Wild salmon ginger meatballs

Cutlets and meatballs

I had not planned on entering another meatball…until thinking about what I would make for dinner tonight. The inspiration for these meatballs is practical in nature (rather than a food daydream); my daughter (age 5) and son (age 2) have widely different palates and coming up with a healthful weeknight dinner that makes them both happy is often a tricky task. While my daughter loves fresh fruit and vegetables of all kinds, she will not try anything too spicy or bold; my son, to my great pleasure, will eat curries and sauces that have a kick but will turn his nose up at most vegetables, cheese, and eggs (the shortlist). Two things they agree on are salmon and kale – with that in mind here are some wild, gingery salmon meatballs that we enjoyed with some angel hair pasta (brown rice-quinoa for my gluten-free hubby), steamed kale and a quick butter-crème fraiche-lemon zest sauce (with two tired, hungry little ones chomping at the bit, I now remember why dreaming up contest recipes at dinnertime is not always the best laid plan). Tender, sweet and gingery they were gobbled up by said tired and hungry little ones (and adults)...I will be making these again. Note: Since my husband is gluten intolerant I did not use any kind of binder other than an egg. Although these meatballs held together nicely, because they are so soft when uncooked, when they hit the hot pan they began to collapse under their own weight and were not quite as round as I had envisioned. Adding some breadcrumbs could help alleviate this, or perhaps cooking in the oven.