The first different-use-for-dumpling-filling idea I ever came across was from a Rachael Ray 30 minute book, for cooking the filling as patties or a burger.
So delicious, and so clever!
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My local WF carries organic thin corn tortillas, only 35 calories. Sometimes they have a slider size, love them. Safeway doesn’t have anything as good, hate to have to stop at so many different markets.
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SALMON BURGERS
I was skeptical about using the nice salmon I got yesterday in what’s basically a chopped up burger recipe but we were pleasantly surprised, and I do feel like it preserves the integrity of decent salmon. It got a good sear on the outside while remaining moist on the inside. I didn’t have shallots or capers (and my daughter would have turned up her nose at both anyway) so the only flavoring was from Dijon, salt and pepper, but that’s all it needed, with a squeeze of lemon on top ( I added a little tartar sauce too because I love tartar sauce). This was from the mixing bowl to the table in about fifteen minutes so a good weeknight recipe.
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The flour tortillas would be a good short cut, except that I one of those [possibly few?] people who really don’t like flour tortillas, and don’t buy them. I do like all kinds of other flatbreads. I had to stop working decades ago when we lost after school and summer care for our older adoptive son, so project cooking in stages was good for me.
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Could not agree more with this.
CUCUMBER AVOCADO SALAD
This is barely a recipe and more throwing together ingredients, but it has become a household staple for us. No scallions in my version (I prefer it without) and the consensus in our family is lime juice over lemon juice. Surprisingly it holds up for a day or two. Great weeknight veggie side.
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Nigella has a similar salad and I love it.
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this is really delicious and easy- with the shallots and capers - I like the chopped salmon texture much better than the ground salmon in commercial salmon burgers, and you might be bold - I dont think she would have noticed bits of shallots and capers (you can chop them after soaking if they are large) in the mix! A small quantity of chopped herbs are nice in this too.
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Interesting. I found that one to be a bit bland.
I could see adding a bit of flavorful red chile. I think these things always need to be seasoned to taste with salt, pepper etc.
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I love cukes and avos, but this was just really boring, and kind of a non-recipe to me. Def needs additional oomph.
Hi folks – keep on cooking on!
Just a quick reminder for those new to COTM:
If someone else reported on the recipe before you, please REPLY to that post rather than start a new one (so all posts for a given recipe are linked together and can be followed easily via the helpful linking arrows the site software enables).
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I was commenting on the salmon burger 
Well, you responded to me, so I thought you were talking about the salad. Both I’m sure would benefit from RPF 
I skipped the capers because I haven’t restocked, used finely minced onion instead of shallot, and added scallions and a dollop of zhoug for a bit extra (to make up for the capers).
I think this is a very riff-able recipe, because any flavors that work with salmon will be good added to the burger!
(Re kids, you can also blitz anything you think daughter would object to when you’re making the initial salmon paste – as a former and present picker-outer of “objectionable” items, I know this is being done and am totally fine with it, lol.)
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Yes, agreed, it’s pretty plain, but cucumber and avocado are my favorite vegetables so I don’t mind the simplicity. I haven’t tried the hot sauce but I imagine that’d kick it up a notch. I don’t cater to our kid, per se, but I do make slight adjustments for her… Would rather she eat the cukes and avocados than not at all, and she loves this salad- I’ll sacrifice a bit of spice for that win!
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That’s a really good idea re processing the capers and scallions. I’ll do that next time.
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MUSHROOM RISOTTO
In case it isn’t apparent already, I rely a lot on the times website for recipes. This was a new one I wanted to try so I gave it a whirl tonight… on a weeknight, not sure what I was thinking… but it actually wasn’t too time consuming. As usual with me, I realized I was missing an ingredient (white wine) but red substituted great. I also couldn’t stomach the price of wild mushrooms so I used baby bellas. I precooked the mushrooms the other day which cut the prep time tonight and the timing they gave in the instructions was to a tee on my stove. Great earthy, rich, umami flavor and I think the red wine worked nicely with the mushrooms. The whole family ate it (minus the mushroom slices for my kid, but I’m still impressed as I don’t think I ate anything remotely mushroomy till after college). Will definitely make again.
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Oh, absolutely. Get that green into the kid!!! 
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My dinner tonight was loosely inspired by this recipe - emphasis on loosely. I didn’t have leeks, but I did have fennel to use up, so in it went. Also had garlic scape pesto to use up, so I left out the fresh garlic and added a hefty blob of that instead. Forgot the paprika entirely. I didn’t rinse the beans and added far less stock than the recipe called for, making it more of a chunky ragu, which I then tossed with cooked pasta (shells). So in other words, I didn’t make this recipe at all, LOL. But since the finished dish was pretty good, I can at least attest to its adaptability!
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