Remember the huge Atlantic salmon we served at our family gathering last weekend? Well, there was heaps leftover…
We ate it cold for lunch on Monday, then with a little sweet soy on rice for dinner on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, we turned the remnants into very special fish cakes.
Actually, they were pretty ordinary fish cakes, but they were special to me.
They included lots of our self-sown continental parsley…
The recipe used up our last three backyard eggs (the girls seem to have given up laying altogether for winter). We coated the fish cakes in homemade sourdough breadcrumbs, which we keep in the freezer…
They also contained mashed potatoes, flaked salmon, salt, pepper and a little flour. We followed this Jamie Oliver recipe, then dipped the patties into a flour-egg-breadcrumb coating before shallow frying…
Each fish cake was huge – bigger than the palm of my hand – and served with backyard tomatoes, a wedge from one of our bush lemons and a little homemade tomato relish…
So dinner was…leftover fish (which we hadn’t thrown out), stale sourdough (which we hadn’t thrown out), excess parsley (which the chooks won’t eat), our last three backyard eggs, a few self-sown tomatoes, and a bush lemon.
And it was absolutely delicious.
Sometimes, life makes me very, very happy.
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love this post!
I visited my oldest son when they were living in Durham, England for Christmas some years back- and we made a huge salmon for New Years. We ate and ate and ate at that fish and finally ended up with fish cakes, very like yours. It was such a treat. We used the skin, bones and head to make a chowder in the end- nothing wasted- everything enjoyed!
Life is often a happy affair, isn’t it?
I was thinking when I wrote this post that really, we have a very simple life. I’m actually very grateful for that. :)
Yum, Celia. I adore salmon fish cakes… rice crumbs are lovely as a coating too.
Lizzy, what do you mean by rice crumbs? Do you crush up raw rice and use it? I’ve never heard of anything like that, it sounds intriguing?
Delicious looking frugal eating Celia. I love that you write about leftovers as well as the feast. This blog is definitely about real food and real living.
Thanks darling, that’s what it really is all about, isn’t it? Most of the time, our meals are based around what we can lay our hands on at 5pm. :)
Don’t you just love using up every last crumb? Well done, you!
Thanks Misky! It was very, very satisfying! :)
Yum, we love salmon, but my husband doesn’t like it cold for salads the next day. i am thrilled to see this for our leftover salmon. We all would love these fish cakes. Thanks!
Lyndsey, the fish cakes were really easy, and we filled them with parsley! Jamie Oliver simply dusts his with flour before cooking, but we really liked the crumb coating! :)
I love this…. Enjoying a meal like this would’ve made me very happy too. I’m always looking for ways to get creative with things I have on hand. There’s nothing like being self sufficient!! :) xx
Emilie, thank you – it’s lovely to be able to share something so simple with kindred spirits who understand exactly where I’m coming from! :)
No wonder you were happy – what a great example of not wasting food. Our hens are not laying much at all at the moment, either.
Amanda, our girls have stopped completely. Come spring, I think we’re getting more chooks! :)
That’s the best use of leftovers and homegrown produce I’ve seen in a long time. I can’t believe how much mileage you got out of that salmon! You can make a little go a very long way xx
Charlie, thank you! There was one fish cake leftover, you should have come over for dinner.. :) xx
I love it when you feel that you have achieved so much, from so little! Nothing wasted, excess put to good use, and the family nurtured and nourished at the same time. So soul satisfying indeed. What a lot from one little fishy!
Have a lovely weekend sweetie, xox
Becca, hope you’re having a great weekend too! There was SO much fish – for the $37 it cost, it fed a party, then gave us three more meals. Such a bargain!
Every peek into your life makes me realise I need to wind down and enjoy what I have around me.
That’s a really lovely thing to say, and it makes me very happy. Thanks Maureen.. xx
These look so appetizing and JO’s recipe is easy-peasy, as he would call it! Love them tho’ have to use tinned salmon usually. Understand your satisfaction of all ‘home-grown’ produce being used, but am amazed that beautiful salmon lasted so long with all the people you had visiting! Hope you are feeling heaps better in the interim . . .
Eha, much better, thank you! I think this recipe would work well with tinned salmon too! x
Isn’t it great when things work out so well? Your salmon cakes sound delicious and what a clever use of leftover salmon. A number of years ago, I planted parsley and it went to seed. The next year I had parsley growing everywhere, from cracks in the walkway to my planters used of annuals. I’ve never seen so much parsley. :)
John, we can’t give away continental parsley in this neighbourhood, in the years when it takes off, it goes like crazy! One neighbour has a lawn full of it! :)
You take leftovers, and frugal to a whole higher level :)
ED, thank you – we don’t always manage it, but when we do, it’s just SO rewarding! :)
Absolutely perfect!
Thanks Mimi! :)
What a lovely dinner! and being made from all your treasured bits and pieces must only make it even better. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, working out what you can make from what you have, and somehow very elegant :) Hope you are feeling better xx
Jo, I think you’re absolutely right – it really IS like putting together a puzzle. And this one fit together so well – we had a ripe lemon, SO much parsley, and sourdough breadcrumbs in the freezer! Feeling much better, thank you. xxx
This kind of simple fish cake is my favourite. I whipped out some breadcrumbs that I keep in the freezer this weekend as the teens were making meatballs. Such a sense of satisfaction!
Sally, this was our first proper attempt at fish cakes, but it won’t be our last! :)
You’re too funny! I love how you poke fun.. “which we hadn’t thrown out”:) I am so impressed with this gourmet dinner you pulled together from bits here and there.. all from your own garden or made by hand. Most of us would have just thrown them out and not had a clue what could be made with them. I would love a fish cake like this for dinner!
Barb, I was just so happy not to have to throw out all the bits and pieces! I’d love to have you come to dinner for fish cakes! :)
And home grown left over meal is the best!
Tandy, stale sourdough makes the best breadcrumbs ever! :)
You are a wonderful thrifty person. My Nana would have given you a badge for that ( she was a girl guide. I love fish cakes
Oooh, a GG badge, what an honour! :)
What a great way to use up leftovers. I bet these were fantastic.
Greg, they really were, thank you! :)