Crab Cakes with Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette

By elvia_saucedo

Ingredients

• Crab Cakes with Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette
• 1 pound cooked blue crab meat, lump crab meat, or Dungeness crab meat*
• 1/4 cup green onions minced
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper, cored and seeded
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 1/3 cup fresh-made Bread Crumbs**
• 1 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• 1 cup fine dried bread crumbs
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette (see recipe below)
• 8 cups mixed salad greens
• *If you can't get fresh crab, look for the pasteurized crab usually sold in the refrigerated case of your supermarket or fish store.
• **Check out Making Homemade Bread Crumbs (http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/BreadCrumbs.htm)
• Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons freshly-grated ginger
• 1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and minced
• Granulated sugar to taste
• Salt to taste

Details

Servings 8

Preparation

Step 1

CRAB CAKES WITH GINGER-CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Carefully clean the crab meat of any shells or cartilage; set aside. In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter; add onion, celery, and red pepper; sauté until approximately 8 minutes or until they are translucent. Stir in mustard and cayenne pepper; cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl and let cool completely. When cool, add the crab meat, mayonnaise, egg, bread crumbs, lemon zest, parsley, salt, and pepper; gently fold together with a rubber spatula until mixture just clings together (do not over mix).

Divide crab mixture into eight (8) portions and shape each into a flat, round cake about 1/2 inches thick. Place the dried bread crumbs into a shallow pie plate. Working with one cake at a time, lightly coat the cakes with the crumbs. Place onto a baking sheet lined either parchment or wax paper; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerator at least 3 hours or overnight (the cold will firm up the cakes so that they will not break up when fried).

In a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat, heat butter until hot but not smoking (add more butter if needed). Gently lay chilled crab cakes onto bottom of the pan; slowly fry crab cakes approximately 4 minutes per side or until crisp and golden brown, turning once only with a spatula. If the crab cake browns too quickly, reduce heat. The internal temperature should be 150 to 155 degrees F. with an cooking thermometer. Remove from heat.

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Toss the greens with 1/2 of the Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette; place on individual salad plates. Place the crab cakes on top of the salad greens. Drizzle the crab cakes with the remaining Ginger-Citrus Vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings or 16 petite crab cakes as an appetizer.

GINGER-CITRUS VINAIGRETTE
In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, ginger, and jalapeño chile pepper. Season to taste with sugar and salt.