What to Do with a Whole Salmon for Two

I recently came upon an incredible sale - whole wild sockeye salmon for $3.99/lb! I just had to jump on this deal! It's impossible to get salmon at this price in Texas and Wisconsin! The piece I got was about 2.1 lbs.

Mike and I recently watched an episode of Cook's Country where they recommended brining salmon fillets in salt water to retain moisture and flavor in the fish. I figured that it may also work with a whole fish.

Brining the Salmon in Salt Water

 After an hour of brining, I patted the fish dry, cut slits on each side of the salmon and inserted sliced lemons. I smeared a thin layer of sour cream on the insides of the fish and stuffed the cavity with parsley, dill, and more lemon slices.

Dill, Parsley, and Lemon Stuffed Salmon

I popped the salmon in a 350F oven for 45 minutes. I think in a normal oven, it may take 1 hour, but the oven at our apartment tends to overheat, so I always have to cut down on the time.

Oven-Roasted Salmon

Since I was already using the oven for salmon, I figured I would use the same heat source for the veggies. I seasoned some broccolini with salt, pepper, and olive oil and set them on the lowest rack in the oven right after I finished cooking the salmon and turned off the heat.

This turned out to be a simple and delicious meal, but we still had a lot of leftover salmon.

Oven-Roasted Salmon and Broccolini with

Pike's Place Alder-Smoked Walla Walla Onion Tartar Sauce

I deboned the remainder of the fish and made panko-crusted fish cake sandwiches for another meal!
I mixed the leftover salmon with one raw egg, capers, mustard, sriracha, dill, and garlic powder, shaped the mixture into patties, and dipped them in egg then panko crumbs.

After I pan-fried the salmon cakes, I still had some egg mixture left in the bowl that had accumulated some loose flakes of salmon and capers. I didn't want to waste these delicious ingredients so I made one tiny egg crepe to put on our sandwiches!

I placed the salmon cake on a Blazing Bagel jalapeno cheese bagel with lettuce, Tillamook smoked black pepper cheese and topped it off with the Pike's Place tartar sauce, egg crepe, and sliced tomatoes.

The remainder of the salmon cakes went on top of cobb salads for another meal!

Salmon Cake Sandwich

Salmon Cake Cobb Salad