July Recipe: Megan's Review

Sunset from the Marbella in Cambridge, Maryland

I have some VERY exciting news to share: I got a new camera! I am so happy, and by the picture above you can tell I am going to get good use out of it. I had a Nikon and it was the biggest piece of crap I ever owned. I am now back to a Canon and my blogging is about to go to a whole new level!

I was so excited to try this recipe. I grew up thinking of fish as only fish sticks you baked in the oven. Loving fish has taken a few years and it has only been in the last year I have been enjoying salmon. I have to admit, I have only made salmon by myself once and that was last week for the owners of the boat. The cook, Amanda was out of town at that time and I had to make it all by my lonesome. It turned out great and so I was totally inspired for a new challenge.

Amanda is our cook and is very good at it. The owners of the boat have very specific tastes and she caters to it well. We like to have the occasional night off when the owners dine out to enjoy a meal for the crew and she had never made salmon burgers so we figured it out together. I would like to say I LOVED this recipe and it is now in my quick Rolodex for things to make for friends. As Amanda said "I love anything that has ginger and fish sauce."

We are currently still working our way up the East Coast and have spent the last couple of weeks in Virginia and now Maryland. The last place we were at was a very small town called Yorktown, Virginia. The best thing is that there were a bunch of local vegetable stands and seafood stands. I loaded up and got a couple of interesting things to try.

I kept very close to the original recipe. For the Salmon Burgers, the only thing I changed was I added a bit of Sriracha sauce as well as some Panko crumbs. I am not sure what happened but the mix was way too wet. I added the Panko crumbs to the mix (appoximately 1/4 cup) to eat up some of the liquid. Our BBQ is on the top deck and this was waaaay too much work so I sauteed it in a pan like this:

They turned out perfect! I served them with the salsa on the recipe except I didn't have mango so I used (can you guess?) a peach fresh from the produce stand. I didn't have a red pepper either so I used a jalapeno. Luckily, the crew has gotten used to and embraces my need for spice. I served the burgers with mixed summer squash that I had baked in the oven with garlic, parmesan, salt & pepper, and olive oil as well as roasted red potatoes.

I have to share my secret to roasted potatoes. It is mustard. It is the most amazing ingredient, I learned it from my friend Mary from Montana and my potatoes haven't been without it since. You toss them in olive oil, pepper, lawry's seasoning salt, garlic, and mustard of your choice. Typically this is about two tablespoons. My favorite is the Beer n' Brat mustard from Silver Springs. You can get this at Fred Meyer or Kroger brand grocery stores. The next best is just regular dijon. The only time this failed is with plain yellow mustard (sorry).

We made salmon burgers as sliders which were the perfect portion. We served them with mayo, the Peach Salsa and fresh greens. The crew loved the dinner and I will be probably hearing requests for this in the future! Hope you enjoyed these as much as we did.

Our colorful and locally grown dinner plate!

My last bite fell on the floor - I almost cried!

Amanda taking a bite! Notice her delicious Rose in the background.