There are times during the summer doldrums when the fish just aren’t cooperating. It’s a time when my husband, Milt, and I target plentiful blue crabs instead, catching them with baited handlines and pull traps. The net result is plenty of delicious crab meat for cocktail hour, and often a huge surplus of crab meat.
No question about what comes next. I break out the frying pan and whip up a tasty dinner of crab cakes. I seldom prepare two batches of crab cakes exactly alike, as the quantities vary, so don’t be concerned if there’s a tad more or less of any ingredient – and feel free to add additional ingredients as you see fit.
Serves: 4 – 6
Ingredients:
- Lump white crab meat from six blue crabs
- 1 medium-sized red potato
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 1 egg
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 3/4 inch olive oil in frypan
Begin with the lump white crab meat from the body and claws of a half dozen blue claw crabs. Boil a medium size red potato, remove the skin and mash it with a fork. Dice and sauté half a red bell pepper and half a small onion in olive oil.
Beat one egg and then combine it with the mashed potato and sautéed pepper and onion, mixing thoroughly. Now stir in the crab meat chunks. Use either a 1/4 or 1/3 size measuring cup to scoop out crab cake size portions, and smother them with bread crumbs. You can even make them bite size too, for snack time. Finish the cakes by frying in olive oil until golden brown.
Serve with a tangy horseradish or tartar sauce, garden fresh tomatoes and tasty corn on the cob. Yummy!
