26 November 2010

Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade for My Bucket List Menu

Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade
I love to create a menu around an ingredient or an idea which means it is time again for another personal challenge here at More Than Burnt Toast. If you have been following More Than Burnt Toast you will know that I have been creating personal challenges based on a theme to infuse new life into my cooking adventures. Even every day food should be an adventure either with new ideas, or experimenting with a new cuisine. Every day we should be excited about what we are eating even if it just means making use of a wonderful find at our local farmers market for our favourite comfort foods.With these personally imposed challenges my own culinary skills have been rejuvenated and back on track and I am once again inspired. With the holidays coming this is the perfect time of year to pump up our kitchens into high gear!

For the next week or so I am taking on the challenge of creating a menu from start to finish... from starter to dessert... from my "bucket list". We all have a bucket list of recipes we want to try from magazines, cookbooks, our blogging friends or wherever you find your inspiration don't we?

For my Bucket List Menu let's start with an hors d'oeuvres I have been wanting to try for a while now. With my own twists it is easy to make it my own. This recipe is a little bit Southern with a tweak or two of a classic remoulade. The crab cake recipe is a "Mini-Mee" copycat version of a lemony crab cake I made for a Crab Cake Eggs Benedict not that long ago. The citrus notes give your taste buds a refreshing zing. With snow on the ground and falling temperatures the intense flavours of the lemon zest in the Remoulade remind me of sun dappled days that seem like distant memories... unless of course you live in the Southern Hemisphere and summer is just blossoming.

All winter long it's Dungeness crab season here on the West Coast. These crabs tend to weigh in between 1- 1/2 and 2-1/2 pounds, and have perfect meat for making crab cakes. According to Elise of Simply Recipes, "The hard thing with crab cakes is that they don't hold together that well when forming them, and they can easily fall apart when frying them. The trick is to handle them delicately to begin with, and then chill them on a breadcrumb-lined pan for at least an hour before cooking them. Just that time in the fridge will go a long way in helping them stay together as they cook. There isn't a lot of binder in this recipe; it's mostly crab meat. So it needs the chilling time."

I topped each with a sun-blushed roasted tomato and I am ready for guests.

What is in your bucket list?



**Citrus Crab Cake Sliders with Lemon Remoulade**

Crab Cakes

2 tablespoons(30ml)butter
1shallot, finely chopped
1clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon(1ml) Old Bay seasoning
1cup(250ml)Japanese Panko breadcrumbs
1/3cup(83ml)low fat mayonnaise
3/4 teaspoon(4ml)each lemon zest, finely grated and lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon (3ml)hot chili sauce
1 cup(250ml)crab meat, moisture removed
1  tablespoons(15ml) parsley, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (5ml)Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C). In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat and sauté shallot, garlic and Old bay seasoning until fragrant.

Add bread crumbs and stir often until light golden. Transfer to shallow dish. In a bowl, mix together mayonnaise, citrus zest and juice and chili sauce.

Add crab meat, egg and mustard to mayonnaise mixture and stir. Season to taste.

Using about 1 - 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the mixture, make 1/2 in (1 cm) thick patties. Press lightly into bread crumb mixture, coating all sides.

Place cakes on parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turning once, or until crisp and golden.

Lemon Remoulade

1 cup (250 mL) mayonnaise
2 lemons, juice and zest
2 tablespoons (30 mL)cornichons, minced
2 tablespoons (30 mL)capers, minced
2 tablespoons (30 mL)chopped parsley leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To see my other personal challenges visit:

My World is Blue
Is My Face Red and White Challenge
Eat, Pray, Love Challenge




You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison. Best Blogger Tips

25 comments:

  1. Oh how I wish I lived somewhere where it could be crab season! I adore crab, but don't often eat it, just since we're nowhere near the ocean. I'll pick up tinned every so often, but it's just not the same... ahhh... these sound amazing, Val :)

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  2. How cute do these look? Love the whole idea Val. I'm especially loving that remoulade too!

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  3. Sad to say no crab season here, but hey I can dream about how good yours taste, I can just imagine that sauce too!

