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| Ultimate Crab Cakes |
| Make sure you wear rubber gloves when dealing with chili peppers. Look for Old Bay Seasoning in the seafood section of your supermarket, or near the salts and paprikas. Ingredients 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice 6 slices firm white sandwich bread, crusts discarded 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped 1/4 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning 1 jalapeño chili, or to taste, seeded and chopped fine 1 tablespoon minced garlic freshly ground black pepper to taste Accompaniments chili mayonnaise or mayonnaise flavored with mustard or horseradish Method In a skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté bell peppers until softened. Cool peppers. In a food processor grind bread into fine crumbs. In a bowl stir together bell peppers, crab, coriander, mayonnaise, Old Bay seasoning, jalapeño, garlic, 2 tablespoons bread crumbs, black pepper, and salt to taste until combined well and chill 20 minutes. With a 2-ounce ice-cream scoop or 1/4-cup measure, scoop crab mixture into 8 portions and pat each into 3/4-inch-thick disk. Spread remaining bread crumbs on a sheet of wax paper and gently press each crab cake into them, turning it, to coat evenly. To help prevent crumbling during cooking chill crab cakes, covered loosely, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a 12-inch skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté half of crab cakes until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn crab cakes carefully and brown other sides. Transfer sautéed crab cakes carefully to a baking sheet. Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet and sauté remaining crab cakes in same manner. On baking sheet bake all crab cakes 6 minutes, or until heated through. |