Canned Salmon Salad with Beets and Green Peas
When I was little, back in the days of “abundance”, good canned salmon or pink salmon was a rarity, and you didn’t buy it in a regular shop. At home, the festive table most often featured a salad with canned fish, using the fish as the main ingredient in a vegetable mix. In those distant days, a light salad of canned salmon, beets and green peas dressed with mayonnaise was a real treat.
Canned fish is a good way to preserve a catch for a long time, by sealing it in a can and then sterilizing it in an autoclave. For light appetizers, the most interesting option is sprats in oil, which make excellent sandwiches quickly and easily. Then there is canned salmon or pink salmon, the so-called “natural” kind or in its own juices, with little or no oil.
In home cooking, a salad with canned salmon or pink salmon is very easy to make. In the simplest version, just mash the contents of the can slightly with a fork, add finely chopped sweet onion, spices and a spoonful of mayonnaise, and you get an excellent spread for croutons. More elaborate appetizers can be made with lots of different ingredients. Mixes of baked or boiled vegetables work best. And don’t be put off that the dish in the photo looks like vinaigrette.
Among my friends, a vegetable salad with canned fish is for some reason called autumn, spring or summer salad, depending on the season. It’s a mystery to me that nobody can explain. None of the ingredients is tied to a season. There are also many arguments about which fish is the “right” one, why there should be much more of it, and so on. I’ll just say this: whatever the proportions and mood, a salad with red fish is always wonderful.
For obvious reasons, check the production date, and you always have a choice. The fish should not be “in oil”, as you don’t need the extra calories, and the mayonnaise is enough. Buy salmon or pink salmon, which are the most common. You can use tuna in principle, but we make this salad with red fish.
Most of the time goes into preparing the beets. It’s best to bake them in the oven or microwave, then cool them. At the same time, pickle a little onion. None of the other ingredients need any preparation. The appetizer is served in portions or on a large platter. If it’s for a shared table, the components are not mixed before serving. That is done at the table at the start of the meal.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Canned fish (salmon, pink salmon) 1 can
- Green peas (canned) 1 small can
- Beets 2-3
- Sweet purple onion 1
- Homemade mayonnaise 2 tbsp
(29 g) - Wine vinegar 1 tbsp
- Salt, black pepper to taste
- Croutons for serving
Step-by-step recipe
The salad needs red beets, the best you can find. There should be no pale areas when you cut one. Bake the beets until they start to lose moisture and shrivel. You can do this in the oven, but the microwave is easier and faster. I wash the roots, pierce each one right through with a knife, then bake them in the microwave on full power. Depending on size, it takes 20-30 mins. Then they need to cool.
Canned green peas are best, and they come in small jars. Alternatively, you can boil frozen peas in salted water with 1 tsp of sugar (5 g). Peel the sweet purple onion and chop it finely. Mix the onion with 1 tbsp of wine vinegar. Onion pickles quickly, in literally 10-15 mins. Then squeeze it out slightly, and you can rinse it first. Open the canned fish and drain off all the liquid.
First, let’s make the salad for serving at a big table. Arrange all the ingredients separately on a large platter or plate. For convenience, you will need a small bowl that can hold the entire contents of the can of fish. Carefully turn the can over so the fish falls into the bowl. Then carefully turn the bowl over onto the plate, and the salmon or pink salmon will lie compactly on the bottom.
Peel the cooled beets. Grate them, add salt, then mix. Using the upturned bowl, turn them out onto the plate. Next to them, put the pickled onion and the boiled or canned green peas. Pepper the salad with canned red fish. On the side, add 2 tbsp of homemade mayonnaise (29 g). The salad is ready to serve. Right at the festive table, mix all the components together.
For individual portions, put all the components into a large bowl and season with black pepper. Add the mayonnaise, then mix. Try not to break up the pieces of red fish too much. Put the salad on a plate. It looks lovely when shaped with a 10-12 cm pastry ring. On top, you can add 1 tsp of peas (5 g), a piece of salmon and a little onion as decoration.
For individual portions, I recommend putting toasted white bread croutons on the plate. If you like, you can rub them with garlic, but that changes the taste of the dish a lot. The appetizer is served at room temperature, though it’s just as tasty chilled.
Calories and macros
455 kcal
Serving ≈ 490 g
- Protein30 g29% of kcal
- Fat21 g45% of kcal
- Carbs28 g27% of kcal
100 g94 kcalProtein 6.2 gFat 4.2 gCarbs 5.7 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
Fish scaler with lidAliExpress
Fish bone tweezersAliExpress
Wide-mouth canning funnelAliExpress
CheeseclothAliExpress
Vegetable chopper with handleAliExpress
Adjustable mandoline slicerAliExpress