EatingWell's Salmon Cakes with Arugula Salad

Published June 28, 2020

Last Christmas I was gifted a subscription to EatingWell Magazine — which was a new experience for me, as I don’t normally read magazines.

What I enjoy with this monthly subscription is that it has a blend of current foodie news, featured pieces on food influencers and advocacy, and then a list of recipes (without tons of ad inserts between each page).

I’m one of those people — especially as a scrapbooker — that tears out their favorite pages. So I have a stack of EatingWell recipes that I’d like to try. For this week’s blog, I decided to pull a page from the stack and test the recipe.

Ingredients for EatingWell's Salmon Cakes with Arugula Salad

Buying the Salmon

I went to ShopRite and bought most of the ingredients for this recipe. Surprisingly, they had salmon with and without the skin. I ended up buying salmon with the skin — despite what the recipe calls for — because it was a larger, prettier cut of fish.

To remove the skin, I slid a large knife back and forth, without removing any flesh, peeling the skin away in one sheet. That was my first time removing the skin from fish and it was easy-peasy!

Leftover Ingredients

I only used half of a shallot for this recipe. I bought an extra 5 ounce bag of arugula too, since I wasn’t sure how much dressing this recipe would make.

If you don’t serve an extra side of the dill dressing for dipping your salmon cake into, then you may have enough dressing leftover to make an extra arugula salad with.

For the dressing, you can use sour cream or creme fraiche. I would’ve preferred to use creme fraiche but I couldn’t find it in the store, so I settled for sour cream.

Tools for This Dish

I like to measure and chop all of my ingredients for a recipe and set them aside, so that everything is ready to go and I don’t accidentally duplicate any ingredients. That means you’ll need a variety of bowls — some for your spices, vegetables, and proteins.

Besides a number of bowls and measuring spoons, you’ll need:

• Food processor (for combining the salmon cake mixture)

• Two mixing bowls (one for your salmon cake mixture and one for the salad)

• Cast iron or non-stick pan (for frying the salmon cakes)

• Whisk, spatula, measuring spoons, tablespoon/fork

• Platter (if you want to serve the salad and salmon cakes at once)

How to Make EatingWell's Salmon Cakes with Arugula Salad

This is one of longer recipe instructions I’ve worked with — not because the recipe is challenging, but because the instructions work concurrently. While freezing the salmon cakes, you’re making the dill dressing. While frying the salmon cakes, you prepare the salad. I made sure to be meticulous about the timing of each step, as not to overcook the salmon cakes.

Salmon Cake Texture

My biggest and most important note from cooking this recipe is not to over mix your salmon cake mixture. When I added the second half of my ingredients to the food processor, I was too focused on my camera settings, that I let the mixture pulse too long and it became too smooth.

Your salmon cakes should have some texture, between the salmon itself and the bell pepper. You can actually see in my video the ideal texture a few moments before all of the ingredients puree together.

Now, my cake was still edible and flavorful, but I think it would’ve been fluffier and more like crab cakes if I had stopped my food processor sooner.

Frying your Salmon Cakes

This salmon cake recipe is easy to make, as long as you time your cakes and don’t move them too soon.

I used a small cast iron pan and heated my olive oil for a few minutes on medium-high heat. If you run your fingers under water and flick a few droplets in a pan (only a few, so you don’t cause a house fire), you’ll be able to tell if your pan is hot enough to use. If the pan sizzles and the oil pops, you know the oil is ready to use so your salmon cake develops a crust.

Once you place the salmon cake in the pan, set a timer for 3 minutes and do not move it. Don’t try and shuffle it around. You can fry the salmon cakes one at a time if you don’t think you can squeeze another one in the pan without crushing the other.

After three minutes, flip the cake and time it for another three minutes. Remove and set aside. My salmon cakes were still warm by the time I prepared the salad.

Preparing Your Arugula Salad

I used 2-3 tablespoons of dill dressing on half of the 5 oz of arugula. That turned out to be too much dressing, so I added the rest of the bag and mixed it around.

Because the dressing is white, it looks like it’s overdressed, but actually, I ended up drizzling the leftover dill dressing on my salad even more as I was eating the salmon cake.

I recommend dressing your salad with 1-2 tablespoons of dressing and giving each person a small container of dressing on the side.

I also added in the paper-thin radish after the salad was dressed. Feel free to set that on the side as well. Since I cut mine on the mandolin, it was a more subtle flavor than the thicker slices the original EatingWell recipe called for.

The Final Product

These salmon cakes were a lot of work. I was excited that the recipe turned out well and that I now have the ability to make my own homemade salmon cakes.

As I’ve been on a salad kick, I was most happy with how the dill dressing turned out. The arugula — despite its normal peppery bite, was mellow and had a nice texture as the vehicle for the dressing. The thin radish also brought out more of the pepper flavor for this dish. The addition of the Dijon mustard reminded me of horseradish, which paired well with the salmon.

I think I would’ve loved this dish, had the salmon cake been a looser texture, so that I could have the crunch and flavor of the bell pepper and shallot. Overall though, this was a light and healthy summertime recipe which I will try to make again!

Recipe Score

I would give EatingWell’s Salmon Cakes with Arugula Salad a 8/10 for the following:

• Recipe Level

  • Easy-Intermediate: I found that since I was working with a fish protein, there was less room for improvisation, which is why I noted this as an easy-to-intermediate recipe.
    
    It’s easy to chop all the ingredients and fry them using the timer. But one easy mistake, like pulsing your mixture for too long, can change the final product. It’s still tasty, though requires a bit more multitasking and attention than my previous recipes.

• Ingredients

  • EatingWell’s recipe required a trip to the store. I didn’t have buttermilk, shallot, or fresh fish on-hand. However, fresh arugula and radish, and seasonings like dill and lemon are great for summer and ingredients you may already have in your pantry.

• Prep

  • Besides a trip to the store, this recipe doesn’t require any prep.
    
    Note: I don’t consider measuring and chopping ingredients to be prep. Prep would be making dough a few days in advance before baking, marinating protein, pickling ingredients, etc.

• Flavor

  • 8/10: Take this flavor rating with a grain of salt, because I think my texture-issue is making me biased. The dill dressing was tasty and bold, both as a salad dressing and dipping sauce. I think if I had bigger ingredients in my salmon cake (like the pepper and shallot), I would’ve enjoyed each ingredient’s distinct flavor even more.
    

K. Martinelli Makes EatingWell's Salmon Cakes with Arugula Salad

Looking for Another Healthy Dinner Recipe?

If you liked EatingWell’s salmon cakes, check out my pan-fried cod with herb sauce video.