I’ve never been a shell-fish person but once I started eating meat again after being a vegetarian, I kept trying crab cakes thinking I would learn to like them.  But I always found them too fishy.  Then three summers ago, I attended War By The Shore, an annual boiled-crab-versus-steamed-crab battle held by two friends (one from Mississippi, one from Maryland – see more details about the battle here) where a side crab cake battle took place.  Plates of crab cakes ended up on every table at every corner and I tried cake after cake.  After that fun-filled day three Junes ago, I officially became a crab cake person and now it’s something that I order often when I’m at a restaurant.  I’ve been tucking away different crab cake recipe and tossed away any fear I had of making my own in order to make these Crab Cakes with Spicy Mustard Sauce.

Crab meat is tossed with panko, red pepper, scallions, a little mayonnaise and eggs and shaped into patties before being dredged in a light layer of additional panko.  They are then fried in a pan with the teeniest bit of oil until golden brown and warmed through.  The sauce is both light and spicy and provides a nice creamy element to these crab cakes.  I used whole-wheat panko which worked out fine but I think regular would have turned out better.  I also think using two whole eggs instead of one egg and one egg white might have made the crab meat stay together better.  The pan gets really hot so I suggest keeping the heat closer to medium than medium-high.  Only about 2 or 3 of my finished crab cakes looked presentable because the rest either fell apart or I nearly burned them.  And I was so concerned about making sure my smoke alarm didn’t go off from all of the smoke from the pan that I didn’t get a picture of the cakes cooking.  Oh well, you get the gist.  Regardless, I ate every single one of these cakes for lunch and dinner over a couple of days.  I loved them.  They are light on the filler, just the way you want crab cakes to be.  I’m so glad I’m a crab cake fan now…but I’ve got a long way to go before I start handling crab legs!!

The ingredients:

Combine red pepper, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, scallions and eggs in a large bowl.

Add 1/3 cup panko and crab; toss gently.

Divide crab mixture into 8 equal portions; shape each into a 3/4-inch-thick patty. Place remaining panko in a shallow dish. Gently dredge patties in panko.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add half of the oil to the pan and add 4 crab cakes to pan.  Cook 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and crab cakes.

Combine mayonnaise, sour cream, parsley, Dijon, white wine vinegar and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.

Serve sauce with crab cakes.

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:

• Whole-wheat panko
• Light mayonnaise

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Cooking Light Magazine