Rosie Makes Crab Cakes

  When I make crab cakes, I go by the maxim "less is more," meaning less filler and more crab makes for a better cake.  Also, I'm not a big fan of mayonnaise, so that's not going into my mixture as a binder.

Crab meat where I live is running $18/lb for claw meat.  And claw meat is the cheapest available.  I think it's sweeter too and more flavorful, so that's what I always use.  

I'm only making 4 cakes today, so I'm just using 10 ounces of the crab meat, saving the rest for a delicious dip.

Rosie's Crab Cakes

10 oz. crab meat 

1 TB minced red pepper

1 TB minced celery

1 TB chopped parsley

1 egg

2 tsp Dijon mustard

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp Lea & Perrins

1/2 tsp Tabasco

sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning

Add pepper, celery, and parsley to crab meat, mixing gently so as not to break up the meat.

Beat egg with mustard, lemon, Lea & Perrins, Tabasco, and Old Bay.  Pour into crab mixture, again mixing gently.

Divide crab meat mixture evenly among 4 tins and press in. 

Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Combine equal parts Panko bread crumbs and flour.  Grind some pepper into flour mixture or use Lawry's Pepper Seasoning.

Coat both sides of crab cake in crumb mixture.

Film a medium sized skillet with oil and add 2 TB butter.  Medium high heat.

When butter gets sizzly and foamy, add in crab cakes.  Sauté until golden brown on each side.

 

Serve with my apple/cranberry slaw, lemon wedges, more parsley, and my remoulade sauce.

Rosie's Remoulade 

1/3 cup mayonnaise  (I know I just said I don't care for mayo, but sometimes you gotta.)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp sweet relish

1 tsp minced dill pickle

Now that's a crab cake!

Oh...  Almost forgot.  The dip.

I had 6 ounces of crab meat left over so I decided to make my delicious crab meat dip.  I never bother to measure, so the proportions can be different every time, but not to worry, it's ALL GOOD!

Rosie's Crab Meat Dip

6 oz. crab meat

2 TB unsalted butter

heaping TB Brie cheese

heaping TB cream cheese

juice of one lemon

2 tsp Lea & Perrins

a few shakes of Tabasco

splash or more of sherry, to taste

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter, Brie, and cream cheese, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the lemon, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco.  Gently fold in the crab meat so as not to break up the lumps.  Heat through.  Add a splash or two of sherry.

Serve with an assortment of crackers for dipping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OR, serve in buttered and baked wonton cups.

Here's HOW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OR, serve in a hollowed-out boule with the hollowed out part torn and toasted for dipping. 

If you'd like to gussy it up a bit, add some minced red peppers and sliced scallions and a dusting of paprika.

Enjoy.

Crabalicious Appetizers.

 

With the Thanksgiving holidays approaching, it’s always nice to have appetizers lurking around while you’re waiting for the big bird to emerge from the oven or for the day after when you’ve got leftovers galore and just want a little something different to brighten up the vestiges from the previous day.  I’ve got just the ticket – crabmeat.  Consider it one more thing to be thankful for.

 I’ve got a crabmeat dip that, of course, can be used as a basic dip, but it’s quite versatile, in that it can be utilized in any number of ways, with just a few adjustments here and there to doctor it up.  I’ll be using it to stuff mushrooms, fill phyllo cups, and wrap in wontons, among other things.  I’m only using ½ pound of the crabmeat for the dip and its variations; the rest I’m using for crab balls with a tangy tartar sauce for dipping.

 

Rosie’s Basic Crabmeat Dip

8 oz. crabmeat, picked for shells  (I use claw meat.  Cheaper and I think sweeter and crabbier.)

4 oz. unsalted butter

3 oz. Brie cheese (Yes, you can eat the rind.)

1 oz. cream cheese

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

1 TB sherry

In small sauce pan over low heat, melt butter, Brie, and cream cheese.  Whisk until it’s a smooth white sauce.  Gently, add crabmeat, trying not to break up the meat.  Heat through.   Stir in lemon juice, Lea & Perrins, and sherry.  I never completely mix the lemon juice, L&P, and sherry.  I like to have what I call “pockets of flavor.”

Once you make this dip, you'll find yourself coming back to it time and time again, so it's perfectly OK to experiment here.  Add more or less cheeses, butter, lemon, L&P, sherry.  Taste test and adjust.  If you prefer a shake or two of paprika, or cayenne or a few drops of hot sauce, I say go for it.

 The basic crabmeat dip can be poured into a serving dish and scooped up with any type of cracker, but since I prefer edible serving bowls, I use a boule.  I hollow out a round loaf of bread, fill it with the crabmeat mixture, and use the pulled pieces of bread for dipping. Bake in a 350° oven until the bread pieces are toasted and crabmeat heated through.  Top with chopped red bell pepper, sliced green onions, and a sprinkling of paprika.

