Salmon quinoa cakes with dill caper sauce

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Inspired by my friend Kristina Vanni, owner of Cooking Contest Central, I've been trying to enter more recipe contests lately. Kristina often points out that hundreds of food companies and commodity boards run recipe contests each year, with substantial sums of money and other prizes up for grabs. Food bloggers create recipes all the time - why not do it for a shot at the gold?

The thing is, there's a knack to winning recipe contests. That's why the members of Cooking Contest Central, a longstanding online community for recipe contest participants, consistently beat the pants off the rest of the field. Look at the winners of just about any recipe contest and you'll see at least one CCC member. The same names come up over and over.

What does it take to win a recipe contest? An eye for trendy ingredients and flavor combinations. Clever, highly visible use of whatever ingredient(s) or product(s) are sponsoring the contest. If it's a contest with history, an understanding of what kinds of dishes have won in years past. And a way with recipe names. I'm still learning on all these fronts. I've entered more contests this year than any other, but my track record hasn't been great.

Which is why when I entered the Alter Eco Foods quinoa recipe contest last month, I wasn't expecting to place. And yet, somehow, I did! My Salmon Quinoa Cakes with Caper Dill Sauce made the semi-finals. True to form, veteran CCC member Merry Graham took the grand prize for her quinoa tacos. But that's okay - Merry will enjoy her weekend in Napa Valley, and I'll be very happy with my year's supply of Alter Eco quinoa.

You can make these salmon cakes with leftover cooked salmon or canned salmon. Either way, no one will turn down these crispy pan-fried fish cakes with crunchy, nutty quinoa and a creamy dill sauce with tangy capers.

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Salmon quinoa cakes with dill caper sauce

by Erika Kerekes September-1-2013

Crispy pan-fried fish cakes made with leftover cooked salmon and quinoa, then dressed with a creamy dill sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked salmon (fresh or canned)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup cooked Alter Eco quinoa
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons mustard
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, zest and juice, divided
• olive oil, for frying
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup capers
• 2 Tablespoons brine from capers
• 2 teaspoons dried dill
• freshly ground pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, flake the salmon with a fork. Mix together the salmon, eggs, quinoa, green onions, parsley, mustard, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, salt, and half of lemon juice.Form into 8 patties, using about 1/3 cup of the mixture per patty. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and pan-fry patties until golden brown on both sides.While salmon quinoa cakes are frying, make the sauce: Mix together remaining mayonnaise, remaining lemon juice, lemon zest, Greek yogurt, capers, caper brine, dill, and freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve salmon quinoa cakes hot with sauce pooled over.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 8 servings

Chocolate orange chip frozen yogurt

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Every now and then a girl needs to buy herself a present.

Which is why I bought myself a Cuisinart ice cream maker last Mother's Day. I saw it at Costco. It was less than $25. I had to have it.

We actually used to have an ice cream maker, an old Danvier. My husband contributed it to the marital household. It involved a hand crank. The most action it saw was in 2003, when baby Weston's favorite pastime involved carrying the guts of the ice cream maker from the kitchen to the bathtub at the other end of the house.

With the new ice cream maker, I mix up my favorite flavors, pour the goop into the machine, turn it on, and come back half an hour later. The hardest thing about using the new ice cream maker is making room in the freezer for the canister. Oh, and portion control - the thing doesn't hold as much as I thought it did, which I found out when one batch of ice cream overflowed its banks and flooded the kitchen counter.

I'm just as lazy when it comes to frozen desserts as with everything else I make. No egg custard base for me. I put my ingredients in the blender, whip them up, and freeze. Works out fine.

I created this dark chocolate frozen yogurt flavored with orange and studded with chocolate chips for my husband, whose college diet relied heavily on chocolate orange chocolate chip milkshakes. He smiled when he tasted it.

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Chocolate orange chip frozen yogurt

by Erika Kerekes October-30-2012

This tart, creamy frozen yogurt takes just a few minutes to prepare and is one of the best reasons to own an ice cream maker.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup cream
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup raw sugar (substitute turbinado or demerara sugar)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
• 3/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (semisweet)

Instructions

If you have the kind of ice cream maker that requires the bowl to be pre-frozen, make sure you put it into the freezer the day before you want to make the frozen yogurt.Put the yogurt, cream, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and orange extract into a blender and whip until well blended and frothy. Pour the yogurt mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the directions for your machine. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the chocolate chips.When the frozen yogurt is done churning, spoon it into a freezer-safe container and cover tightly. Freeze at least 2 hours. Serve, obviously, very cold.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: approximately 1 quart