Crab Cakes with Month-Old Greens (see additional recipe added 2/14/2020)

Month-old greens!!  Horrors you think. 

About 20 years ago, we had a nice meal planned with a salad on the eve of leaving for Europe for three weeks.   Long story short, we forgot to eat the salad.   Low and behold, when we got back from Europe the salad was perfectly fresh and crisp with no browning, no wilting and no weeping.   I was astounded and so was Alice.   After she washes and spin dries the leaves, she explained to me that she has always been a fanatic for thoroughly drying every single leaf with paper towels before putting it in a bowl and then covering the salad with a few sheets of paper toweling and then letting it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours prior to serving it.  Little did she know that this method would allow an undressed salad to last for over three weeks.   Well, I made up a batch of crab cakes when we got back from Tucson on 3/8 and Alice made up a large bowl of fresh greens to serve with it.   The recipe makes quite a few crab cakes, so I froze several of them and dated the package.   Likewise, Alice put the remainder of the greens in the refrigerator out in the garage and pretty much forgot about them.   Looking for something for lunch on 4/3 (27 days later) we decided to take a few crab cakes out of the freezer.  Alice went to the garage and to no one’s surprise, the month-old greens were every bit as fresh and appetizing as they had been a month prior.   The key is drying each leaf thoroughly with paper towels before tearing it and putting it into a bowl (see picture above).   So, there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for any restaurant establishment to serve browning, wilted or weeping lettuce.   If they do, they don’t know how to make a salad.

We’ve made crab cakes from many different recipes, but, I like that this one hits the sweet spot in the binder vs. crab dilemma.  “The less binder, the better they taste – but the more they fall apart.  Where is the sweet spot?” is the quote from America’s TEST KITCHEN “BEST- EVER COOKING for TWO” / October 2014 issue.  The ingredients below are pretty much according to the recipe with a few extras added as noted although the instructions I provide simplify the process considerably and reduce the amount of dishes, bowls and pans needed.

MARYLAND CRAB CAKES

We use Product of Mexico pasteurized jumbo lump crab from Sam’s Club.   The taste is great and you don’t have to take out a mortgage to buy it.  I’m not sure you can even get Maryland crab unless you go to Maryland.   Because the container is a one pound container, I simply doubled all of the ingredients below to use up the entire pound and froze the remainder.   If you put the uncooked cakes in the freezer on a cookie sheet for an hour or two, you can throw them in a Food-Saver freezer bag and they can be removed one at a time as needed and that allows for resealing the bag.   So, here’s the recipe for four crab cakes:

7 square saltines                                                                                                                  8 ounces lump crabmeat thoroughly dried with paper towels and inspected for shells                                                                                                                                   2 scallions, minced                                                                                                              1 tablespoon unsalted melted butter, plus                                                                        2 tablespoons of unsalted softened butter                                                                        1 tablespoon mayonnaise                                                                                                    1 large egg yolk                                                                                                                    1½  teaspoons Dijon mustard                                                                                            1 teaspoon hot sauce                                                                                                            ½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning                                                                                        Lemon wedges

I also added a few more ingredients not in the recipe.                                                   1 clove of garlic smashed and minced                                                                                2 Tablespoons parsley chopped fine                                                                                  Salt and Pepper

1.      Easiest way to make saltines into crumbs is to put them into a Zip-Lock bag and crush them with a meat hammer.   Add about 2/3 of the saltines, along with the crab, scallions, melted butter, mayonnaise, egg yolk, mustard, hot sauce, Old Bay, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper to a bowl and gently mix trying not to break up the crab any more than is unavoidable.

2.      Shape into four tight cakes.  Press one side of each cake with remaining saltine crumbs.  Plate and refrigerate for at least one hour.

3.      Once the cakes have set up, melt the butter in a medium high heat pan.   As soon as the butter hits the pan and starts to sizzle, add the cakes and turn the heat to medium low.   Once there is a nice brown crust (about 3-4 minutes) flip the cakes turn the heat to low and very slowly cook for another 5-6 minutes until cooked through.   Serve with lemon wedges on a plate with salad greens.

REMOULADE SAUCE from the Food Network courtesy of Katie Lee

This sauce is a nice touch, but, honestly, I prefer to simply pour the slightly browned butter from the pan over the cakes with a healthy squeeze of lemon.   I’m kind of old fashioned on salads too and simply prefer balsamic vinegar, olive oil with crushed basil and mint leaves.   But, the remoulade sauce not only makes an elegant sauce for the cakes, it is great with salad greens too.  Whisk the following ingredients together and serve it on or along side of the cakes.  It makes enough for eight cakes plus salad.

1/3 cup mayonnaise                                                                                                          1Tablespoon ketchup                                                                                                        1Tablespoon capers, chopped                                                                                          1Tablespoon sweet pickle relish                                                                                        2 teaspoons Dijon mustard                                                                                                Juice of ½ lemon                                                                                                                Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

WINE PAIRING SUGGESTION

St. Julian winery and it’s late owner David Braganini are no strangers to Spanish style wines having made a reputation with their Solera Cream Sherry rated among if not the best Cream Sherry styled wine outside of Jerez de la Frontera.   On the north coast of Spain, brilliantly crisp fresh appetizing white wines made with Albarino grapes perfectly enhance all forms of fish and seafood.   We still had a bottle of the 2013 Braganini Michigan Reserve Albarino in the cellar.  We tasted it a couple of years back and loved the raw, vividly fresh citrus and mineral nuances but, were a bit concerned that maybe we’d allowed this one to slip past its prime.  Not to worry.  If anything, it has gotten better with a somewhat fuller, almost Chenin Blanc-like aroma of limes and white grapes that greets the nose.  On the palate, plenty of crisp citrus now mingles with hints of flowers, quince and white peach.   Staying true to its Spanish roots, the finish builds mineral and stone fruit nuances that last for several seconds.   This is a fine white wine by any standard.   It lives up to its current retail at over $20 per bottle.

UPDATE 2/14/2020

We just made another Crab Cake recipe from the “Old Fashioned Farmer’s Almanac EATS”. I’m not saying it is better, but, if you eat crab cakes frequently like us, it’s nice to change it up once in a while. Here’s the recipe with a few modifications mostly in process:

Maryland Crab Cakes with Special Seafood Sauce

First of all, make the sauce by putting the following into a bowl and mixing thoroughly. Chill until needed.

1/2 cup Mayo 2 tablespoons sour cream 1 1/2 tablespoons pickle relish 1 tablespoon minced red onion 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato based chili sauce 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard pinch of sugar

Mix together the following in a bowl:'

2 scallions chopped 2 tablespoons chopped spicy red or Hungarian pepper 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 tablespoon dill weed 1/2 cup cracker crumbs 1 large beaten egg 3 tablespoons Mayo 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

Gently add in one pound of crab meat. We like the lump crab meat they sell at Sam’s club. It tastes fresh yet, unopened, it lasts for over a year. Make the crab cakes into nice sized patties. This recipe makes about six substantial cakes.

Put some more cracker crumbs in a bowl and thoroughly coat the crab cakes and then lay them directly into a hot pan with lots and lots of butter and a bit of olive oil. Turn the heat way down and continue to cook them for about 6-7 minutes per side depending on thickness.

Serve over greens and/or head lettuce and pour the sauce over everything and sprinkle with parsley or fresh dill.

Enjoy in Good Health,                                                                                                        Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner

Not a fan of the pet mouse (pictured)?   You’ll have to address that with Alice