These corn cakes are delicious with smoked salmon. My absolute favorite smoked salmon is from the Honey Smoked Fish Company. I’ve also had success with leftover grilled salmon. This versatile dish can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or entree with a salad. (Thanks to Linda Johnson, Jim’s former barber, for this recipe!)
For years, every time I made these corn cakes I would eventually throw out almost a full quart of buttermilk. Recently I found several ways to use the extra buttermilk, which will be the subject of future posts.
Active time: 20 minutes Total time: 20 minutes
- Nothing special for this one. You can use a skillet for this, but it’s faster if you use a griddle. I have a Nordic Ware Griddle King, which doesn’t take up a lot of space. You can get one at Amazon or Home Depot for around $20.
Serves 6 to 12 (makes 12 3-inch cakes)
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 3 tbsp flour (gluten-free or regular)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1-1/2 oz cream cheese, softened (15 seconds in the microwave will do)
- 1/2 cup corn (fresh from the cob, canned, or frozen)
- 3 tbsp chopped chives
- 4 oz can green chiles, hot or mild
- 1/2 cup (2 oz) smoked salmon, crumbled
- Oil for frying
Optional for serving:
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 to 3 tbsp horseradish, according to taste
Directions
In a small bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, and cream cheese until smooth. Add corn, chives, green chiles, and salmon. Add cornmeal mixture.
Heat enough oil to just cover the bottom of a non-stick sauté pan, skillet or griddle over moderate heat. Fry cakes 3 minutes each side, or until they are a golden brown.
Serve warm, with sour cream and horseradish, if desired. The amount of horseradish depends on your heat tolerance. Mix sour cream and a little horseradish together, taste, add more horseradish as desired.
