Salmon Casserole

I made this Salmon Casserole for the first time tonight. Usually I make Creamed Salmon on Toast when hubs and I have a canned salmon dinner but I felt like something new.

Even though I ended up not being able to follow the original recipe due to having run out of certain items, we really liked it!

So here's how I made it but I don't measure very often so my measurements below are approximate.

Ingredients
* 1 small can of salmon, drained
* 3 green onions, sliced into small rounds
* about 8 medium size Yukon Gold potatoes
* about 1/4 cup of Ricotta Cheese or other soft cheese. I'm going to use creamy Goat's Milk cheese next time
*  2 eggs
* about 3/4 to 1 cup of milk or cream. I used Half and Half which is 10% cream
* salt and pepper to taste. I don't add salt to canned salmon so I only used pepper
*  about 3 Tbsp. of butter or margarine
*  about 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese

Method

Drain the can of Salmon and chunk it up in a bowl. Peel off the black skin or anything really slimy but leave the bones in. They'll disintegrate in the cooking and they're loaded with Calcium! Set that aside.

Peel and cut the potatoes in four. Cover them with cold water and add some salt, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on medium for 15 or 20 minutes or until fork tender. Drain. Be sure you save the vegetable water for making broths and soups later! I freeze all my vegetable water - just keep adding the hot drained water to what's already in the freezer.

Using a potato masher, do a quick mash of the cooked potatoes, just enough that you can use an electric beater without having large pieces of potatoes flying everywhere.  Add butter (about 3 Tablespoons), the cream, the eggs, and the Ricotta cheese and start mixing with an electric beater until the mixture is smooth. Then add the salmon and the sliced green onions.

You could really go crazy with this casserole - try different cheeses (what about cream cheese or herbed cream cheese?), maybe add a green vegetable that would taste good with salmon (asparagus?) - the sky's the limit! 

Grease a glass casserole dish (I used spray Canola oil) and put the salmon-potato mixture in, then sprinkle the top with the Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered in a 400' oven for about 40 minutes.

It's very tasty and comforting on a cool Autumn day! I served mine with sauteed Garlic Brussel Sprouts and Creamed Corn. Sorry I don't have a good picture! 

Update: This morning I sliced the leftovers and fried them (like a patty) then gently fried an egg over easy (next time I'll poach the eggs) and placed that on top. I could have added some bacon or sausage and a nice slice of watermelon or canteloupe for a very filling and tasty breakfast. I would also add my watermelon pickle relish to the plate. Yummy!

I'll get a better photo next time! This was before I put anything extra with the egg and salmon-potato patty.