We’re anchored in Cape May Harbor - like a vacation I had here a couple of years ago, it’s pretty darn hot. I kayaked ashore a little bit ago to reprovision at the nearby Wawa store. This is the largest store I’ve ever seen that has almost no food in it. It’s really a convenience store, but with a square footage rivaling many NYC supermarkets, I expected a bit more. At least they had Deep Woods Off, because these biting flies are making me crazy. I also stopped at the Dry Dock to pick up a treat for us, some spicy wings, and I ate an ice cream cone while I waited.
On to some recent boat recipes I haven’t shared yet…
Salmon Patties (or what I think of as a Poor Man’s Crab Cake)
This was part of my mom’s heavy rotation, and I hadn’t ever made them myself. Ideally, I would eat them with mashed potatoes and canned peas to fully recreate my childhood, but we didn’t have those, so we just sauteed our remaining zucchini.
Take one can of salmon, drain and remove and throw away the bones and skin. Mix salmon in a bowl with one egg, a handful of bread crumbs, half a chopped onion, and whatever seasonings you prefer (in our case, Old Bay). Best to use your hands to mix it, like you’re making meatballs. Form them into small patties - like golf balls that you flatten. Fry them in some oil until crispy on both sides.
I didn’t get a picture of these, but they tasted pretty good.
Boat Chili
In a medium saucepan, mix one can of diced tomatoes, one can of chicken white meat (yes, canned chicken exists, and it really helped this recipe), one can (drained) of kidney beans (or black beans if you prefer), as much canned diced jalapeno as you can bear, and chili powder to taste. Pretty good served over rice. You can also get the Rotel tomatoes if you want the jalapeno included already.

And an unsolicited product endorsement, Goya sells a canned Black Bean Soup. It’s usually in the supermarket with the other Goya products and has a red label instead of the dark blue label on the regular black beans. It’s pretty delicious. I had it with grilled cheese for dinner last night, and then this morning, I stirred an over-easy fried egg into the leftovers with a little hot sauce. Yummy.