Well, we are finally done with salads and are moving on to “small bites”.
Each participant has chosen an ingredient and we all get to make something with it, and post our recipes and photos.
Crab was easy for me. We get lovely fresh blue crab here, although I was surprised that the crab at my fish mongers (Southern Seafoods) actually came from Alabama this week. I have made plenty of crabcakes in my time but these were, I’m happy to say, among the best! A little tweek of the old recipe really worked.
Here’s my recipe:
Small Bites—Crab Cakes—9-12-09
1 pound lumb crab (didn’t use jumbo–too $$$)
3 scallions minced
1 tablespoon chopped parlsey
2 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 large egg
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tsp whole grain mustard
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
panko crumbs
olive oil for frying
Sauce:
½ cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish
1 tsp ketchup
2 tsp whole grain mustard
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ tsp paprika
To make the crab cakes, I combined everything but the crab, first, them gently folded it into the mayo mix.
I made about 12 small cakes (about 1/4 cup each but I just eyeballed it). Set the little cakes on a cookie sheet lined with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours–more is fine.
When you are ready to pan fry them, heat up olive oil, just a thin layer on the bottom of the skillet, to a strong medium heat. Pan fry for about 3 minutes each side until they are nice and brown. (I used my cast iron skillet to get a nice crust but they didn’t all fit in a 10″)
For the sauce, just mix everything together. Use as dipping sauce or thin with a little water and use as salad dressing.
You can serve these as is, with the sauce, for little apps.
What we did, was put them over a salad.

Coat each one is panko, seasoned with S&P.
We drank a Farrari Carrano Fume Blanc with the salad, some grilled yellow squash and a little fettunta made with ciabatta bread.