 Now that I have my basic crabmeat mixture, there are a number of tangents I can explore.  All make for wonderful appetizers, but if you’d like to graze your way through a meal, this will work perfectly.

 

 Crabmeat Filled Wonton Cups

Take individual wonton wrappers and press into muffin tins.  Lightly brush with butter.  Bake at 350° for about 8 minutes, or until golden.  Fill with warm crabmeat mixture.  Top with sliced scallions and roasted red bell peppers.

 

 Crabmeat Filled Phyllo Shells

Place phyllo shells on baking sheet and bake at 350° about 5 minutes.  Fill with crabmeat mixture and sprinkle sliced scallions and chopped parsley over top.

 

 Crabmeat Filled Mushroom Caps

Remove stems from mushrooms and spoon in crabmeat mixture, rounding it.  Top with a sprinkling of panko breadcrumbs or Ritz crackers and grated Parmesan cheese.  Place caps in a rimmed baking tray and pour sherry in bottom of tray.  Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes, until topping is golden brown.

 

    

 Crab Rangoon

Lay a wonton wrapper on your work surface and place a heaping teaspoonful of crabmeat filling in the center.  Do not overfill.  I brush the edges with soy sauce, then fold the wonton over, forming a triangle, and pressing the edges with a fork to crimp and seal.  Fry stuffed wontons at 350° a minute or so on each side until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with dipping sauce and sprinkle with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

 Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup tamari

 2 TB mirin

 2 TB rice vinegar

 1 tsp sugar

 1 tsp sriracha

 1 minced garlic clove

 Ginger juice from 1 small knob of frozen ginger

 1 TB toasted sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients.

 Rosie Note:  It’s virtually impossible to get juice out of fresh ginger, so whenever I buy ginger root, I cut it into 1-inch cubes and freeze it.  Nuke a cube for about 15 seconds, then you can easily squeeze the juice out.

You can use a garlic press for this and scrape some of the ginger pulp into the dip for extra ginger flavor.

 

  

  For a final presentation using my crabmeat filling, I offer you a decadent Eggs Hawthorne with Hollandaise Sauce.  It’s the perfect way to start off your morning.

  Eggs Hawthorne with Crabmeat

 For each serving:

1 piece of buttered toast, homemade bread preferred, or you could use a buttered, toasted English muffin

Lightly steamed spinach

Bacon strips or sautéed ham slices

1 poached egg

Hollandaise sauce

Heaping spoonful of crabmeat filling.

 For poached egg:

Pour about a quart of water in a medium sauce pan.  Add a tablespoon of vinegar.  This helps the whites coagulate better.  Bring to a light boil.  Swirl water to make a whirlpool and carefully break egg into the vortex.  For runny yolks and cooked whites, I lightly boil the egg for 2 minutes 15 seconds.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.

 For Hollandaise sauce:

A lot of people use a double boiler for Hollandaise.  I find it unnecessary.  I use the “hover” method and it works just fine for me.

Juice half a lemon in a small sauce pan.

Whisk in one egg yolk.

Hovering the pan over low heat, constantly whisk yolk and juice.  When the mixture first starts to thicken and emits a wisp of steam, whisk in a tablespoon of cold, unsalted butter incorporating the butter and emulsifying the mixture.  Continue adding half stick of butter, one tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly.  Remember to HOVER!

Rosie Note:  If your pan gets too hot and your Hollandaise curdles, not that that’s ever happened to me, all is not lost.  Throw in an ice cube and continue to whisk.  It works!

 To serve:

If you’re using ham slices, place on top of toast.  Make a spinach nest on top of toast or ham.  Nestle in a poached egg.  If you’re using bacon, place strips around egg.  Pour Hollandaise over egg. Place a heaping spoonful of warm crabmeat mixture on top.  If desired, sprinkle on cayenne or paprika.

 

I still have ½ pound of crabmeat left, so I’m making crab balls with a tangy tartar sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crab Balls With Rosie’s Tartar Sauce

 Makes about 2 dozen balls.

½ pound crabmeat

 1 egg beaten with 1 TB cream and 1 TB lemon juice

 1 TB chopped roasted red pepper

 ½ tsp Old Bay seasoning

 1 TB minced onion

 1 TB minced celery

 1 TB chopped parsley

 2 TB bread crumbs (I toast my homemade bread and then crumble it up by hand.)

Mix all together.  Use a melon-baller to scoop out small balls of the mixture.  Roll by hand to pack tighter.  Refrigerate balls at least one hour.  Roll in mixture of 2 parts crushed Ritz crackers and 1 part cornstarch.  Pour a thin layer of peanut oil in a medium skillet and heat to 350°.  Add in a tablespoon or two of butter (for flavor).  When the butter is done sizzling and melting, add in balls, being careful not to crowd the pan, and fry about 4 minutes, rolling around to brown all over.  Drain on paper towels.

