Ooh Boy - Crabs!

Remember my good neighbor, Bob, who brought me crabs a while back (and the same one who brought me the spaghetti sauce from the fireman's dinner)? Well, he went out to check his pots yesterday and brought me back this lovely catch.






Err ... PreviouslyAmish, if you happen to be reading this, you might want to stop just about now. I am aware of your crabaphobia and just want to protect your delicate sensibilities.

Here, Mr. Hawthorne is pulling the backs off the cooked crabs. He'll pick out the meat later.











Mr. Hawthorne has started picking the crabs - a tedious, boring, thankless procedure - but necessary. No wonder they get $20 +/pound for this stuff. I just know he's going to call me over any minute now to help and I LOATHE picking crabs.

RATS!! He just called me to help him.

My, my, my. Here we are about an hour and two glasses of wine later. He had a lovely Concannon Chardonnay. I had a Forest Ville 2005 Merlot. I won't begin to describe these wines, because most wine descriptions I read on a restaurant's wine list sound like somebody's pretentious-ass resume. I'll just say his was white and mine was red.

We had between 2 and 3 dozen crabs
and got well over a pound of meat.

Mr. H. has minced some shallots, some celery, and some green pepper
from my garden.

Now, Mr. H. dumped the crabmeat INto the bowl with the shallots, celery, and pepper, and has added 1 beaten egg, some mayonnaise, some Grey Poupon Dijon, a bit of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, some Old Bay Seasoning, some softened butter, and some panko breadcrumbs.

Mr. Hawthorne buttered his hands first, then formed crabbie patties. He then rolled the patties in seasoned Italian breadcrumbs. Me? I would have used crushed Ritz and Saltines instead.

Coming up is Mr. Hawthorne's little trick. I know you're gonna think he's the smartest thing on the block
when you see this.

Mr. Hawthorne squishes the crabmeat mixture INto biscuit cutters for a perfect shape! Is he a keeper or what? Step back ladies, he's all mine.

Next he popped the crabcakes INto the freezer for a quick chill.







Mr. Hawthorne is sauteeing the crabcakes in a combo of butter and olive oil.
Screw that EVOO!

Oh, YUM. Here's the plated meal. I have accompanied the crabcakes with tartar sauce, ketchup/horseradish sauce, hot chili sauce, lemon slices and sliced green onions.

I just bit INto this. It is heaven.