May 29

Crab for the Out-of-Towners

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• Lump Crab Cakes [View Recipe]

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  Ingredients

  • 1 pound crab
  • 2.5 tablespoons oil (divided)
  • .25 cup onion (minced)
  • .25 cup bell pepper (minced)
  • .25 cup bell pepper (minced)
  • 1 clove garlic (minced)
  • salt & pepper
  • .5 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon chives (cleaned and snipped with scissors)
  • .5 tablespoon parsley (cleaned and chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon thyme (cleaned and de-stemmed)
  • 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
  • sprinkle cayenne
  • .5 large lemon
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • .5 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon butter (divided)

  Instructions

  We start by heating a pan over medium-low heat with a teaspoon of olive oil. We add the onion and sweat for a few minutes. Next we add the red and green bell peppers and cook for another few minutes over medium heat. When the vegetables have softened, we add the garlic and some salt and pepper and stir for a minute. We spread the cooked vegetables onto a plate and put in the fridge for a quick cool.

  Now we mix up our bread mixture. In a large bowl we combine the dried plain bread crumbs, the chives, parsley, lemon thyme, Old Bay seasoning, and a sprinkle of cayenne. We zest the lemon half and add it to the bread crumb mixture. In a cup, we combine the egg, Worcestershire sauce, and half a tablespoon of the lemon juice. We set aside our wet and dry ingredients and take the crab out of the fridge.

  We rinse our crab meat in a colander quickly. We pick over and remove small bits of shells and cartilage. We combine the dry bread crumb mixture, cooled off vegetables, and wet egg mixture together in the large bowl and stir with a fork. Next we gently add in the crabmeat and mix with our well-washed hands. We form 6 crab cakes—they are barely held together so we are very careful—and place on a large dinner plate. We refrigerate for about an hour.

  When we are about ready to pan-fry the crab cakes, we pre-heat the oven to <temp val="350"/>. We will place the browned crab cakes in the oven to heat through.

  We pour the Panko bread crumbs onto a dinner plate and season with a little freshly ground black pepper. In our non-stick pan, we heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1½ teaspoons of butter to pan-fry the crab cakes over medium heat. When hot, we gently dip both sides of one of the cakes in the Panko bread crumbs, and then place it into the pan. We repeat with two more. We brown the three crab cakes on one side for a few minutes, add a little more olive oil, and turn the crab cakes.

  When the cakes are nicely browned, we place in a baking dish and put in the oven for a few minutes to heat through. We repeat with the rest of the butter and olive oil&#8212;coating and then cooking the remaining 3 crab cakes. We put the second batch of browned crab cakes in the oven, lower the heat to <temp val="300"/>, and serve the first batch of crab cakes.

• Tomato, Mozzarella and Spinach Salad [View Recipe]

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  Ingredients

  • 3 cups spinach (cleaned <howto label="salad"/> and packed)
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • salt &amp; pepper
  • 1 clove garlic (peeled and smashed gently)
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • 2 tablespoons nuts
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 ounces mozzarella
  • 2 tablespoons basil (cleaned)

  Instructions

  We put the spinach onto an oval platter, cover with paper towels, and refrigerate. Next, we make the dressing. In a resealable container, we combine the vinegar, some salt and freshly ground black pepper, and the garlic clove. We stir well with a fork. We have the olive oil ready on the side to add when it is time to dress the salad.

  Meanwhile, we toast the nuts on a piece of foil in the toaster oven at <temp val="350"/>. It takes a few minutes for the nuts to brown lightly, we need to be careful, of course, not to burn them!

  When the nuts are toasted, we remove them from the toaster oven and allow them to cool.

  The cherry tomatoes are rinsed and quartered and the mozzarella is sliced into small pieces.

  We remove the refrigerated platter of lettuce and arrange the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and pine nuts. We tear the basil and season with some more salt and pepper.

  We add the oil to the vinegar, seal, and shake to combine. We discard the garlic and drizzle a little of the dressing on the salad. The rest is served on the side.

• Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, using red, white and blue potatoes
• Cocktail Sauce
• Tartar Sauce
• Fresh Bread from the Farmers' Market