Homemade Tartar Sauce

We are having fried fish tonight courtesy of my brother Mike!  So I wanted a really good tartar sauce. I found just the right recipe over at "Simply Recipes" and here it is.

Homemade Tartar Sauce Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Yield: Makes about a cup and a half of tartar sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
• 1 teaspoon capers, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons chopped shallots
• 2 Tbsp chopped scallions
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 6 drops Tabasco sauce or more to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and place in the fridge until time to eat.

Salmon Cakes

When I got home after a busy day and frozen everything -- 

chicken, pheasant, venison, beef.  

Oh, hey, there's a can of salmon in the cabinet.  So, salmon cakes for dinner!

Gather up your ingredients and let's get cooking!  

For a 7.5 oz. can of salmon, which makes four salmon cakes, you will need:

1/4 C bread crumbs
1 egg
1 Tbl. dill weed
1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
1 Tbl. mayo
1/2 Tbl. capers (rinse and drain)
1/2 Tbl. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. lemon zest

Please use the red salmon, not the pink, it's much richer and thus tastes better.  

This is the bowl of ingredients and the grating of the lemon for zest!

I love the Meyer Lemons!

Here's the mixture mixed up!  

Egg, dill, Dijon, mayo, capers, lemon juice, lemon zest, and bread crumbs.

Next, flake in the canned red salmon in big flakes/chunks!  You can remove the bones and skin, OR some people, like me, leave all of that in the mix -- it's lots of fish oil goodness, after all it has been pressure cooked and everything will mush up in the end.  Your choice.

Here's the mixture which you have mixed gently, oh so gently, not to break up those lovely chunks of salmon.

Form the mixture into patties of equal size. If things are falling apart, put the mixture in the fridge for a while to firm up, then try again.  Carefully coat the salmon patties in some reserved bread crumbs.

  

Here's the four salmon patties -- yours will be a more equal size than mine.  

Ok, it really isn't a big deal.

Then into the fridge for an hour to firm up.

Meantime, make some tartar sauce.  This is from food network and it is goooood!

1/4 C mayo, 1 Tbl diced dill pickle, 1/4 Tbl. white wine vinegar, 1/2 Tbl capers, 1/2 tsp mustard, salt and pepper.  Mince the capers and pickles, mix everything together and place in the fridge to marry the flavors.

Get ready to cook the salmon cakes.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat some oil and butter over medium heat.  

This is gonna be good!

Add the salmon patties and cook until golden and crispy, 

about 5 to 6 minutes on each side.  

Medium heat.

Flip 'em over.  Looking good!

Drain on paper towels, and resist the temptation to dig in!

My lemon twist looks so sad, but, after all

it was left over from the zesting of the whole lemon.

This was dinner with some steamed broccoli drizzled with lemon butter. 

Enjoy friends!

Pork Piccata With Lemon and Capers

This recipe came from my friend Pat -- thanks, Pat!  

So gather the ingredients and get cooking!  

BTW, 

I looked up "piccata" and it is Italian for "pounded thin".

1 pound of pork tenderloin, 2 garlic cloves, lemon wedges, white wine, chicken broth, capers, parsley, butter, and olive oil.  Yes, there is a pineapple in the background, just wait.

Slice the pork tenderloin against the grain into twelve 1/2 inch slices.  Press each to flatten slightly.  My hubby helped with this--thanks, Hon!

Combine some flour with salt and pepper, dredge each slice of pork in the flour mixture.

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium high heat, add half the pork.  Cook until lightly golden, about 2 minutes, turn and cook 1 minute more, set aside and repeat with the remaining pork pieces.  These are thin, so they cook quickly!

Meantime, I decided that pineapple would be a great side with the pork.  The caper and lemon sauce will be kinda sour in a good way, so I was thinking sweet and sour with the pork flavors.  Prepare the pineapple by lopping off the top, cutting off the peeling, then cutting  into nice thick chunks.  Set aside until later.

The pork has cooked, place on a paper towel lined plate and set aside.

Mince two cloves garlic and add to, 1/2 C. dry white wine, and 1/4/ C chicken broth into the skillet.  Scrape up the brown bits and let simmer and reduce to half. Oh such great flavors!

Meantime, get the pineapple ready to broil.  Rub each piece with some butter.  Broil at 500.  Mine didn't brown as nice as I would have liked, but it was very tasty nonetheless.  In warmer weather, I would grill the pineapple.  Yes, grilled pineapple!  So good.

To the skillet of reduced wine and broth, stir in 1 T. butter, 2 T. Meyer lemon juice, 4 t. capers (rinsed and drained), and 1 T, parsley.

Stir and cook quickly until nice and thick and shiny.  The butter makes it shiny,  I love butter!

This goodness is poured over the warmed pork ( I kept the plate of cooked pork in the oven while the pineapple was broiling.)  Oh my! Oh my oh my!

Dinner is ready.  Ceasar salad, broiled pineapple, and pork piccata with lemon and capers.

yum, Yum, and YUM!  Enjoy friends!