New Orleans Crab Cakes

By JimMac

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup very finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup very finely sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup very finely sliced celery
• 1 T lemon juice
• 2 T Tabasco green pepper sauce
• 8 oz. whipped Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temp.
• 1 t creole seafood seasoning
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 t thyme
• 1/2 t basil
• 1 t salt
• 1/8 t white pepper
• 1 lb. lump crabmeat
• 1/2 stick butter

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Method:

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the bell pepper, green onions, celery, lemon juice and Tabasco together until the vegetables just wilt.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cream cheese until completely blended with the vegetables.

In a second bowl, combine bread crumbs, thyme, basil, salt, and white pepper. Stir with a fork to mix well.

Curl your hand into a cup, and place about 2 T of the crabmeat into it. With a blunt knife, spread about 2 T of the cream cheese mixture over the crabmeat. Now add another 2 T of crabmeat. With both hands, press down to make a ball, forcing the cream cheese between the spaces in the crabmeat.

Drop the ball into the bread crumbs and roll it around until well coated. Press the ball down on a cutting board to make into a cake about 3/4-inch thick. Through all this, manipulate the crabmeat as little as possible, to keep from breaking the lumps.

Heat butter in skillet, sauté crab cakes until browned on both sides. Serve with Pepper Jelly Sauce.