One of my absolute favorite entrees is crab cakes. I am a crab cake snob and only like the best of the best crab cakes. Cheap crab cakes taste oily and fishy, some are too spicy, and others are either too bready or greasy. So, when my mom made crab cakes from scratch and they were healthy, delicious, and oh-so-perfect, I fell in love. Not a fast process but SO delicious. These crab cakes are crisp on the outside and rich on the inside — perfection.
The recipe is from Mother’s Cookbook, which is a cookbook from a restaurant (Mother’s Bistro) in Portland. If you are on the lookout for a good, ‘ol American homestyle cookbook, this one is solid, reliable, and approachable.
Ingredients:
A snapshot of the dry ingredients used for the crab cakes.
* 1/2 pound of cod fillets
* healthy 1/4 teaspoon of salt
* pepper
* 1/4 pound bacon (GOOD QUALITY BACON MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE)
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped celery (we didn’t have celery so used kale instead. When you are out of something, kale is a good substitute for anything!)
* 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers (or any kind of cracker — we used gluten free, healthy seeded, brick tasting crackers)
* 1 pound Dungeness crab meat (you can either do fresh or canned, whatever you have available)
* scallions or onions
* 3/4 cup of mayo
* 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1/2 cup flour
* 2 large eggs, beaten
* 1 1/2 cups panko
Directions:
* Bake the cod at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. When cool, flake the fish into a large bowl.
Cod is a light white fish. It is delicious, and I couldn't help myself from snacking on it during the preparation process.
Flake fish to make flaky fish.
* Saute onions/scallions with celery/kale.
Chop scallions and garlic whistles (from the CSA this past week). The little green specks add a great splash of color to the white crab cakes.
We use kale literally in every recipe. EVERY recipe.
* Saute the bacon until crispy. The bacon really adds a full and delicious flavor to the crab cakes.
Everything is better with bacon.
* Smoosh the crackers until fine. You can use a mortar or a blender.
Get out your aggression out by crushing crackers.
* In a bowl, combine the cod, crab, veggies, crackers, mustard, Worcestershire. Mix gently and thoroughly with your hands. Once again, if you live in NYC and were just on a subway, MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE NOT NASTY.
yummmmmmmm
* Set up a station with three different bowls — flour, beaten eggs, and panko.
1-2-3.
* Then, forming crab cakes with your hands, first dip the cakes into flour, then eggs, then panko. Prepare for baking by setting the cakes on a well oiled baking sheet. You can fry them if you want (the recipe in the book actually tells you to fry them), but as you know, I like going the healthy route!….
Picture perfect.
Put the crab cakes in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or until golden brown), flipping halfway through.
FINIT! Best meal ever. Sorry no shot of the final product on a plate. They were so delicious that everyone gobbled them up before a picture could be taken. THAT GOOD, I tell you.
Notes:
* This is a not a quick recipe. It takes lots of love, time, and care. But when you cook from the heart, and spend the actual time and energy into making a meal, you feel the love and taste. SO worth it.
* These are definitely a crowd pleaser, so use them to seduce your partner or make your in-laws think you are an amazing chef.
Have a great weekend!
The crab cakes look delicious, the pictures are well done. I hope readers will try this recipe. The author of the book calls them the $15,000 crab cakes because making these were the one big item she learned from cooking school.
Your crab cakes are the most delicious crab cakes ever. You are the most amazing cook. Handsdown.