Test Kitchen: Crabcakes

At my house, there is an ongoing friendly battle between testing new recipes for my catering business and making the old favorite standbys for my family. My daughter is a great cook and willing participant in trying new things, so after debating various menus yesterday, we decided to go to Sam's to purchase fresh shrimp to make shrimp cakes as a variation of crabcakes, which are one of my husband's favorite dishes. Sam's had only frozen shrimp, so we decided to substitute lump blue crab meat instead and make crabcakes.

We found an interesting version called Green Chile Crabcakes with Tomatillo Salsa in one of my favorite cookbooks, Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. We adapted it to the palates of the whole family by leaving out the jalapeno and green chiles and served it with homemade tartar sauce. They were delicious!--light and crispy with tender bites of sweet crab. We decided that next time we will go ahead and add the jalapeno for a bit more spiciness.

Crabcakes
Adapted from Pastry Queen's Green Chile Crabcakes with Tomatillo Salsa

1 pound lump crabmeat, cleaned
1/4 cup red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of lime
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups panko breadcrumbs, divided
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil

Combine crabmeat, bell pepper, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, eggs, 2 cups of breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper in large bowl. Mix lightly with hands and form into eight 3-inch patties. Chill for one hour.
Pour remaining 1 cup breadcrumbs into shallow bowl or paper towel. Coat patties in crumbs. Melt butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add crab cakes and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until surface is golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately.

I made a couple of mini crabcakes and placed them on my salad--YUM!