I recently joined wild health. as a healthcare provider. It’s been one of the most eye-opening health journeys I’ve taken in years, and I’m not easily impressed. Not that I’m arrogant by any means, but I read a lot, study a lot and things have to “make sense”. Not just because “someone said”, but rather because several sources claim it, and there’s the proof, and there are the outcomes over and over again. Like n=1 on steroids.
One of the recommendations I was given was to eat more SMASH fish. I honestly had not heard this term before, though after a little education it made sense. We know oily, small fish are high in Omega 3’s – and getting this micronutrient from whole foods versus a supplement is always preferred. It was the acronym that was new to me. S.M.A.S.H.: salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. Some, but not all were on my list, and the thought of the smellier ones was a serious issue. I mean, I’m venturing into more creative ways to eat liver, which I do not like, so why not smelly fish.
Growing up, one of the common foods on our table was what mom called “Salmon Cakes”. To this day, I still make them, and my husband actually loves them. He says they remind him of Croquettes he used to eat from the streets of places like Ybor City in the 70’s and early 80’s. (Yes, I know, some of you weren’t born yet, but hang with me because neither was I!).
Since joining with wild health. I’ve amended my recipe to include more SMASH fish. Now, every time, like today, I have Fish Cakes, I feel like I’m really doing something great for my body! So here you go, the updated “Fish Cake” is now a SMASH Fish Cake.
Know this though: I’m kind of a Rebel in the kitchen…I’ll try anything. If it doesn’t work, it’s like a missed heavy snatch…I learned something. Have fun with this!
Ingredients:
- 4 containers (7 oz ea.), Royal Red Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon
10.50 oz drained, Chicken of the Sea Chub Mackerel in Brine
- 8.80 oz, Wild Planet, Wild Pacific Sardines
- 3 large, Eggs
- 2 cups, One Degree, Organic Sprouted Quick Oats
- Old Bay Spice
- Avocado, Olive or Coconut Oil for skillet
- Colander, preferably a large mesh one
- 2 medium to large mixing bowls
- Food scale
- Calculator 😉
- Skillet
- Spatula
- Cooling rack
Instructions:
This is SO EASY…like stupid easy!
First, drain the fishes in a colander. ( I know “fishes” is not a word but it makes me happy! – you do you!) Did I mention easy? Literally, I open all the cans and pour them into a mesh colander. I love to see the salmon come out because you can see the skin and bones, and I feel like I’m preventing Osteoporosis by just being in the presence of all of these nutrients! Once all the fishes are in the colander, use your hands, and a few paper towels and press the moisture out through the sieve.
Transfer the fishes into a large bowl, and add the eggs, and oatmeal. I use my hands to mix it up because it’s like playing in the mud as a kid! Add the Old Bay – I don’t really have a measurement – maybe 1-2 tsp?
Next, here’s the trick. I may be loose in my cooking style but if I’m going to eat a lot of it. I want to know how much I’m eating. So….you can do this loosely, or do it this way:
Put your second, empty bowl on the food scale, zero it out if it’s digital, or note the weight. Move the fish mixture from the original bowl to the one on the food scale and get a total weight for the fish mixture. Divide that number by 9 (as in servings). Mine ends up being about 50 ounces total, divided by 9 is about 5 1/2 +/- ounces per fish cake. Your job is now to ball up the fish mixture and weigh each one up to your per-fish-cake-weight. I hope that makes sense. Again: I have a total ball of fish mixture that weighs 50 ounces. I want 9 fish cakes. So each will be about 5 1/2 ounces. One by one, create balls of the mixture and add/subtract the mixture to make them about that weight. This helps you KNOW how much you’re eating (portion control!). Once you have 9 balls, smash them down a bit and make “burger-looking patties”.
Heat the skillet on medium/low. Add a little oil and swirl around and add as many fish cakes as you can without crowding your skillet. I use a large skillet so I can get 4-5 cakes in the skillet at a time. Cook slowly, flipping once the down-side is a little crispy – about 3-4 minutes.
Transfer to a cooling rack.
Once cooled, we usually freeze half of them and use the other half for meals that week.
Traditional salmon croquette “sauce” is hot sauce. Choose your weapon. We like Cholula and the traditional McIlhenney Tabasco.
As I mentioned, I like to know how much of what I’m eating. This is a loose estimate of the macros for this recipe. I say loose because we drained much of the oil from the sardine, so it’s representing more fat than is actually in the recipe.
My aim for this was a protein main dish. I get 37 (ish) grams of high-quality protein, I’m happy with the carb count from the oats, and there’s probably a little less than 20 grams of fat in there, again, because we drained the sardines. Have fun with this. It’s really good! And they freeze well for future SMASH fish in your life without having o cook again!