Chipotle Salmon Fish Cake Recipe
with Avocado Salsa

This Chipotle Salmon fish cake recipe was "Planned Over" Recipe when I needed to be frugal and quickly use or loose some delicious Bar-B-Que Salmon. My challenge: adapting this exotic sounding recipe to my family's tastes while using only ingredients already in my kitchen. I came up with this winner. It's healthy and easy to make ahead.

Chipotle (pronounced chee-POTE-lay) are smoky dried jalapeno peppers normally used in Mexican recipes & Tex-Mex cooking. You'll find chipotles today in every large grocer, dried whole, powders, pickles, and canned in a sauce of spices and vinegar called "adobo." However, I cut to the chase and sprinkled in a good dose of chipotle seasoning mix (an impulse purchase I had on hand) to make the preparation of my fish cake recipe go a bit easier. You can use the substitution in the directions and still have a winner.

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small onion, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon water

3-4 slices soft bread such as challah

1 1/2 pounds cooked boneless salmon*, flaked

4 slices pickled jalapeno, diced

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon chipotle seasoning
or substitute 1 tablespoon chili powder plus
2 teaspoons smoky bar-b-que sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Cook onion and bell pepper, stirring until onion is transparent, about 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium, add garlic and water, stirring constantly so garlic does not brown, about 1 minute.

2. In the work bowl of a food processor, process bread into fine breadcrumbs. There should be about one cup.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, gently combine 3/4 cup of the bread crumbs with the salmon, sauteed vegetables, jalapeno, cilantro, mayonnaise and seasonings. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes.

4. Form mixture into 2” fish cakes, there should be about 10 patties of the same size and thickness. Coat with reserved bread crumbs. Refrigerate 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat remaining oil. Brown fish cakes 2 to 3 minutes per side, remove to a baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes until set. Serve warm with Avocado Salsa.