When our dear friend Pamela mentioned she’d made crab cakes a few weeks ago, it sounded so good! The idea stayed with me until I could get to the market for the ingredients. (After the whole 2-day sourdough episode, I was looking for something simple … this was it!)
I adapted the recipe she gave me, mostly adding onion and peppers, making a sauce to go with it and cutting up some lemons for zing. It was easy and delicious, lighter than most since there’s very little mayonnaise with lots of flavor from the crabmeat itself.
For a while we forgot about covid, politics, and all the rest, and just enjoyed a lovely meal that took 15 minutes to get on the table. Pass the Chardonnay and don’t turn on the news.
Crab Cakes
Serves: makes about 10 patties
This is a very forgiving and flexible recipe. You can omit onions and peppers or not, add capers or not, use as an appetizer or a light lunch or dinner. The trick to getting the right consistency is to separate the eggs and fold in the beaten egg whites. And if you don't have Old Bay seasoning, any seafood seasoning will do; if you care to make your own, the recipe is below. Or you can just omit that. This dish comes together very quickly, despite the long list of ingredients... you'll see!
Ingredients
- 16 ounces lump crabmeat (if using fresh, be sure to pick out the bits of cartilage; if using canned, drain before using)
- 12 Ritz crackers (or you can use Saltines)
- 2 eggs, separated
- 2 tablespoons chopped red onion (or yellow onion if you prefer)
- 1 tablespoon chopped red pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped yellow pepper
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained (optional)
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning **
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Dijon
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter (for frying)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (for frying)
Instructions
- For the crab cakes:
- Put the crackers in a food processor and pulse just a few times, until you have medium-fine crumbs.
- Put the crabmeat in a bowl and add the crackers.
- Beat the egg yolks and pour them on top of the crab mixture.
- Add remaining ingredients except the egg whites, butter, and oil - and gently fold everything together, being careful not to break up the crab pieces too much.
- Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. (Easiest with an electric mixer)
- Carefully fold the egg whites into the crab mixture.
- Shape the mixture into patties, about 2 inches in diameter, smaller for appetizer, larger for dinner.
- Heat frying pan to medium-high and add butter and olive oil until sizzling.
- Fry patties until lightly browned, about 4 minutes on each side.
- Serve with lemon wedges, tzatziki sauce, tartar sauce, or remoulade*(recipe below)
- *Remoulade Sauce:
- one half cup mayonnaise
- two tablespoons diced pickles
- one teaspoon coarse grained mustard
- one tablespoon white wine or champagne vinegar
- pinch sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse several times until ingredients are mixed but not pureed.
- **Old Bay seasoning courtesy of Leite's Culinaria:
- one tablespoon celery salt
- one quarter teaspoon paprika (smoked paprika if you have it)
- one eighth teaspoon ground black pepper
- one eighth teaspoon cayenne pepper
- pinch (1/16 teaspoon) ground dry mustard
- pinch ground mace (may substitute nutmeg)
- pinch ground cinnamon
- pinch ground cardamom
- pinch ground allspice
- pinch ground cloves
- pinch ground ginger
You say ‘add the remaining ingredients except the egg whites’. But do you mean to add the oil and butter too, or save those for frying?
Haven’t tried this yet but want to.
You’re correct, Wendy. I should have made that clearer.. I will fix!
Perfect for a chilly evening’s treat!