Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade

Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade

These crab cakes were not just any crab cakes, but my first foray into shellfish cooking! How about that! My family sometimes gets stuck in a dinner rut and having volunteered to cook dinner, I wanted to make something that I knew neither of my parents would have ever done themselves. Crab cakes can be dry, bready, crumbly messes sometimes but I made it my mission to come up with a crab cake that was true to its name and made almost entirely of crab meat. I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light magazine and it proved to be very delicious. The spicy remoulade almost makes the dish. Almost. It is the perfect briny accompaniment to these yummy little crab cakes. It may look like there are a lot of ingredients but this recipe is pretty quick to make considering all you have to do is mix the ingredients in a bowl. You can do that, right?

Ingredients

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 large egg

1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 pound lump crabmeat

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup canola-based mayonnaise

1 tablespoon chopped shallots

1 1/2 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

To prepare crab cakes, combine the first eight ingredients and stir until the mixture is homogenous. Add the panko and crab, tossing gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate for thirty minutes.

After the crab mixture has chilled, fill a 1/3 measuring cup with the crab mixture. Invert onto a cutting board and gently pat into a patty. Repeat these two steps with the remaining crab mixture, forming eight crab cakes. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fahrenheit. Next, heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add four crab cakes to the pan and cook for four minutes on each side or until the bottoms are golden brown and the crab cake is heated through. Remove the cakes from the pan with a thin spatula and keep warm in the oven. Wipe the skillet dry with a paper towel. Heat another tablespoon of oil in the pan and cook the rest of the crab cakes the same way.

To prepare the spicy rémoulade, combine the 1/4 cup mayonnaise, shallots, capers, mustard, lemon juice, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Dollop over the crab cakes and enjoy!