What to make for lunch?  Coming off of the (expensive) holidays and trying to avoid a trip to the grocery store until the 1st, I decided that today would be a good day to pull out a can of that Wild Alaskan Salmon that I always keep stored in my pantry (healthy snack in a jiffy? you bet).  But I didn’t want salmon salad.  I wanted salmon cakes.  One of the things that I often hear people say about trying to go paleo is that they hate how it requires them to (in some cases, learn to) cook.  In fact, the Primal Parent pretty much doesn’t cook.  She keeps loads of pemmican around, eats most of her food raw, and calls it a day.  I am obviously not that type of primal eater.  I love to cook–and I especially love discovering new ways to combine foods for awesome and surprising tastes.  And that’s why today we’re making Salmon Cakes, and not just salmon salad, for lunch.

Time: 25 mins / Cost: $5 / Servings: 1-3

INGREDIENTS:

1 can wild salmon
1 egg
1/4 small red onion, diced
1 tablespoon cilantro
1 tsp. fresh ground ginger
1 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
Salt & Pepper
1 tablespoon bacon fat, olive oil, coconut oil, or butter
Ginger-Avocado Mayonnaise

THE PROCESS:
Heat your pan and 1 tablespoon fat of preference (I used bacon fat today) over medium heat. Drain liquid from your can of salmon and put the meat in a bowl large enough to start mixing the other ingredients in; add onion through S&P and mix well. Beat egg in a separate bowl to scramble and then mix into your cakes. Once your pan is hot, shape your salmon mixture into three cakes and add them to your pan. Cook about 5-7 minutes on each side, being careful not to disturb your cakes until you flip them.

THE MAYONNAISE:
Maybe you’re feeling lazy. Use already prepped mayo (but beware the vegetable oils!) and stir a little ginger and cayenne into it. If you’re not feeling lazy, try making your own. I did it for the first time today and was rather pleased. Wish I hadn’t made so much! (You could easily cut this recipe in half.) But maybe this will fit well into my plan of not grocery shopping for the next week or so. Whenever I’m hungry I can ask myself, What to eat with my avocado mayo?  That might seem like a gross question if fat weren’t so healthy for you.

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups avocado oil*

THE PROCESS:
In a blender or food processor place all ingredients except for the oil. Cover and blend on low while you count to 5. Continue to blend while you slowly add the oil. Continue to blend a few seconds longer, and then you’re done! I put most of this mayo into jars in my fridge — and then used a little bowl to stir 1 tbs or so of dried ginger. I was lazy — didn’t want to wash my grater again (oversight!) and used dried ginger instead. But it would be even better with fresh ginger.

Now plate up your salmon cake, top with a little ginger mayo, and enjoy! So good.

*Of course, if you don’t have avocado oil, you can use bacon fat (baconnaise!) or a light olive oil, though some people don’t like the taste of olive oil mayo.  Some folks make mayonnaise using coconut oil, too.  I’m sure that over the next year or so I will be discovering all the different ways to make my own mayo.  Keep you posted on what works and doesn’t — or you could always search the internet.  Sure there’s lots of great info out there.

OVERALL ANALYSIS:
One of my good friends has been living with an autoimmune disease for about 30 years now. She has recently developed regional pain syndrome (scary neurological disorder that’s a close relative of the peripheral neurophathy I deal with). We’ve been talking a lot about B vitamins (so important for the nervous system!) and how important it is to have an Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio that’s as close as possible to 1:1. (Mark Sisson recommends supplementing with fish oil if you’re not getting enough through diet… and you’re probably not.) If you’re curious what your Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio might look like through diet, check out this great chart showing the 3:6 ratios of these common foods.

Salmon is replete with Omega 3s — and it turns out that it’s pretty high in vitamin B, too. While there’s a small amount of Vitamin A in salmon as well (about 1% of RDA), the highest concentration of vitamins in salmon comes from the B family. In a 3 oz. serving of salmon there is 0.2 mg of thiamine (vitamin B1)–or about 16% of RDA; 0.4 mg of riboflavin (vitamin B2)–or about 24 percent of RDA; 2.6 mg of vitamin B12–43 percent of RDA; 8.6 mg of niacin–43 percent of the RDA; and 0.8 mg of vitamin B6–or 40 percent of the RDA. Vitamin B12 is especially important for neurological disorders. It helps your body repair damage to the myelin sheathing. Anyway, maybe I made these salmon cakes today in honor of Carol. I know I need to work on getting more Omega 3 and vitamin B in my diet, too. As I was sitting on the couch reading my book this morning, my legs were tingling away, like the city of New York on a short-circuit trip.  Not a good thing.  Nope, not a good thing.  But not so horrible, either — and reparable, I think, through a smart and healthy diet.