Friday Foodie: Easy Salmon Patties

Greetings! In keeping with the mission of XO Fitness to enhance your lifestyle, we've decided to introduce a new weekly food blog we call Friday Foodie. Ryan, Karin or one of our trainers will be sharing a healthy recipe that they love every Friday. Our intent is that these recipe's are relatively easy, delicious and use the fewest pots and pans for easy clean-up. This week's recipe is Easy Salmon Patties by Ryan.  Since you all know Ryan can't count, expect the spices to be conservative estimates.  Tweak to your liking.

Salmon Patties are fast, easy, full of heart healthy Omega 3's (nearly 800mg/pattie) and quality protein (11 grams/pattie), ~8% of your daily calcium and only 100 calories per pattie.  Depending on how you make them, they're economical too, costing less than 50 cents a pattie.  What more could you ask for? 

How about a place to hide leftovers? Welllll, OK, I've got a confession to make.  I sneak leftovers into these all the time.  The ones I made last night had about a cup of quinoa mixed in.  Leftover brown basmati rice is another common additive.  Both do a great job of lightening the texture without taking over the taste.  Note:  Calorie/nutrition estimates do not include leftover inclusion!!!

Salmon Patties - Fast version:
1 can (15oz) of Salmon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8-1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 pinch of black pepper
1/4 cup (or so) bread crumbs ( Panko crumbs are the best with the fewest ingredients, the ones I used for this time are definitely a food product with a list of ingredients as long as my arm.  Might as well be wonder bread.  Calcium Propionate?  Yum!)

Open the can of salmon and pour off the broth into a largish mixing bowl (or discard to reduce sodium).  Place the salmon onto a plate and pull apart the pieces and remove the larger spine bones.  This is probably not necessary, but I do it anyway.  (All other bones and skin will mash up and are a great source of natural calcium.  Did you just say Ewww?  See alternate boneless option below). 

Put the salmon into the bowl with the two eggs and all spices.  Mix up with a fork.  Add the bread crumbs a little at a time until you have a mixture that is Pattie-worthy.

I like to use an ice-cream scoop to plop even amounts onto my hand, form into patties and arrange onto a pre-heated, canola or olive oil sprayed pan.  Brown on both sides. Serve plain, on a halved slice of toasted bread as a bun (3+ fiber/slice) or as a leftover with an egg for breakfast.

That's it. If you divide it into 9 servings, it is about 101 calories per serving with 3 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fat, and 11 grams of protein. It includes almost no fiber and 267mg of Sodium (without optional salt).  FYI:  Current recommendations are 1500mg a day or less of sodum.  It's hard to stay under 1500mg unless you cook and pay very close attention.

Variations:

Slightly more complex version for those with time:  Replace the onion and garlic powder with 1/4 cup+ of finely diced onions and a crushed clove of fresh garlic.

Boneless but more expensive version for anyone not willing to handle bone removal:  Substitute the inexpensive can (~$2.50) with (3) 6 oz packets (~$6-7) of Chicken of the Sea Pink Salmon (plain, not flavored). BTW: Interestingly Omega 3's drop by over 60% if you choose this option (1000mg down to 400mg) and no bones = no calcium. You could get a pound of salmon fillet and broil it for the slightly more money.  Your choice but I'd go for the fillet!

There you have it:  Easy Salmon Patties.  Whip these babies up, put one on a plate with a serving of quinoa or brown rice and the other half covered with steamed veggies and you've got a simple, delicious, home cooked meal.  Still hungry, load your plate the same way, not playing favorites.  Plate loading at it's finest.

Enjoy!  -Ryan.