Salmon Patties

My family loves salmon, but have you noticed the prices lately?  Fresh and even frozen salmon fillets are quite expensive to eat on a regular basis, as least for our current family budget.  In order to enjoy salmon and also it's health benefits, I make a gluten-free, egg-free version of the "old fashioned" New England favorite using canned alaskan salmon.  The "old fashioned" version I grew up eating was bound together with crushed saltine crackers, eggs, and milk.  It was delicious, but not a good option when dealing with food allergies.  So I have developed this recipe that uses no gluten or eggs.  I do use milk, but any milk substitute that you like will work well (substituted in equal amounts) with this recipe.

When purchasing canned salmon I always make sure that it specifies on the can that it is a product of the US, specifically wild Alaskan salmon, for best quality for the price.  Red Sockeye or Pink will both work well.  About the only difference is the Red Sockeye salmon will be a brighter pink color, but when used in this capacity, it renders the same result as the Pink, except the end result with be more pink in color.  Pictured above is Salmon Patties made with the Pink salmon.  I usually get pink for this on an everyday basis because the price is cheaper. If I was going to make these for a special occasion, like an appetizer for a holiday gathering for example, I might pay a little more for the brighter color.

(2) 14.75 oz. cans of Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon
1/4 c. Coconut Flour
1 Lime, juiced and zested
1 Tbs.  milled Flaxseed
2 Tbs. Buckwheat Flour
1/2  Medium sized Sweet Onion, finely diced, caramelized
1/3 c. milk (or favorite milk substitute)
Salt & Pepper to Taste

After opening the cans of salmon, hold lid in place and pour out the liquid that the salmon is packed in.  Then, gently turn salmon out of cans onto a plate and scrape away and discard any skin that is present and also remove and discard the back bones.  Any other small bones found in it will easily break up into the mixture when stirring and is good to leave in for extra calcium (no, they don't crunch when you eat them, you will never know they are there..).  Place salmon into a mixing bowl and add to it the coconut flour, lime juice and 1/2 the zest (save the rest for another use, flaxseed, buckwheat flour, caramelized onions, milk, salt and pepper.  Mix together well with fork or fingers.  You will know that you have the right amount of moisture and dry ingredients (the binders) when you can squeeze some of the salmon mixture lightly in your hand and it holds together, without liquid squeezing through your fingers (which means you need a little more buckwheat flour...) or having to pack it like a snowball (which would mean you need a little more milk or milk substitute).  Form mixture into patties, cook on a medium low greased skillet until golden brown, then turn over and cook until golden brown on the second side.  Serve immediately with ketchup, tartar sauce, remoulade sauce, or other favorite condiment (tartar sauce and remoulade sauce are not usually egg-free, so please be careful if allergic to eggs!).  If you have any leftovers, they are great the following day as a sandwich, either hot or cold. Wow... there's a fond childhood memory coming back of salmon sandwiches in my school lunch!  With ketchup of course!

Serving suggestion:  We like to eat them with rice and fresh pineapple or mango.  A nice fruit salsa would be great with these too.  Below, is a salmon patty pictured with rice, pineapple and a chili lime remoulade sauce made out of a combination of things I had in the fridge:  mayo, thousand island dressing, hot sauce, chili powder, lime juice/zest, salt, pepper... I didn't measure just mixed until it tasted good.  ;o)  Have fun eating your weekly dietary seafood allowance!

Salmon patty with rice, fresh pineapple, and chili lime remoulade sauce

Going Nutty with Coconut Flour

It's amazing how life can sometimes just get busy out of nowhere... and then I find myself going almost a week without posting anything!    When I posted the buckwheat coconut pancake recipe, I had planned to post some information about coconut flour on the next day, since I don't have any information on this flour listed in my "gluten-free flours post"...  so much for my plan!

So, finally, here it is, my first experience working with coconut flour:

Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is more coarse than buckwheat or masa harina, closer to that of rice flours.  It has a creamy light yellow color with a sweet fragrance, and a delicious rich coconut flavor..  but not sweet tasting like the flaked coconut we are used to buying at the supermarkets. It also seems to lend a slightly creamy richer texture to the items made with it.

I decided to make pancakes and initially started out using 100% coconut flour.  The package of coconut flour had a couple of recipes on the back, and one used just coconut flour and one used a ratio of 1 part coconut flour to three parts brown rice flour.  I decided to initially try the coconut flour at 100% instead of combining another flour with it, to see how it works on its own.  When I added the liquid to the recipe the coconut flour totally soaked it up and I had to continue adding liquid...  I started out with about 2 1/2 cups coconut flour and about 2-2 1/2 cups of liquid...  I ended up adding about 10 cups liquid!  The coconut flour just kept soaking it up and expanding!  I ended up with almost 3 1/2 qts of batter!!!  Then when I tried to cook the batter in the skillet, the batter just started breaking apart, I couldn't even attempt to get a spatula under any part of it.  I might as well been stirring it, instead of trying to flip anything... It was crazy!

