Sautéed Salmon Spread

Cans have become an essential part of my closet, beans, sardines, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, the list goes on. Plus, living in Florida, I always have to be ready for a hurricane, with stores closed and power outages. Canned goods are essential. So, while walking down the canned meats aisle to get sardines, I noticed canned salmon. This is nothing unusual, the list of protein available in a can is endless. But I’ve never had canned salmon, I wanted to see what I could do with it. Maybe sautéed with onions and garlic for that sweet flavor and then add olives, tomatoes and folded into mayo, and spread over toast or something. So, here we have sautéed salmon spread, oh, it’s good.

Mum hated canned food. Some of that was justified, you don’t get to see it before it gets canned, and, it tastes like, well, it’s out of a can. She was right, but, thing’s have changed. The process of canning food has been around for hundreds of years. During Napoleonic times, a reward was offered to any inventor who could come up with a way to preserve large quantities of food. Napoleon needed to feed his army.

By the early 1800’s a the tin can, as we know it, was invented. However, initially, it was expensive, and, primarily used by the armed forces. Those original cans were made from tinned iron and sealed with lead solder. However, in time processing costs came down, and, better packaging was used to safeguard the flavor and the food stored in it. Interestingly enough, cans of foods recovered from some old shipwrecks have been tested and found edible 100 years later. Also, the can opener was not invented till 30 years after the can. The soldiers had to figure out how to open it to get the food, usually with a bayonet.

Personally, I prefer my protein fresh, I like to see the meat in it’s packaging. Fish is no different, I want to see fresh, is it slimy with red gills? But, I’m willing to look past that. When I go to the store to buy fish, I want to know where it came from. Well, if it’s fresh, the fishmonger can answer your questions. When frozen, the packaging will gives you a lot of information. The most important thing is “Wild Caught”.

Canned is no different. It’s origin has to be listed as farm raised or wild caught. Unfortunately, some studies have found that not all cans are truthful. The answer is to buy a name brand product that states Wild Caught. As always, we have to be informed consumers, and, knowledge is power.

As with most fish, salmon is definitely a good addition to the diet. High in protein. It has polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, these are good fats. It’s also has essential vitamins, like vitamin D (80% DV) and vitamin B (133% DV), and is high in Omega-3 fatty acids, that promote heart health.

Now, with my can of wild caught pink salmon in hand, I’ll head home. While driving I’m thinking of ways to make it. I love salmon with my bourbon honey glaze, but that’s a salmon steak, not from a can. Then, my next thought was salmon on a bagel, now I like that. Well, I have posted a couple of spreadable recipes lately; olive and pimento tapenade and sardine tapenade , why not with salmon. So salmon spread it is.

I want to create a depth of flavor, and I came up with an idea. A mirepoix is the great base for so many dishes, why not my sautéed salmon spread, that delicious flavor from the caramelized onions and garlic would be amazing. And now, I have a plan.

I’m sure many of you have used canned salmon, well, I haven’t. Start by draining the liquid. You’ll see there’s skin, bone and some of that dark meat in there too. I remove all that, till I’m left with just the pink meat. Break it up a bit, and set aside. Finely dice the onion and garlic, no big chunks of anything. Read my post on garlic to see how it helps with the flavor.

Preheat a pan over medium to high heat, add some olive oil, when hot add the onions and garlic, let them get a bit of color and then add the salmon. Add some coarse ground pepper. I don’t add salt, there’s enough with the canned salmon. Mix everything well, so, all the flavors get to develop, let the salmon get a little toasty. Then, remove from the pan and allow to completely cool before moving to the next step.

While the sautéed salmon is cooling, the rest of the ingredients can be prepped. Starting with the tomato, cut in half and remove the seeds, finely chop up. This has become my preferred way to handle tomatoes, none of the liquid, none of the seeds, just the delicious tomato taste. For the olive component, my preference is my olive and pimento tapenade. It’s really delicious, with the fresh garlic and a little warmth from the pepper flakes. But, you can substitute with diced salad olives and pimentos. Now for some finely diced cilantro, and the mayo to hold everything together.

Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well. That’s it, my sautéed salmon spread. Turns out canned salmon is delicious. Serve and garnish as you like. Good as a snack, or, to pass around at a gathering. Enjoy, and thank you for reading.