Yes, I have returned. I am adjusting to cooking for two and so I have not been cook booking. Actually we have had days in our house where the closest thing to cooking was making coffee in the morning.
In a few weeks I am going with a friend to see a cooking demo by Michael Symon from the food channel. I do not have any books by him so I visited Amazon to get a book or two for him to autograph. Today one of the books arrived,
Michael's Genuine Food Down to Earth Food For People Who Love to Eat. Wonderful recipes except it was not Michael Symon but Michael Schwartz. This Michael is a James Beard Award winner. Well, if I have to make a screw up this was one that turned out good.
Looking through the book, I found a recipe for crab cakes. We had eaten at Lindy's in German Village and Steve had amazing crab cakes. Very little filler and a lot of crab. Now I am not a seafood cook so what was in them I really did not know, but they were excellent.
The recipe in the book seemed simple and the picture look like there was a lot of crab and little filler. I had a large can of crab in the refrigerator so I decide to give it a try. I went to the store to pick up what I needed. I was sure I had Old Bay at home but when I started to make them , oops, no Old Bay. I searched the cupboard and pantry for something to substitute for it and settled on Durkee's Grill Creations, Gourmet for chicken and fish. It worked very nicely. When you coat the crab cakes , the recipe called for Panko. All the plain panko had been used up so I used an oriental blend with sesame , ginger, and garlic. This was another good substitute.
The recipe called for two egg yolks for binding but next time I think I will use three as they had a hard time staying together when coating.
Here is my adaptation of Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes.
1 can of (16 oz) crab meat
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small shallot
1 teaspoon Durkee's Grill Creations
1 teaspoon fine sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup panko, oriental
2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup canola oil
Put the crab in a bowl and pick through for any shells, then set aside. Combine the butter and shallot in a small pot over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add Grill Creations, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir together, remove from heat, add cream and blend well. Pour the mixture over the crab. Add the chives. Fold together gently so not to mash the crab. Cover with plastic and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour or over night. The mixture will appear wet but the crab will absorb the moisture.
When ready to cook, form the crab mixture into 6 patties. I used a large ice cream scoop to measure it out. Put flour in one bowl, eggs and two tablespoon water that have been whisked together in bowl two and the panko in the third bowl. Dredge, dip, dredge very gently. Carefully place three patties in a skillet that has been heated with half the butter and oil. Brown for three or four minutes. Repeat with the last three patties. Enjoy
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I am planning on making his Grilled Bacon Wrapped Peaches with aged Balsamic and piave vecchio cheese tomorrow. I love this book and I am sure you will, too.
Check it out at:
http://www.amazon.com/Michaels-Genuine-Food-Down---Earth/dp/0307591379/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1375147186&sr=8-6&keywords
