The Best Recipe to Convert Salmon Haters
Salmon is dependable. Salmon is nutritious. Salmon is easy.
But salmon is also boring. Salmon is often chalky. Salmon is, well, salmon. And your child–well, he/she is your child but also, I assume, occasionally fickle. Even if salmon and him/her have had a long detente, there will eventually be a falling out. It happens.
If/when you want to make it work–for the first time or for forever time–this is the way. You can literally carve it out of your dinner, using the sides and scraps of the fish for your child while keeping the filets for yourself, your partner, and/or older children; you may just want to make it for yourself, too. It’s crispy. It’s sweet and tangy. It’s really satisfying.
Just one ask, from the recipe and I: Do.Not.Overcook.The.Fish.Into.Oblivion. Nearly every other for-the-child salmon recipe out there has you cook the salmon twice (first on its own, then again to make the cake/patty); it’s maddening. If you wouldn’t eat overcooked salmon for all the obvious reasons, why would you expect small children with limited taste buds and fear of the unfamiliar to enjoy it? Stop that. Try this.
(Important note: this recipe assumes you will be cooking roughly a half- to one-pound of fish, with most of it to be served in filet form to adults and/or older children and the rest set aside for your young child; there will be enough servings for the rest of your family to have a cake or two. But if you want to make the cakes the main dish for all, increase the amount of sweet potato, breadcrumbs, and seasonings in proportion with how much of your fish you use.)
- 3 oz Salmon (see instructions below; I typically pull from a center-cut filet)
- 1/4 Sweet Potato
- 6 crackers (Ritz or Ritz-adjacent are the default here; breadcrumbs and cornmeal can be used, too)
- Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Dried Parsley
- Dried chives
- Garlic powder
- Grated parmesan
If your salmon is not already in filet form, cut it in half or in thirds horizontally to produce two or three relatively even pieces. Marinate or crust your salmon filet as you see fit. (This recipe* can be made at the same time as the cakes, with basically the same ingredients)
Cut off the portion of a whole sweet potato you need, then poke all over the spud with a fork; microwave until completely soft, roughly 5-6 minutes. Allow 10 minutes to cool. When cool enough to handle, cut open the sweet potato and push out its innards into a large bowl; discard the skin.
Heat your oven to 375. While heating, blitz the crackers, a generous pour of grated parmesan, and parsley in your blender until the size and texture of breadcrumbs. Pour the crumbs into the bowl containing your sweat potatoes.
When your oven is ready, place your salmon on the center rack and cook for two minutes. Remove salmon from heat and cut off the portion size you need, drawing from the thinner pieces/edges on both sides of the fish. Return the remainder of fish to heat source to finish cooking: roughly 8 minutes.
Over the bowl in which you placed the sweet potatoes, pull or shred the flesh of the fish until it is scattered into small shards. Add in a squirt or two of mustard, a spoonful of mayonnaise, a generous shake each of the parsley, chives, and garlic; a shake of salt and pepper; and some more parmesan if using. (Note: if using breadcrumbs or cornmeal, pour in a 1/4th cup to start--enough so that the crumbs are visible and binding the salmon and potatoes.) Smash it all together.
- Grab a small clump of the salmon mixture and form a ball in one hand by using the other to turn and sculpt a circular motion; if you can’t keep the ball intact, add more breadcrumbs. Repeat for the remainder of mixture. Allow a few minutes for the mix to solidify and cohere.
Heat a thin layer of oil in a large pan. When hot, place salmon balls all around the pan, then smash each one down with a spatula; cook for about 2 minutes until browned and crisp on outside; flip and cook 1-2 minutes on the other side until evenly browned. Remove from heat and pat down to remove excess oil.
Squirt with lemon and dab with a tiny bit of yogurt. Break into strips or small bites. If your child is resistant or not particularly engaged initially, break off a chunk and place on a cracker or coin of cucumber.
Whitefish will work just as well in this dish; come to think of it, more challenging meat–say, lamb–will, too. Vegetables–say, peas or zucchini–can easily be added to the mix, just be ready to add more breadcrumbs and/or sweet potato to compensate for the additional contents.
Brad (the Dad) is the founder and Chief Recipe Officer of New Dad's Kitchen. His own cooking/feeding journey started humbly during his son's infancy, preparing and managing his son's bottle intake in order to support his wife; it has since blossomed into a full-on passion to feed his child and family delicious and healthy meals that can satisfy both a toddler and his very tired parents.
