morton's crab cakes

Last Christmas, A and I went to Pittsburgh to visit his family. This was back before he was in grad school, and we were fortunate enough to have 2 incomes and could afford to take his parents and brother out for a nice dinner at one of our favorite (if somewhat generic) steakhouses, Morton's. The day after was Christmas Eve, the night of his family's big seafood feast. After eating the crab cakes at Morton's, I immediately wanted to try to recreate them for the family meal. I found the recipe online, and the result tasted almost exactly like the original - or maybe better, since I was so proud to have contributed to the tradition. This year, we didn't have Morton's, but we did make a double batch of their crab cakes.

Grocery list: 1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (approximately 6 slices white bread, crusts removed), 2 garlic cloves, 1 shallot, fresh parsley, ground white pepper, prepared horseradish, dijon mustard, mayonnaise, 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, worcestershire sauce, 2 eggs, tabasco, butter.



Start by making the bread crumbs as the base. To a large bowl, add the fresh bread crumbs, then 1 T minced garlic, 1 tsp minced shallots, 1 tsp minced fresh parsley, a pinch of salt and 1/8 tsp ground white pepper.



Next, make the mustard mayonnaise (a little of which is used in the actual crab cakes; the rest is served on the side when the crab cake is cooked). Mix 1/2 cup mayo with 4 tsp dijon mustard, 1/4 tsp worcestershire, and 1/2 tsp prepared horseradish. Stir well to combine.



Rinse the crab meat in a colander, picking through carefully with your hands to make sure there are no little pieces of shell remaining. It's very important to use jumbo lump - it costs a few dollars extra per pound, but the consistency is much better (and there is little to no shell to worry with).



Assemble the crab cakes by mixing the bread crumb mixture with the crab meat, along with 2 T of the prepared mustard mayonnaise. Also stir in 1 T finely chopped fresh parsley, 1 extra tsp of dijon mustard, 2 beaten eggs, 1/2 tsp worcestershire and 1/4 tsp tabasco.



Combine with your hands gently, then shape into 6 mounds. Allow to rest on a cookie sheet in the fridge, uncovered, for 30 minutes. According to a Tyler Florence episode I once saw, this 30 minute rest allows the crab meat to dry out a bit, so it will bake instead of steam itself (which would make for chewier crab).



Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, then brush with melted butter. Add the crab cakes to the sheet, then bake for 5 minutes at 450 degrees. Flip the crab cakes, then cook for another 4 minutes. Serve with extra mustard mayonnaise on the side.

chilled avocado and crab soup

In the June issue of F&W, there's an article about "great ways to use guacamole". Normally if I make guacamole, there's never any leftovers that I need to worry about, but since I'm always looking for ways to eat more avocado, I really liked this recipe. Starting with a base of guacamole, you can puree it into this soup, which is actually both creamy and airy (yes, airy -- check out the bubbles in the picture) because of the addition of buttermilk.

Grocery list: 2 avocados, 1 lime, 1 clove garlic, 1 jalapeno, 2 scallions, cilantro, buttermilk, 1 bottle clam juice, and about 1/3 pound of jumbo lump crab meat.


Start by making a basic guacamole. The recipe in F&W suggests roasting the scallions, jalapeno and garlic first, then mashing everything into the avocado. Since I was only making this for the soup, I went with as little effort as possible, mincing everything (note -- I only used about 1/3 of the jalapeno - a whole one per 2 avocados would be pretty spicy). I squeeze half the lime into the mixture along with a generous amount of sea salt, and some chopped cilantro.



Next, put the guacamole base (should be about 1 cup) into a blender with 1 cup cold buttermilk, 3/4 cup bottled clam juice (one bottle is 8 ounces usually), 1/2 cup ice water, and the rest of the lime juice. Puree until smooth, then season with salt and pepper. Pour the soup into bowls and top with jumbo lump crab meat. The recipe also calls for a creme fraiche and fried tortilla strip garnish, but the soup was rich enough that I left it out.

crab jambalaya

Jambalaya is normally made with shrimp and andouille sausage, but this recipe swaps out the shrimp for crab (an idea from F&W again). It's easier to make than I expected -- it's not too spicy either, so you can kick it up with extra hot sauce when serving.

Grocery list: 2/3 - 1 pound kielbasa (I've tried both turkey and chicken kielbasa, fresh from the meat counter at WF, where they grind the meat and make the sausage fresh daily), 1/2 pound lump crab meat, 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, old bay, garlic, jasmine rice, chicken broth, thyme, scallions.

I used my le creuset dutch oven for this, but any big heavy pot will do -- heat a few T of olive oil over med-high heat, and cook the andouille (chop it into bite size pieces) for about 3-4 minutes, remove to a bowl. Don't worry if it's not cooked all the way through yet. Then add the chopped onion, pepper, and celery, cook 2 minutes, add 2-3 chopped garlic cloves, cook 2 more minutes. Put the andouille back in the pot, plus 1 1/4 cups rice and 1 tsp old bay. Cook for about 2 minutes (the rice will start to get translucent). Then add 1 1/2 c chicken broth, 1 1/2 cups water, a whole sprig of thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover the pot and turn down to low heat.



Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid (don't open up the lid to stir too much though). While this is cooking, pick through the crab meat to make sure there aren't any bits of shell. (I learned the hard way the first time I made this.) Also, chop 3-5 scallions or green onions. When the rice is done cooking, stir in the crab meat and the scallions, turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 2-3 minutes for the crab meat to get warm. Remove the thyme sprig before serving.