Salmon Dip for Crackers

I found myself alone at dinner time tonight as my husband was working and my youngest daughter was at a soccer game.  Although I had a lot of choices for a meal, nothing sounded good.  That is, until I saw tuna.  Understand I'm not a 'tuna sandwich' kind of girl.  Not that I don't care for it, but I don't crave it, don't particularly love it and certainly don't eat it but maybe once a year.  But tonight I suddenly knew I wanted to mix up tuna with a bit of mayonnaise and chopped dill pickles, seasoned with a bit of fresh cracked black pepper and eat it with saltine crackers.  

And so I did.  It was rather ironic then that as soon as I finished I opened up my recipe files online and one of the first ones I spied was from a few years ago, and was for a salmon spread (like a cheese ball, only smoked salmon flavored)  similar to what I had just had, but made with cream cheese instead of mayonnaise.  This cream cheese base helps it to be molded into a nice round half ball on a plate for serving with an assortment of crackers.  If you have hickory smoke flavoring on hand, give this one a try - and if you don't want to roll it in the chopped pecans, you don't have to.  You can leave the nuts out. 

Salmon Dip for Crackers

1 lb can salmon
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 T lemon juice
1 t  grated onion
1 t  prepared horseradish
1/4 t  liquid smoke 

1/2 c finely chopped pecans
3 T snipped/minced fresh parsley

Drain and flake salmon. Remove skin and bones.  Combine salmon w/ cream cheese, lemon juice, onion, horseradish and liquid smoke. Mix well. Chill several hours or overnight. Shape salmon mixture into a ball and roll in nut mixture. Chill again, and serve w/ assorted crackers.