Pesto Crusted Salmon with Goat Cheese Filling

Ok, so I had tried a cheese stuffed salmon dish a while ago. I didn't blog about it because it just wasn't good. I should have shared it anyway, but I was too ashamed. So, I will share this adventure. On paper, the recipe sounded good. My mom passed this along from a cooking class and she had wonderful notes all over it. Plus it has pesto. How can you go wrong with pesto? Read on......

Pesto Crusted Salmon with Goat Cheese Filling

4 (5-6 oz.) salmon fillets
6 oz. soft goat cheese or cream cheese
1 Tb. chopped shallots
1 tsp. chopped chives - I left this out
3/4 cup prepared basil pesto
1 cup flour
1 cup panko crumbs - I used plain breadcrumbs.
3 Tb. olive oil

Using a paring knife, cut a small pocket in the side of each salmon fillet. Combine the goat cheese (I used cream cheese), shallots and chives and push 1/4 of the filling into each pocket.

Season salmon with salt & pepper and dredge in the flour. Dip in pesto and then coat well with panko. I only covered one side of the salmon with pesto. Let crust set up for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Brown salmon on both sides and transfer skillet to oven and bake 6 to 8 minutes. (Salmon may be transferred to a parchment-lined or silpat baking sheet before baking.)

Mmm.... Pesto.....

So it looks good. I've determined that cheese and fish do not go together. And I learned via Food Network that those two items just don't go well together period. But this has pesto! Pesto! And pesto did not save this dish. I think the cream cheese mixture with the shallots was just too strong of an onion flavor. If I ever were to make this dish again, I'd leave the chives and omit the shallots.

Plus this dish was a lot more work than the outcome was worth. I bought salmon with the skin still on, so I skinned the fish myself. Too much work #1. Then cutting a pocket which I did not do a good job of. Too much work #2. Stuffing the fish then dredging in flour and then pesto and then breadcrumbs? Too much work #3.

Wes said it was ok. I think the shallot flavor was too strong for him, but he said it wasn't terrible. He's so much nicer on my cooking than I am. Anyway, if you for some reason have the desire to try this recipe, let me know how it goes and what you would change. I'm always up for trying again to make it better!

Asian Salmon Patties

Everyone loves a good crab cake, right? How about a zesty salmon cake? Usually looking at recipes, I can pretty much tell how the meal will turn out. With this one, I wasn't as confident. I couldn't wrap my head around all the ingredients and how they would come together. Lucky for me and Wes, this dish turned out ten times better than I had imagined. Here's the recipe:

Asian Salmon Patties

1 1/2 pounds skinless salmon fillet, finely chopped

2 shallots, minced

2 Tb fresh ginger, peeled & grated

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper - I probably used about 1/2 tsp.

Salt & pepper

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 Tb. lime juice

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 thinly sliced scallions - I omitted these

When buying the salmon fillets, see if the store will take the skins off for you. It's a lot easier than doing it yourself. If you decide to skin the fish yourself, take a sharp knife, not serrated, and start wiggling the knife back and forth between the flesh and skin. It takes a while, but it can be done. I also chopped the salmon in larger chunks. If you wanted a finer texture in your cakes, you could probably do a rough chop in the food processor, adding a little fish at a time. Don't grind it too fine otherwise you'll end up with paste.

In a large bowl, combine salmon, shallots, ginger, egg, red pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground pepper. Form mixture into 1 inch thick patties, packing each firmly. Transfer to a plate. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes. These patties can be kept frozen for about 2 months. Just thaw before cooking.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add salmon patties; cooking until browned on both sides and opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

To make Sesame Mayonnaise: In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, scallions, lime juice and sesame oil. Chill until ready to serve. Serve with salmon cakes.

Look at the golden crunch on the outside. Mmmm... I served french fries, but feel free to go fancier!

These cakes had such a nice zing and ton of flavor to them. I think Wes described it like a scorpion's tail: there's a sting at the end. Maybe Wes should be writing this blog instead of me... You taste every single ingredient in these cakes. You taste the ginger and the onion-yness of the shallots. Then there was that heat at the end from the red pepper flakes. There was no fooling Wes. Even though I chopped the shallots fine, he could still feel the texture and taste the onion flavor of the shallots.

I love the sesame mayonnaise with this. You really taste the lime juice in it, but then there's a hint of the nuttiness from the sesame oil. It's wonderful. I even dipped my fries in the mayonnaise.

I love, love this dish. It's great as a main course or make the patties smaller and serve as appetizers. It'll definitely impress your dinner guests. The hardest part would be skinning the fish and then chopping it up. I liked the chunkier chop because it gives it more density and rustic feel. But go for a finer chop if you don't like big chunks of fish. Even if you over cook this dish a little, it hides it with everything that's going on.

Give it a try! Happy cooking!

Beer Battered Fish & Chips

I like to cook. I really picked up cooking when I started dating Wes and cooked a couple of meals like the good girlfriend I was. It started off with some of my favorites from home that I usually made myself - mostly chicken recipes.

Well, when we got married, I got more adventurous and looked for recipes of food I liked to eat at restaurants. Fish & chips is one of those meals that is always so satisfying, and I found a relatively easy recipe. I'm all about the easy recipes. So here it is! Don't be intimidated by the frying. It's not that hard! Disclaimer: this is not a recipe I came up with!

Beer Battered Fish & Chips

4 cod fillets cut in half
1/2 cup flour
1 Tb paprika
1Tb garlic
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/2 bottle beer

Mix dry ingredients together and whisk in egg. Slowly add beer until you get a medium consistency batter. This will end up being close to 1/2 a bottle of beer. (Enjoy the rest!) Salt & pepper the fish fillets and dip fish in batter. Shake off any excess before putting it in the oil. Batter should stick to the fish, but not be so thick that it's globbed on there and not so runny that it falls right off.

Heat about 4 cups vegetable oil in a pot until it reaches about 365 degrees. Use a pot where you could fit two or three fillets in at once. Oil should be about 3" deep if you don't use 4 cups of oil. Don't have a candy thermometer to measure the heat? I used a meat thermometer. Not the same, but it'll give you a good idea of the temperature.

Once oil gets to 365, carefully drop the fish into the oil. It may spit up a bit, so be careful. Fish will take about 4-5 minutes to cook. Or cook until batter is a nice dark golden brown. (Tip: You don't want the batter to crisp up too quickly or your fish won't cook on the inside.) You may have to flip the fish over to ensure it browns on both sides evenly. Once the batter is golden brown, lift fish out of the oil and place on a cookie rack to drain. This will keep the fish crispy, allowing the excess oil to drip off. Repeat with rest of fish.

Tarter sauce:
3/4 cup mayo
1 tsp chopped pickles
1 tsp chopped onion
malt vinegar to taste
salt to taste

For the tarter sauce, I definitely taste this as I go. I serve the fish with frozen french fries, but feel free to use whatever "chip" you like! The end result is a fish that is nice and flaky on the inside with a nice crunch to the batter. The batter has a little kick to it from the garlic powder and paprika. Don't really taste the beer that much, but I never could with restaurant fish & chips anyway.

Enjoy! And next time I post a recipe, I'll take pictures of the finished product.