I saw some fresh (pasteurized) crab at the grocery today. I thought crab-stuffed chicken breasts with a simple sauce veloute. Rice pilaf of some sort, a lovely vegetable… I had the plate pictured in my mind. It looked great. I picked it up and continued wandering the store.
And when I got home, I decided to make crab cakes. Being versatile is good.
Into the bowl went 1 pound of lump crab meat, 4 green onions, 4 chopped pequillo peppers, 2 hard-cooked eggs, a bit of garlic, zest and juice of 1 lemon, some parsley, a bit of mayo and an egg to bind. Into the fridge it went.
An hour later I came back to actually make then and I had made it too soft. It really didn’t look like a lot of mayo. But it was too much, evidently. Or too much lemon. Or the egg… Whatever… Regardless of why, it was a bit too loose to form into neat patties.
I just happened to have a bit of couple of days old bread, so I made fresh breadcrumbs and added them. Then I made the cakes and put them in panko breadcrumbs. It worked.
Into the skillet they went with grapeseed oil and a pat of butter.
They were crisp and delicate – just as a crab cake should be.
Victor made the tartar sauce; mayonnaise, chopped pickle (with a drizzle of pickle juice), capers, worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of pepper.
Perfect.
We each had two, two for Victor’s lunch tomorrow, and I had enough to freeze 5 more.
Yum.