Crab Cakes, A Maggie Favorite

It's three nights of Maggie's favorites this week and tonight's dinner happens to be one of my favorites as well.  It's difficult to come up with a new version of crab cakes since I am in the camp of less is best when it comes to ingredients for them.  I really just want the Dungeness crab meat and little else; just enough to give a little seasoning and hold the crab together.  No fillers wanted or needed here.  When not feeling industrious enough to buy live crab, cook it  and shell it, I turn to Costco, who sells a tub of Dungeness crab, complete with whole pieces of leg meat.  Makes life so much easier. 

Neither Maggie nor I are huge fans of mayonnaise, but I am hoping a little home made aioli will pass the test.

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp paprika

good pinch of salt and pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1-2 tsp honey

In a food processor, add the first 6 ingredients.  Pulse a few times. Then with the blade running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture thickens into an aioli.  After tasting the aioli, I decided a little sweetness would be nice, so I added a drizzle of honey.  Yum!

1 pound of lump crab meat.  

1 cup or so of panko, seasoned with salt and paprika

Squeeze all excess water out of the crab.  Mix together with the aioli, a bit at a time and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream.  You may not need to use all of the aioli if the mixture becomes too wet.  When forming the crab cakes, you will have to pack it tightly so the cakes do not fall apart when cooking.   Dip crab cakes into panko and coat all sides.  I like to make mine a little bit ahead of time and let them rest in the refrigerator before cooking.  Bring them to room temp before frying.  Fry in a couple teaspoons of oil over medium low heat until golden brown.

Maggie is a purist and likes to eat her crab cakes as they are.  I often make a dipping sauce to go with, but with the aioli already in the cakes, I stuck with Maggie tonight.