Salmon Patties

We really don't eat enough fish.

Well, I eat fish most days for breakfast. A little tin of smoky tuna, a spot of mayo and 4 rice crackers to be exact. I like to have a protein hit so I feel nice and full and aren't tempted to nibble at work.

My family though, are not big on fish. They love calamari, like octopus on the BBQ, the odd oyster or two and will have the occasional white fish, but no tinned fish no way, no how. They don't even like anchovies! I know, how is that even possible?

I love prawns, scallops, squid, ocean trout, salmon, blue eye cod.... the list goes on.

The one dish I can get my family of whingers-I mean, discerning eaters, to eat is my take on Salmon Patties.

Fresh salmon can be quite pricey for a family meal. The best buy for this dish is salmon belly. I only paid $12 kg as opposed to $32 kg for the fillet.

When the fish is processed, the prime fillets are removed and trimmed to look beautiful and have the best possible product. The belly is the flappy part under the fillet and is trimmed off as it's thinner and has a nice layer of fat. It usually still has the skin and sometimes a little fin attached. It's also quite pretty with a zebra stripiness of orange and white. It's a really good piece of meat as it stays nice and moist while cooking as the layer of fat keeps it from drying out. Yes, it does need a little preparation to clean it up, but trust me readers, it's well worth it.

Start by boiling some potatoes. You want a good ratio of potato to fish, at least 3:1Things that grow underground should always be cooked from cold water. So pop them in a pot with some and cook until mashably soft.

Meanwhile, prepare the salmon.

Remove the skin and cut around the fin. The easiest way to do this is to place the knife blade between the skin and flesh, and pull. Angle the knife ever so slightly towards the skin when pulling and the skin will come away cleanly in one piece. Chop the salmon into little cubes and place in a colander.

Chop a bunch of fragrant dill and finely chop a tablespoon of capers. Add a good dollop of horseradish cream to taste – I like a lot! I also add in the zest of a lemon and a squeeze of the juice.

When the potatoes are ready to drain, pour them over the salmon pieces. Put them and the potatoes straight into a bowl and mash away. The potatoes should go nice and smooth and it’s OK for the salmon to be a bit chunky. This pretty much cooks the salmon. I do this to as it would otherwise take ages to heat the patties enough to cook it correctly and I don’t want to wait that long or eat food that has gone tough from being overcooked.

Stir through the herby mixture and taste for seasoning. Add in an egg to help bind the mixture.
Quickly form the mix into patties. If you like a crunchy texture, you could pat them into some gfree bread crumbs, but I don’t bother.

Cook the patties in an oiled heated pan until the outsides are nice and crisp.

Serve these with a yummy salad, or steamed veggies and extra wedges of lemon. I don’t usually go for chips, as these are already potatoey enough.

The richness of the salmon works really well with the smoothness of the mashed potato, while the herbs, horseradish and capers add an acidic fresh tang that ties it all together.

So Readers, how do you get your dose of Omega 3’s?

Breast of Lamb

My families favourite meat is lamb.

Lamb roast is what we grew up on.

However lamb is not an economy option anymore.Even the shanks are about $9 a kilo now that they're trendy, and lets face it, they're mostly bone anyway! so when I saw the price of these lamb breasts I just couldn't pass them by. $2 a kilo! That is completely ridiculous.

Are you unfamiliar with this particular cut of meat? It's a budget cut, part of the forequarter and is the flappy bit containing the ribs with a layer of fat and meat. Also know as lamb flap or belly. Sometimes just sold for dog meat. Woollies has been cleverly selling them off cut into pieces as lamb riblets, for only about $4 a kilo, but they are still fairly fatty.

The secret is that the meat is so delicious. You just need to remove the fat. You can cook the whole thing long and slow, and render most of it out that way, or cook it on the BBQ high and crispy and just cut it off, but it's still there. The best thing to do is just remove it.

You need good knife and a little bit of time.

Slide your knife in between the rib bones and the meat. Cut as close as you can to the bone to not waste any meat.

Next cut along the layer of fat that rests on this meat. Sometimes you can actually pull it off by prising the two parts apart.

I really like the papery sort of skin on the outside, so I next trim that off as thinly as possible from the fat as well.

Now, lets put the jigsaw back together!

Place the meat down on the board and patch any bits that are thin or even a bit empty, with other pieces of meat.

Scatter on some gfree bread crumbs or feel free to make a real stuffing. I just didn't have any handy. I also sprinkled on some spice powder.

Lay on some blanched vegetables. I do this by just trimming up the veggies then pouring boiling water over them in a bowl. Sit for about 30 seconds then drain. Easy peasy.

I had also grilled a capsicum to lay on the meat first, but forgot it! It sure would have looked pretty though.

Now roll the whole thing up.

Wrap the little bundle in the saved skin as that will protect the meat and go nice and crispy. Tie with some string to keep a good shape.

Bake at about 180* until nice and brown and crispy.

Rest for a bit then remove string and cut into rounds, so you can see the pretty layers of meat and veggies. You can see that there is really hardly any fat in the roll at all now. Just enough to baste the meat while it cooked.

This whole exercise cost less than $1 a serve. That's pretty darn good for decent protein. It also looks really pretty and I would be happy to serve that to company. Served with a big pile of mashed potatoes and some gravy I still think it would come in at less than $1.50 per head. For a whole main course. Not too bad don't you think?

So Reader, what's your best budget beater recipe or tip?