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  4. Ooo what a fun challenge for yourself! I've never really made crab cakes before because it's so super hard to find but I think I'm going to need to scrounge some up for this!

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  5. Those are awesome! So droolworthy. I wish I could bite into one right now.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  6. Crab cakes were often on our Charleston table--the price of chicken wings (tied onto string and dangled in the ocean) was all it cost us for the crab. Now, I must admit, that I purchase it fresh canned at Costco. We enjoy crab in many ways.

    You have inspired me to make a culinary bucket list!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  7. Old Bay is fabulous with crab and other seafood..I have a tin I use freely.

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  8. I am a crab cake lover used to make them quite often. The lemony remoulade got my attention. I think I will try this with my cod fish fritters.

    Just wanted to thank you for your comments and support.

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  9. I am positively drooling, Val! What a super recipe. You are such a talented and creative cook...

    Hmmmm. A culinary bucket list? I'm going to think that one over. Would be fun to come up with one!

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  10. I wish I lived next door so I could just stop by and woof these down. They sound incredible and your photo makes me want to run out now and buy some crab..sigh another one to add to my to do recipe list !

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  11. Val, these look wonderful. Crab is now available here as well. I'm always careful of the recipes I select to use it in. Picking is a lot of work :-). I'd have no hesitation to try yours. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  12. looks yummm!
    thanks for stopping by the blog :)
    Indeed food challenges make life more interesting & FUN. I am attempting to get Todd into blogging.... but we shall see.
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    ~Ada (aka Mrs. Todd ;)

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  13. I really don't have a bucket list, but I feel like if I did it would be making an entire meal from scratch - including the ingredients used (like bread for the sandwiches and all)

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  14. Though I am not a big crab eater, I love the beginning of crab season on the West Coast: the expectation, the preparation, the first fishing days, the big crabs in the local stores. Last year I did my first crab cakes and actually baked them. Your recipe sounds great. Thanks for the pointer to Elise's recommendation.

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  15. Those look amazing! I have really been into remoulade sauces lately.

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  16. That's a delicious recipe Val. I like that it has some heat and I guess I don't know much about making crabcakes because I was surprised to read the breadcrumbs, etc. were cooked first. No wonder my few attempts have been 'fails'. Perhaps I should add this to my bucket list too. :)

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  17. Val, I admire you for following through on your challenges! I feel like I have so much on my plate I can't challenge myself yet. Your sliders look awesome and I SO wish crabmeat was as easily available here!

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  18. Making sliders with crab cakes is nothing short of brilliant, I love this idea! I often eat crab cakes on the West Coast and have been missing them here in Toronto!

    On my cooking/baking bucket list: the apple cake you made, macarons, boeuf bourgignon, croissants, curried chicken pot pie...the list goes on!

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  19. Val you make the yummiest things! Love the sauce too.

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  20. good for you, val--this is a success all around! my favorite part is the skewered tomato. is that odd? :)

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  21. It's no secret that I'm a big fan of crab cakes. I'd never thought of making them into sliders before - what a great idea and a great option, Loving it!!

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  22. You are right, Val. It is long past time to start cooking off that bucket list. Funny you should write about it, as I have beside me a huge pile of cut outs and recipes from mom that I have been going through this past week to make, save, or toss. There are only two of us here, and I could easily cook more than we could eat. Isn't that a hedonistic out of touch kind of comment? I do have to be careful, though, as I hate to waste anything and also have to consider Vanja's conservative palate most of the time... but, not always. I wish I knew someone like you nearby. I don't. NO one I know cooks like you do! These cakes and these recipes really look scrumptious. A sauce can really make a dish... and your presentation is prefect.
    :)
    Valerie

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  23. These are very cute sliders, and I love the lemon remoulade is perfect to go with the yummy crabcakes!

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  24. Thanks for dishing up summer in the middle of a cold and rainy day! Looks great Val!

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  25. Oh Val these are great! We love crab cakes, will have to turn them into sliders!! Hope you are doing well...your photos are great!

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Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

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