Salmon Loaf with Creamed Peas

 






Every once in a while I get a hankering for this delicious old favourite of ours.  It's simple, easy and quite an inexpensive entree if you pick up the tinned salmon when it's on special.  

Whenever I see tinned salmon on special, I pick up a few tins.  It's a really handy item to have in your store cupboard.

 





This is quite an old recipe which I have been making for years and years.  I love it because it's good, and it's basic . . . and it's simple.

 





Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way and yet . . . very big on flavor.  Delicious does not have to be complicated.  I know I say that a lot, but that's because it is true.

Sometimes I serve it with the cucumber sauce, which is quite tasty and refreshing and goes very well with the salmon.  Other times I serve it with creamed peas.  

It all depends on what's in the freezer or larder and what I am in the mood for.  The other day the peas won out!

 






I suppose you could make this with an equal amount of tuna and it would also be very, very good . . . but we like it with salmon.  I always serve it with my stove top mac and cheese as well.   

I know . . . it seems kind of crazy to do that, but it's what we like.  To me, the two just go together like peas and carrots!

Sometimes you even get lucky and find tins of the boneless, skinless salmon on special!  I love that.  I am not particularly fond of picking out all the bones and skin . . . 

but I do it because I love this dish so very much . . . anything that saves me from having to do that, I love even more!  You can use either pink or red salmon.  Today I used red Alaskan Salmon.

*Salmon Loaf*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

This is a wonderful recipe I have been making throughout all of my cooking life. It was my mother’s recipe and most likely my grandmother’s as well. I expect it probably came from off of a tin of salmon at one time. It’s delicious. I like to serve it with a cucumber sauce. (recipe below)

1 large tin of salmon
½ cup milk (125ml)
3 cups soft bread crumbs (180g)
¼ cup butter, melted (60g)
1/3 cup of the juice from the salmon tin (80ml)
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 TBS finely chopped onion ( I grate it on a fine microplane grater)
The juice of one small lemon
½ tsp hot pepper sauce
½ tsp of salt
A good grinding of black pepper
1 tsp dill weed
3 egg whites, beaten stiff

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 5. Grease a loaf tin really well and set aside.

Drain the salmon, reserving the liquid. Remove as much skin and bone from the salmon as you can and then mash it really well.Scald the milk and add the breadcrumbs. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the salmon liquid and melted butter and beat smooth. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, minced onion, lemon juice, black pepper, salt, hot pepper sauce and dillweed. Add the mashed salmon and mix it all in thoroughly. Fold in the egg whites.

Spread into the greased loaf pan. Bake in the heated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until firm to the touch and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before loosening from the pan and cutting into slices to serve.

Serve with the cucumber sauce below or creamed peas if you wish.

*Cucumber Sauce*
Makes 2 cups
Printable Recipe

This is a lovely sauce that goes very well with fish of all kinds.
¼ cup butter (60g)
¼ cup plain flour (25g)
2 cups milk (500ml)
1 ½ cups grated unpeeled Englishcucumber
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp dill weed

Put the grated cucumber into a colander and drain it while you make the rest of the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring for about one minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Stir constantly until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Stir in the salt, cayenne and dill weed. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add the grated cucumber, blending it in well. Serve.

 *Creamed Peas on Toast*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

When I was a child I hated peas. My mother found a cricket in the bottom of a tin of peas once and that did it for me. I never gave them much of a chance after that. I did like frozen peas though and gradually through the years I have come to enjoy them. Fresh is best, frozen is not bad, tinned is unacceptable.   This is delicious in it’s simplicity, no ifs ands or buts about it!

2 TBS butter
2 TBS flour
2 cups whole milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup frozen peas
4 slices of bread
Softened butter for spreading

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for one minute. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook, stirring, over medium heat until it begins to bubble and is thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste and turn the heat down to low to keep warm while you cook the peas.

Bring a small pot of water to the boil and add the peas. Bring the water back to the boil and cook them for only a few minutes, no longer. Drain them well. Stir them into the white sauce and keep warm.

Toast the slices of bread and butter them. Lay them on two plates and spoon the warm sauce with the peas over top. Serve.

PSST - Just FYI, the leftover salmon loaf (if you have any) is really delicious sliced cold and then fried in butter until golden brown on both sides and served up burger style, or quite simply with some scalloped potatoes and peas and carrots.  Just so you know.  ☺