I've been making these since I had my first restaurant in Maine. And to this day, the same recipe has served me well. As you know I like to change things up a bit from time to time, but sometimes, you just don't have to as you'll find with this dish.
Crab cakes can be served up as an appetizer, or as a part of a seafood fare, or a light lunch. Anyway you serve them, and if you enjoy seafood, take the time to relax and enjoy these, they are really very good.
Even though I first made these in Maine, this is more of a southern recipe than a New England recipe but all across the US, we love great seafood. So even though I rank this as a southern dish, it can be truly made a signature dish in any state.
For those of you that don't have access to fresh crab meat, you can easily use frozen (that has been thawed for a day in the fridge) or canned, lump, crab meat. Besides your local fish markets, many grocers have a nice selection of frozen or canned, lump, crab meat. I know that there are imitations (pollack meat really) which certainly would work but this recipe is truly for crab to get the best flavors exploding for you here.
You will need:
About 1 pound of lump crab meat broken apart (run you fingers or a fork through it lightly to check for any stray cartilage or shell fragments)
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of mayo
1 fresh stalk of celery finely chopped
About 1/3 cup of bread crumbs or your favorite crushed butter crackers (you don't want to overdue the bread crumbs as the crab is the standout ingredient here)
2 small slices finely chopped red onion or green scallion finely diced (optional)
A couple sprigs of fresh dill chopped fine or ¼ teaspoon dill weed
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Toss the above ingredients together making sure to not add to much of the bread crumbs at one time. You want your mixture to stick together and be moist, not too dry. Form into patties like a hamburger and set aside.
Make your sauce:
¼ cup of organic ketchup
3 large tablespoons of mayo
1 teaspoon of prepared horseradish
a few drops of tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of capers (optional)
Pre-heat your skillet over medium heat and melt better in the bottom of the pan for cooking. Place your crab patties in a heated skillet and cook for about 3 minutes, until the bottom has browned and flip to brown the other side.
Serve on a small bed of mixed organic greens and drizzle just a touch of your sauce over the greens. Place crab cake on top of your greens and drizzle sauce over cake, serve with a lemon garnish if desired. That's it! Simply enjoy.....yummy!