 Rosie’s Tartar Sauce

  2 TB mayonnaise

 1 TB sour cream

 1 tsp Lea & Perrins

 2 tsp lemon juice

 1 TB dill salad cubes

 2 TB sweet relish

 1 tsp Gray Poupon Dijon mustard (Do not substitute a generic brand.)

 Serve crab balls with tartar sauce dotted with Sriracha sauce and sprinkled with chopped basil, chopped parsley, and sliced scallions.

Enjoy!

Rosie Makes Crab Meat Boules.

 Take a pound of crab meat.
And go in two different directions.

 First, make a batch of crab cakes:

Then, make my crab meat boules:
 

 In my opinion, the best way to eat crab meat is straight out of the crab, dipped in butter, with a squeeze of lemon juice.
However, if you want something different and are willing to put forth a little effort, I would recommend my crab meat boule.
Basically, it's a hollowed-out round of bread with a crab meat filling that's baked until the bread is toasty and the crab mixture is bubbly. 

It's great as an appetizer for a party.  You can buy one of those big boules in the bread department and fill that with the crab meat, using the torn bread pieces to dip with.  Or you could buy those miniature phyllo cups in the frozen section and fill them for individual appetizers.  Or you can make your own boules from scratch, which is what I'm showing you how to do.

 

My bread recipe makes enough for 5 boules and 1 loaf.
 I used 1-cup ramekins for the boules and a 4 x 8-inch pan for the loaf.

Rosie's Bread 
1 cup water
1 pkg. yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp kosher salt
1 egg, beaten with 1 TB water

Pour water into a medium bowl and sprinkle yeast over top, then sugar.
Let proof.  That means wait for the bubbles and foam so you know that the yeast is alive and working.  When the mixture is foamy, stir in the flour and salt.  Using the dough hook of a mixer, process until dough comes together in a ball, then turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes, adding more flour, if needed.  Dough should be elastic and pliable.  Of course, you don't need a machine for this.  You can be the machine and use your hands to knead the dough.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise.  When dough has doubled, punch down and let rise again, until doubled.  You can place the dough in your ramekins and loaf pan now, or you can place covered dough in refrigerator and let it spend the night.  This is what I did - set it in the fridge.  Letting the dough chill overnight allows the gluten to develop along with more flavor.

Remove dough from fridge and let come to room temperature.
Divide dough into 6 balls - 5 small and equal sized and 1 larger.
Place the smaller balls into oiled 1-cup ramekins.
Form the larger ball into a loaf shape and place in an oiled 4 x 8-inch loaf pan.
Let rise until doubled.

Gently brush tops of bread with beaten egg wash.

Bake at 350° for 7 minutes, then rotate and bake another 7 minutes.
Cover with foil and continue baking for 10 more minutes.
Let cool on racks.

 For the step-by-steps:

Water, yeast, and sugar.  I don't even bother to stir it.

Let it get bubbly and foamy.  This is called "proofing" the yeast.  The yeast has to "prove" it's alive - by eating sugar and producing carbon dioxide and other byproducts.

Add in the flour and salt.

And process, with the dough hook, to bring it all together.

You want the dough to pull away from the sides, but still remain slightly attached at the bottom of the bowl.

Then put the sticky mass onto a lightly floured work surface.

Knead it by hand.  It should be soft and elastic.

Form into a ball.

And place in an oiled bowl.
Cover...

Let rise until doubled.
Punch down and let rise again.
You can refrigerate it now, overnight, if you like, or you can form into the boules and loaf.

I refrigerated mine.  Time was not of the essence for me.

Form it into a ball again.

Then form into individual boules and a loaf and place in oiled ramekins and a loaf pan.
The ramekins are 1-cup; the loaf pan is 4 x 8-inch.

Let bread rise, then brush lightly with egg wash.

And bake.
Let cool.

Here's what we're aiming for:

 The prize!

Now for the crab meat mixture.

Rosie's Crab Filling
1/2 pound crab meat, preferably lump
4 TB unsalted butter
2 oz. Brie
2 oz. cream cheese
1 TB minced shallot
1 TB red finely chopped red pepper
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB sherry
paprika


In a small sauce pan, melt butter, with Brie and cream cheese.  Gently fold in crab meat, being careful not to break up crab meat.  Add in shallot, red pepper, and lemon juice.  Heat through.  Stir in sherry.  I never thoroughly incorporate the sherry.  I like to have "pockets of flavor." 

Slice tops off each boule.  Carefully hollow out the boules, leaving the base intact.  Tear the pulled-off bread pieces into bite-sized dunking pieces.  Place boules on oven-proof platter and spoon crab mixture into each.  Sprinkle tops with a shake of paprika.  Arrange torn bread pieces around boules.  Bake in 325° oven until bread is toasty. 10-15 minutes.

For the how-tos:

Melt butter with Brie and cream cheeses.

Fold in crab meat and lemon juice.

Here are the boules, ready for scooping out.

Mound the crab meat mixture into hollowed-out boules...

Sprinkle tops with paprika.

And bake until everything is nice and toasty.

Enjoy!