Reusing food is a must in my kitchen. I like to think of myself as the leftover queen. Once or twice a week I round up all of the things in my fridge that may be going bad or leftover from a previous meal and I try to make something fresh and tasty. I haven’t quite mastered the whole “only cooking for two thing.”

This past week I made entirely too much salmon. I ate it for dinner and used it for two different salads and still had over a pound left. I originally wanted to shred the salmon and make a light pasta in a butter garlic sauce but didn’t want to wait for water to boil. Lazy, I know. But that laziness led to these beautiful, crispy little salmon cakes full of flavor and fool proof to make. All you need is a skillet and one mixing bowl for your ingredients and you’re golden.

The only tip for this recipe is cooking your salmon ahead of time. I had leftover salmon so it was obviously a quicker process. If you are cooking the salmon before hand, let it cool slightly so that the cakes can stick together better when forming them. I baked my filets with just salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and a bit of lemon juice at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

• 1 lb of cooked salmon filet , shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 1 shallot finely diced
• 1. medium red bell pepper finely diced
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup mayo

3/4 cup Canola oil

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp each of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and old bay

2 large eggs, beaten and poured in the mixture

1. In a large skillet, heat your olive oil over medium high heat. Add your shallot and diced peppers and sauté until soften. If you want more of a bite, sauté for a less amount of time.

1. Once your veggies are tender, remove from skillet and add your canola oil. Allow the oil to heat up on medium heat. This kind of oil gets hot fast so keep at medium!
2. While your oil is heating up, add all of your remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl until evenly combined. Form into small or large even patties. (I was able to make 6 smaller patties out of the pound)
3. Drop your patties into the oil and allow to cook 2 minutes each side. Remember all ingredients are already cooked so you just want to crisp the outside.
4. Serve immediately with tartar sauce or sauce of choice!