Ginger just had to get into the picture when she found out I was going to post a cookbook about seafood. With the exception of calamari, all my favorite seafoods come in shells. Shrimp, crab, lobster or Balmain bugs, I love them all! Oysters, mussels, and clams are great too, stuff with scales, leaves me cold. I think it's because I got touched on the leg by a fish while swimming in a lake as a child. Or maybe it's because I have a fish tank with a huge ugly fellow named Mr. Chips living in it. Click on the photo and you'll get an idea of his size, almost 14 inches. Who would want to eat that?
In the past, I have often found myself looking for the perfect recipe for a food or dish, maybe this is why I have so many cookbooks. It becomes a quest and I'll try different recipes over and over until I think I've found the very best. Obsession is too strong of word but I have worked very hard to find the perfect coconut macaroon, the perfect potato pancake, the perfect red velvet cake, the perfect...okay so maybe it is obsessive. Anyway one of my more recent quests is the hunt for the perfect crab cake recipe.
I'm not there yet but I have discovered that for my taste, the recipe will include Hellmann's Mayo, Coleman's Dry Mustard, lemon pepper and most important Old Bay seasoning. Also celery not green peppers and very finely minced onion. It must be ever so gently mixed so as not to crush the crab and lovingly placed in melted butter to fry. It must also not have bread crumbs or anything else as a coating! Then when it is on the plate on top of a bed of lettuce, it will be drizzled with Renee's Creole Dijon Sauce and a squeeze of lemon. That Renee lady knows what she's doing!
I tried another recipe again last night and my husband said, "oh boy, crab cakes" but not with as much enthusiasm as the last 15 times I experimented. Today, I have several left over but I won't offer them to my daughter, she now turns green if I even mention crab cakes. I'm sure that wasn't the only reason she moved out, anyway I guess I'll have a couple for lunch and then maybe, I'll move on to something else. These still aren't perfect but until I move closer to the sea where I can catch my own crabs, I think they'll have to do. Gee, I just noticed this book has a recipe for Crab and Corn Cakes with Spicy Yoghurt sauce on page 96, I may have to try just one more. So cookbook #16 is The Best Seafood Recipes.
Here's my favorite Crab Cake Recipe:
ReplyDelete1 large egg
3T. Mayo
1 1/2 t. dry mustard
1/4 cup pimento (drained)
1T. Dried parsley
1 T. Old Bay Seasoning
2 t. Worcestershire
Dashes of Tabasco
1/4 t. Pepper
1/4 t. coarse salt
1 lb. Crab Meat
1 cup finely crushed saltines
3 T. Butter
In a large bowl whisk together the first 10 ingredients. Add 1/4 cup saltines and crab meat and mix gently. Form mixture into mini crab cakes and coat carefully with the remaining cracker crumbs. Freeze briefly, then fry in butter about 2 minutes on each side. Makes 8 full size crab cakes or about 32 minis.
Cracker crumbs, pimento and Tabasco, I haven't tried that! I like the freezing idea, mine can break apart.
ReplyDeleteI almost died when I scrolled down and saw Mr. Chips. He's a beautiful fish--don't insult him or he'll crawl out of the tank and into your room some night.
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