Slammin' Salmon Crunchy Cakes With Gayla Sauce

Pot Scrubber's Note:

These cakes will make a salmon volunteer for the honor to be in this dish. I love these crispy little suckers and so does Dugan. The delicious sauce I blatantly stole from my friend Chef #119466 who blatantly stole it from Cooking Light. There is no honor among thieves.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 4.0 cakes

Gayla Sauce

• 6 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons capers
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon fresh lemon rind
• ¼ teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1⁄8; teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salmon Cakes

• ¼ cup red bell pepper , diced (I sometimes use jarred or drained pimientos)
• 1 teaspoon garlic , minced
• 4 green onions , chopped
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon seasoning salt
• ½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1⁄8; teaspoon dried dill
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cayenne
• 1 small egg , beaten
• 4 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
• 14 ¾ ounces pink salmon , skin and bones removed and flaked
• 1 cup crushedcorn flakes (not too finely or they won't be crunchy like I like them) or 1 cup panko
• vegetable oil , for frying

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients for the Gayla sauce and refrigerate.
2. Sautee red pepper about 3 minutes in a non stick skillet in some butter or margarine. Add chopped garlic for the last thirty seconds.
3. Combine peppers and garlic and all the rest of the ingredients except corn flakes in a bowl and mix together.
4. Make four equal sized balls of this mixture and roll well into cornflake crumbs. Pat crumbs firmly and make sure it is well coated.(Balls will be about the size of a small baseball).
5. Place balls on platter and press into patties about 1 inch thick.
6. Fry immediately in a few tablespoons of hot oil in a non stick skillet on medium high heat. (You don't want them to sit around too long or the cornflakes will absorb moisture from the patties and not fry up as crispy.) Sear them quickly but of course, do not burn them about 3 or 4 minutes a side.
7. NOTE: After mixing all the ingredients together you may refrigerate this to stiffen mixture up but I don't find it necessary unless you have used a very large egg. You may also make everything ahead of time and refrigerate. Simply remove about an hour before dinner and bring to room temperature or they will be hot on the outside but cold in the middle. Just don't roll in the cornflake crumbs until the last minute.
8. Another Note: For a nice variation feel free to add 1/2 tsp or so of cumin to give these a "Tex-Mex" taste topped with some chili con queso. Yum! Be creative! This is a drop-to-the-floor-crawl-to-the-door moist patty. Make it as directed the first time and then EXPERIMENT! Make it your own.

Reviews

[molinda85]

Took a couple liberties to veganize this recipe (well minus the salmon, which is too good in the Northwest to pass up on), but it still turned out fantastic. Substitutions included Vegenaise, Ener-G egg replacer, adding in an extra tablespoon of bread crumbs (seemed a little too moist) and using Emeril's Essence creole seasoning instead of Old Bay seasoning. I didn't have any capers so my Gayla sauce consisted of Vegenaise, lemon juice, dijon mustard, black pepper, and crushed red pepper...so tasty! Can't wait to make this for my hubby when he gets home in September:)

[MissPenny]

We had this last night. I made as written. It was wonderful. The sauce made it over the top.

[Abby Girl]

I really wanted to like this recipe because of all the good hits it got, but in the end, they were just OK. I had made up the ingredients and chilled really well before I made the patties. They were so moist that there was no way that they were going to stay together and they ended up breaking up while cooking. I would do this recipe again, but I would watch the amount of wet ingredients that is going in to the pot. I have alot of huge salmon steaks in my freezer, so I will play around with this one