Salmon patty BLT with basil green goddess

A choose-your-own adventure recipe

Sep 02, 2023

On the cusp of the new year, my friend and colleague

and I had the great honor to interview Emily Meggett, author of Gullah Geechee Home Cooking and the late matriarch of Edisto Island in the South Carolina Sea Islands.

I was thinking about Miss Emily this week as I helped my daughter go back to school. A private chef for local families, she also had ten (!) children at home to feed every day. (That’s a lot of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks to prepare!) Plus, her table was often filled with local kids who didn’t want to go home for dinner, and she kept her back door open when she had extra food, a sign to her neighbors that they were welcome to come by for a plate.

Her book includes a mix of homey, old-fashioned recipes, like meatloaf and squash casserole, and her versions of southern classics, like fried green tomatoes and chicken perloo. Many of her recipes drew from the abundance of the Sea Islands and included multiple pounds of shrimp and crab or vegetables from the garden.

There’s one recipe in this book I keep going back to: Miss Emily’s Salmon Patties. In the headnote, she writes how they’re a cherished dish in Gullah Geechee cuisine, and it shows the French influence on Lowcountry food.

I love that they seem a bit fancy, like something she would have served at one of her clients’ dinner parties, but also use ingredients she might have always had on hand for when she needed an easy, not-too-expensive dinner for all those kids.

Her recipe relies on Gold Medal seasoning, a salt blend that I think has been discontinued or at least is not sold near me. I tried to mimic it with some seasonings I have in the pantry. Otherwise, I stay close to her recipe, using canned salmon, grated onion, flour, egg, and bread crumbs. Somehow, the patties taste like more than the sum of their parts and are always a hit when I make them.

Miss Emily enjoyed her salmon patties with grits and suggests you might put them alongside a salad.

For fun, I thought I’d share another way you could serve them: Layered on a toasted bun with smoky bacon, juicy summer tomato, and crisp lettuce. (Miss Emily ate bacon most days for breakfast and relished a summer tomato, so I hope she’d approve.)

In Miss Emily’s book, she often tells people they can serve certain dishes — from fried green tomatoes to fried shrimp — with “my pink sauce.” I’m sure Miss Emily’s pink sauce — a blend of onion, Worcestershire, mayo, ketchup, and lemon juice, with a bit of sugar— would be fabulous on these BLTs. If you have her book, make it and try it!

When Andrea and I spoke to her, we told her how much we loved her confidence with using “my” in front of the names of her dishes when she talked about them. For example, “my pink sauce,” “my fried chicken,” “my chicken gravy.”

I rarely feel like I’ve made anything enough times in the exact same way to call it “mine.”

This basil green goddess, however, might be close. I developed it for another project, but I love it so much that I wanted to revive it and share it with you.

Like Miss Emily’s pink sauce, it’s incredibly versatile, at least if you like basil. I love it with juicy raw vegetables, like tomatoes and cucumbers. But it’s also lovely over fish or with grilled or fried chicken.

Now, here’s the thing: This full sandwich recipe below is admittedly a little bit longer than the usual Mission: Dinner recipe. But you don’t necessarily need to make the whole thing.

When you read certain personal development books, they’ll often say, “Take what you need and leave the rest.”

You can do the same here.

Perhaps you make Miss Emily’s salmon patties and serve them with some cooked veggies or put an egg on them. (If you serve them without the bun, you might want to double the recipe for 4.)

Or you make the sandwich but without the bacon.

Or you blend up the green goddess dressing and drizzle it over a chopped salad.

Of course, if you DO make the whole thing, you won’t regret it.

Salmon Patty BLT

441KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Salmon patty BLT with basil green goddess

The recipe makes more green goddess dressing than you need, but you can use it on more salads and sandwiches. (It’s especially magical tasting with tomatoes.) Just refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Serves 4

Time: 45 mins

For the basil green goddess

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ cup basil leaves

1 tablespoon tarragon leaves

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 teaspoon fish sauce or anchovy paste

Pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper

For the salmon cake BLT

6 to 8 strips bacon

½ small onion

1 large egg

Two 6-ounce cans salmon (or 3 5-ounce cans)

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt (or ¾ teaspoon if you’re serving without bacon)

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

½ cup unseasoned bread crumbs

4 brioche buns

One large tomato

8 medium lettuce leaves or 4 small handfuls baby lettuce

Make the basil green goddess and prep the L & T

In a mini food processor or using an immersion blender, combine all of the ingredients for hte green goddess together and puree until a pale green sauce forms.

Wash the lettuce leaves if necessary and break into sandwich-sized pieces. Slice the tomato into 4 very thick or 8 thinner slices.

Cook the bacon

In large, heavy skillet, arrange the bacon in a single layer in a cold skillet and set the skillet over medium low heat. Cook the bacon, turning occasionally, until it’s browned and crisp, 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bacon.

Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. When it’s cooled, break each piece of bacon into half.

Meanwhile, assemble the salmon patties

While you’re keeping an eye on the bacon, grate the onion half on the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl. Add the egg and use a fork to lightly beat it. Add in the salmon and well as the flour, salt, onion powder, paprika, and garlic powder. Use the fork to mix everything together well.

Put the bread crumbs into a shallow bowl. Using your hands, form the salmon mixture into 4 patties, each about ½ cup in volume, each about ½ inch thick. One by one, transfer the patties to the bread crumbs and turn to coat. Then transfer the coated patties to a clean plate.

Cook the salmon patties

Spoon off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Heat the fat over medium heat, then add the salmon patties in a single layer. Cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes.

Using a spatula, flip the patties and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 3 minutes longer.

Turn off the heat.

Toast the buns and assemble the sandwiches

Lightly toast the buns in a toaster oven or under the broiler, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the bottom of the buns to plates and spoon some of the green goddess over the buns. Top each bun with a salmon patty followed by the tomato, bacon, and lettuce.

Close the sandwiches and serve with more green goddess alongside.