Quinoa Salmon Cakes

The past month I have committed to a mostly gluten-free diet. There have been a few missteps, but very few. Once I got the hang of it, I decided to go a step further and start eliminating the majority of the processed GF foods. Many of them have ingredients that aren't really the best for you, especially when trying to lose weight as well. One of my favorite pastas w/o gluten is made from quinoa. I found some salmon marked down at the grocery store for quick sale. I bought it, but had to use it right away, so I started looking for a good GF salmon cake recipe. I found several, but they all called for canned fish or just didn't sound very good. I decided I could figure it out on my own and set out to come up with a concoction that my family would eat. I had seen one recipe that used quinoa instead of bread, so I thought that would be a good idea.  

As you can see, they turned out! They were delicious and I had leftovers for lunch today. I also made my own tartar sauce, only because we didn't have any on hand. I have stopped buying tartar sauce from the store because we use it so infrequently and I actually prefer my own blend. Here is the recipe:

Quinoa Salmon Cakes

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs. salmon                              1T lemon zest

1 C quinoa                                     2 t dill

2 C vegetable broth or water            1/8 t cayenne

3 celery stalks                               2 eggs

1 small onion                                 olive oil

Directions:

Start by preparing the quinoa. It cooks just like rice with a two-to-one ration of water to quinoa. I used vegetable broth to add to the flavor. While that is cooking, put the salmon in the oven and cook it on 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Once the salmon is cooked, remove any skin and bones. Chop the salmon into small pieces depending on the texture you like. While you are waiting for the first two steps, prepare the vegetable and spices by cutting up the celery and onion into small pieces and then toss them into a food processor. Add the lemon zest and dill. Combine the ingredients in the processor until the veggies are quite small. Put everything together in a large bowl and add the cayenne. Form the mixture into patties and cook them on a skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Cook until both sides are crispy and light brown. 

Tartar Sauce:

I don't have exact measurements for this. I just put mayo in a small bowl add about 2 T lemon juice and about 1 or 2 t dill. Sometimes I add small chunks of pickle. That's it!