Tag: Meatless

My Dad was an amazing cook.  He had a habit of throwing together ingredients and just making it taste good.  I definitely got that from him.  He didn’t write down recipes all that often but we’ve come across some recipes of his over the years that he did actually write out.  These crab cakes are one of them.  I found both a handwritten copy and also a typed copy.  The handwritten one just brought a smile to my face because it’s his written.  It made me happy to have that.  It’s just a rough draft as you can probably tell.

I wanted to share with you this recipe as it’s special to me since it’s my Dad’s.  I hope you enjoy these crab cakes as much as I do.

Absolutely Delicious Crab Cakes with Garlic Aioli
By Tony T.

Ingredients:
1 lb real lump crab meat ONLY
1/2 cup chopped red or green pepper
2 bunches green onions chopped, or 1 small yellow onion
2 cloves, minced
2 T Dijon mustard
1 cup plain bread crumbs
¾ cup grated Parmesan or Romano
3 eggs
¼ cup flour
1 t Cajun spice
1 t cayenne
Salt & Pepper to taste
½ T olive oil
Oil for frying (cover bottom of a sauté pan with 1/2-3/4 inch of oil)

Garlic Aioli

Ingredients:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 T olive oil (good quality)
2-3 garlic cloves, grated or minced
2-3 t parsley, dried or fresh
1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste (About 1/2 t of each)

Directions: In a medium bowl add all ingredients for the Garlic Aioli.  Mix well and refrigerate until ready to use.  Heat a medium sauté pan on high heat.  Cook garlic, onion and peppers 3 minutes.  Add in spices to taste and cook till mixture is tender and cooked.  Remove and let cool completely.  In a medium bowl mix in the cooled pepper mixture, 2 eggs, mustard, ¼ cup breadcrumbs and the cheese. Mix together with your hands and make into patties/cakes.

Whisk last remaining egg in a small bowl.  Make a breading station.  1 bowl of ¾ cup of bread crumbs, 1 bowl with ¼ cup of flour and one with the whisked egg.

Dip cakes into flour on both sides, then into the egg and then into the bread crumbs. Place on a plate. Complete with remaining crab cakes.  Cover completely and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm.

Heat a medium or large sauté pan with oil. Oil should be about 1/2 -3/4 inch in the bottom. Heat until oil is hot and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Drain on paper towel and season with salt while hot.  Serve crab cake with garlic aioli.

Notes: You can omit the cayenne and Cajun spice and replace with 1 teaspoon each of, garlic, onion, chili powder and paprika. When cooking in a sauté pan you won’t be fully submerging the crab cake, it will cook on one side and then be flipped.  If you want to use a deep fat fryer it will cook for 2-3 minutes total and be completely submerged.