mustard Horseradish sauce, serves 6
400 gr (14oz) salmon, roughly chopped
400 gr (14oz) cooked prawns (shrimps), roughly chopped
1 egg
1 large red onion, chopped
salt and black pepper for seasoning
fish seasoning mix (spicy)
150ml (3/4 cup) Panko bread crumbs
butter for frying

Sauce:
6 dl (3 cups) thick cream
2 tbsp (30ml) sweet mustard
2 tbsp (30ml) creamed horseradish
2 tbsp (30ml) lemon juice
Mixed herbs (used frozen Mediterranean)
loads of chopped dill (use frozen)
seasoning

1. Chop the prawns and salmon roughly by hand or in a kitchen aid machine, but make sure it doesn’t go to a smooth mixture. It has to be a texture to it. Add the chopped red onion and egg, seasoning and mix well by hand.
2. With wet hands equally sized cakes. Can be done in advance.
3. Before frying turn the lightly in Panko crumbs.  Fry the cakes in loads of butter until golden for about 4-5 min on each side, all depending on sizes of the cakes
4. Sauce:
   Boil the cream for about 2-3 min until it thickens, remove from the heat and whisk well when adding all the ingredients. Return to the heat and let simmer for about 5 min. Done.

This is all … very quick and simple dish. Normally I serve it with boiled new potatoes or green pea mash, but I had neither new or floured potatoes at home … even if I’m not a rice lover … I decided to use rice this time.

This dish is a “Quick Fix” … there is hardly aren’t any artistic thoughts behind it … straight forward and it always goes down as a treat.

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.”
Julia Child