It was then I decided that it needed another flour in it to help with binding in the cooking stage.  I had buckwheat or masa harina to chose from and opted for the buckwheat flour thinking the flavors would meld better.  All in all, I ended up adding about 2 1/2 cups of buckwheat flour to the batter and then, of course, had to add just a little more liquid to the batter.  So, yes, in return ended up with even MORE batter!!  My "stock pot mixing bowl" was full!!  But, at that point, the batter would cook on the skillet and hold together to flip it over without falling apart.

When cooking in a skillet with coconut flour, I found that the batter was very apt to stick even when greasing the pan well...  so this is something to watch out for.  I have not baked with it yet, as I don't have an oven yet to try it out with...  I am assuming that for some baked items you would still have to either grease your pan extremely well, or use silicone mats or parchment paper.  Also in baking with it you might be able to use a higher ratio of coconut flour to other gluten-free flour, but that is for another experiment.

For now, my advice with working with coconut flour at this point would be:

1. Always use 50% or more of another gluten-free flour with the coconut flour.
2. Always plan on increasing your liquids in the recipe by the same amount of coconut flour that you use.  If you are using 1/2 c. of coconut flour, plan on increasing the liquid in that recipe by 1/2 c.
3. Try using an egg substitute powder with any recipe using the coconut flour...(I am going to try this next time) if you have to avoid using eggs.  I have not tried this idea yet, but I think it might help in the area of the heaviness.  I tend to use the flaxseed substitute in everything, but the egg substitute powder might be worth trying in this capacity.  (If you try it, please let me know how it works!!)  If you are able to use eggs, you might have no problem at all with the heaviness.  See my Egg Substitutes post for information on how to sub real eggs for the substitute.

My opinion of coconut flour:

1. I like the flavor and texture that it adds to recipes, but I am a coconut lover to begin with.
2. I like the nutrition quality of this flour.
3. I would highly recommend using this to anyone who likes (and is not allergic to) coconut, espcially keeping in mind the three things above that I learned from using it...

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on using coconut flour and the experienced you have had with this, as I plan to use it more in other recipes, and would love to learn anything new about this product.

Until Next Time:   Have Fun Experimenting..  Go a little nutty with your coconutty flour!

Coconut Buckweat Pancakes

Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. Coconut Flour
1 1/2 c. Buckwheat Flour (light or dark)
1/4 c. Sugar
2/3. tsp Bakewell Cream*
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tbs. Veg. Oil (or melted butter)
2 c. Milk (or favorite milk substitute)
1 c. water
1/4 c. flaxseed egg substitute

Procedure:
Combine all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Add all of the wet ingredients and stir together.  In working with coconut flour, you may find that it absorbs quite a bit of moisture (please see tomorrow's post when I discuss my experience trying out coconut flour).  This batter will be thicker than a "normal" pancake batter, but it should still be able to spread on it's own a little bit when poured onto the griddle, you may have to spread it out with a stroke or two of a spoon, but it should not sit idle in a clump on the pan, or be so runny that is spreads really thin.  Cook on a medium hot skillet, well buttered (or oiled).  Until the bottom is golden brown and the top should be starting to set.  These will not get bubbles in the raw batter on the top while they cook like "full gluten" pancakes (please see bottom left picture).  Carefully loosen them from the pan, as they will be prone to stick because of the high protein content of the coconut flour.  Flip them over and finish cooking the other side.  They will be firm to the touch and seem somewhat heavier than "full gluten" pancakes.

Pancake ready to flip

Pancake, after being flipped

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The flavor of these is very good.  The sweet coconut flavor blends well with the buckwheat flour (which can sometimes overpower an item) making the buckwheat taste more like a whole wheat blend.  The texture is heavier than that of the other buckwheat pancakes that I have posted, and much heavier than "normal full gluten pancakes".  When warm the pancakes have almost a creamy inside texture, when cool they become sturdy enough to make a delicious almond butter (or SunButter) sandwich out of.  My son really likes them for a snack as well as breakfast!  In the picture above, they are shown with the Citrus Prickly Pear Sauce, which was a great combination.  My son tends to eat them warm with butter and a sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon sugar.  Because of their heavy nature, and high protein content these are very filling and a healthy start to the day!  These would be great with mini chocolate chips added or maybe some mashed banana...  or Both!  Sounds like a good experiment to try next!


*Bakewell Cream is a leavening again manufactured in Maine, and usually only found in stores in Maine and other parts of New England.  I highly recommend using this in most quick breads and especially biscuits.  If you are not able to procure the Bakewell Cream, you can simply use 1 tsp Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda, it will still work good for these pancakes with the coconut flour.