Easter was 2 weeks ago, which means Lent is over! YAY!! Being Catholic, that means Good Friday, Ash Wednesday and ALL FRIDAYS in Lent are considered fasting days- the rule is no warmblooded meat like beef, pork, chicken, or duck, but coldblooded fish, turtle, frog, snake and shellfish are acceptable. We’ve got the full story here. It’s no problem if you’re a 24-7 pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan like Mayim Bialik, Adam Cumming, Paul McCartney, the couple from “Boho Beautiful”, Ellen DeGenerous or Liam Hemsworth. (Thor’s brother doesn’t eat meat? SHOCKING!) We’re not, but we want to be super considerate to all of our friends and fans out there who aren’t so fond of Texas cow and Buffalo chicken wings.
In the words of Frank Gorshin, “Riddle me this”: What do you do as a pescatarian when you want a burger? Switch the beef for a fillet of salmon. It’s LOADED with Omega-3 fatty acid, which is AMAZING for heart and brain health. We want to stay sharp and stick around for a long time and hope you do too. My favorite sashimi is salmon. (that’s the word for sushi that only has rice and some fish on top, not wrapped in nori) We buy salmon pretty cheap in the packaged refrigerated fish section. NOT FROZEN! That freezer taste is super hard to eliminate. It’s possible, but not pleasing to the well-seasoned mouth. Besides, these have a nice deep color if they’ve been on a healthy krill and shrimp diet. Some farms use coloring in their fish’s food, FYI, but it’s the color that tells us if it’s wild caught $$$ or farm-raised and given slump for supper. Since 2003, they have to say it on the package if any added coloring was involved.
We love having salmon for breakfast. It’s very wholesome and savory. I like it broiled with a slice of lemon on top, a few shakes of garlic, capers, white pepper and shallots. I feel so fancy imagining I’m eating it in a fancy restaurant with a string of pearls around my neck discussing fine culture with the other high-society folks.
I like my salmon sauteed or smoked so you get that unique fish-taste and the fire-roasted flavor. Like I say, anything cooked over a morning campfire is good eating. It’s not as good as bagels and lox, but I won’t EVER say “no” to toasted onion bagels with that special cream cheese mixed with fresh salmon to get my morning going on a full stomach. It’s a ton of carbs, but it’s worth it.
Enough with the facts and on to the fish. We’re boring the poor people. We took this recipe from Tasty. It’s actually quite simple, you don’t even need to buy ground fish. You just need a functioning food processor, a fresh fish fillet, and some spices. First, you dice the fish into 1/2 inch cubes and throw them into the food processor with your spices and a diced red onion; pulse a few times until everything is well combined and form the mush into patties. We used dill, garlic powder, and some chives- so the fish would be the star of the dish.
We broke out the griddle (Yes, they trusted me with it!) and cooked them just a few minutes on each side until they have a nice color on them. Since we made these for breakfast, we topped ours with a fried egg. They were absolutely amazing! I thought they could use a little white pepper- but otherwise they were delicious. The runny yolk from the fried egg added a nice flavor boost.
What do you think? Is fish a breakfast food? A lunch and dinner food? Anytime you want food? Tell us in the comments section.
P.S. Do you think your salmon burger is better? Talk the talk and we’ll try it out. We love hearing from our subscribers. See you next week!