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High Holiday Recipe: Baked Salmon Gefilte Fish

Submitted by Henri Gaeddert, YAD Outreach Chair. Adapted from Jaime Geller's recipe.

Ditch the jelly Manischewitz gefilte fish this High Holiday season. Instead, make your bubbe proud and learn to bake your own salmon gefilte fish loaf! Explore your creativity by preparing this recipe in different shapes of pans. Dazzle your Instagram followers with this presentation style: bake your salmon loaf in a bundt pan, and invert your loaf onto a cake stand five minutes after removing it from the oven. Garnish the edges of your loaf with chopped parsley and serve your beet horseradish in a small bowl in the middle. 

Preparation takes around 25 minutes and baking takes 2 hours. 

This recipe can make 6-12 servings. I’m not one to judge. No guests this year? Who needs ‘em. Your salmon gefilte fish will be stable while covered in the fridge for a few days. 

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds of frozen skinless salmon, thawed
  • 1 medium onion
  • 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 6 Tablespoons of matzah meal
  • 1 Tablespoons of salt
  • 2 teaspoons of freshly ground pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons of sugar
  • 2 large carrots, peeled
  • Parsley for garnish
  • Horseradish
  • 1 can of beets, drained

Tools Needed

  • Food processor or blender
  • Grater attachment or hand grater
  • Immersion blender
  • Spatula 
  • Pan for baking fish
  • Slightly larger pan for water bath
  • Aluminum foil

Instructions

  1. Grind your thawed and skinless salmon in a food processor or blender until it is a thick paste. If it becomes too thick, add a small amount of water. 
  2. Dice the onion and saute until soft and transparent, then cool. 
  3. Peel your carrots and grate or shred them into your fish paste. Mix.   
  4. Mix onions, eggs, matzah meal, salt, pepper, sugar, and 2 cups of cold water into your fish paste. Mix with durable spatula. 
  5. Pour your fish mixture into a bundt pan or other pan of choice.
  6. Smooth the top and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees in a waterbath. Your water bath pan can be a large disposable aluminum pan with about 2 inches of water inside of it. 
  7. After 1 hour, take out the fish and cover with foil. Be sure to support the bottom of your water bath pan--depending on your pan choice, it may be flimsy and hot! Bake one more hour or until the center is solid.
  8. Let cool after removing from the oven. I like to eat my gefilte fish hot, but you can also cool it covered in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. 
  9. Use chopped parsley underneath and around fish slices for garnish.

 

Fresh Beet Horseradish

  1. Blend 1 drained can of beets with a teaspoon of horseradish. Adjust horseradish to reach your preferred spiciness level. Serve on top of your gefilte fish or on the side.