What to do with extra salmon? That was my quandary this weekend after doing my go-to salmon recipe (soak in balsamic vinegar/soy sauce for 30 min, pat dry and add salt/pepper/brown sugar before saute – awesome and simple) for dinner yesterday and having extra. And we had wonderful mashed potatoes with it, but of course forgot to take a photo.

So on to tonight, I was thinking that salmon burgers would be something different, and after tooling around various recipe sites, I figured I could wing it.

Well, my experiment was not mind-blowing, but still was a big improvement on most that I have had in restaurants. I decided to do a fine chop instead of using the food processor (or canned salmon, um no.) I mixed the salmon with lemon zest, a little white onion (fine dice), diced capers, mayo, S/P and mashed potatoes for the binder.

As many of you know, I feel like the bread is a big deal for a good burger or sandwich. I had the hub pick up fresh bakery hamburger rolls, which were toasted and buttered. (Of course.) Served with romaine, and Stonewall Kitchen lemon herb aioli from Fresh Market, this was a solid effort. I think I need to add a little more binder next time (or use a thinner spatula) as two out of the three patties were difficult to turn without a little disassembly, but still very yummy.

The patties themselves were very flavorful, I loved all of the crispy edges on the little chunks of salmon. I also really liked the texture of the mashed potatoes as the binder. I’m thinking adding a tablespoon of panko next time and maybe an egg white will help with the structure, but I would hate to modify the texture too much. So B+ effort, but will report back when I make these again. Also, the 9-year-old inhaled hers, so I’m thinking it wasn’t too bad. 😉

Do you have a go-to salmon recipe? I would love to hear about it…