Saturday, February 7, 2009

Salmon & ricotta patties




Today was the hottest day in Melbourne's history. I think weather started being recorded in about 1855. The temperature rose to 46.4 celsius: that is 115.52 fahrenheit. We sweltered and there are fires throughout the state. Xena and Hecuba felt the heat though not as badly as they did during the last heatwave when we had 40+ temperatures for days.







In the midst of a lot of serious monitoring of fires and people at risk of evacuation, we had a lot of flippant comments on Twitter (and Facebook) about magnums, peppermint or otherwise. Then @shewgirl stopped me in my tracks by asking when I was going to blog! Good point. I wasn't going to blog about peppermint magnums but I did have a blog post waiting to write. So Tania, thanks for the wakeup call! This is for you! You may even be interested to know that during the week I had a couple of chicken schnitzels influenced by you. I bet you don't normally eat them with plum sauce though ;.)) Delicious!

Over Christmas one of the jobs I did was a major clearout of the pantry. This was needed but I also wanted to make space to store my new food-processor and my vacuum cleaner in the pantry. Well, I succeeded in all that. I also found various items that I needed to eat. Amongst the booty was a stock of canned pink salmon. Nom, nom! But what should I do with it? I had a couple of salads and then I remembered that once upon a time I used to make salmon patties. I remembered that I used ricotta in them, and think I probably also had grated carrot, grated zucchini and potato though the recipe varied according to what was in stock at the time. However, this time I decided on a much simpler recipe focusing on salmon, ricotta and the piece de resistance, dill! The mixture can be used to make patties or smaller balls which can be used for nibbles.




Ingredients


375 gr low fat ricotta
420 gr canned pink salmon
Cup dill
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
Breadcrumbs, dry
Olive oil


Mode

Drain salmon and ricotta
Roughly chop dill
Place salmon, ricotta and dill in bowl
Add one egg
Crush garlic cloves and add to mix
Mix thoroughly and form into patties (or small balls if desired for nibbles)
Beat remaining egg and put in a dish
Put breadcrumbs on a plate
Crumb the patties (or balls) in the egg and breadcrumbs
Let these rest in a cool place for a couple of hours
Heat some olive oil in a pan
Cook the patties until browned on the outside and cooked inside, turning regularly
Serve patties hot or cold with a salad or vegetables for a main meal
If making salmon balls, serve as nibbles with drinks.