Saturday, September 02, 2006
Crab Cakes
On Saturday my fishmonger on Meath Street had stone crab claws and king crab claws. And
while I have grown slightly weary of their fish during the summer because of the strong fishy smell that has emerged from the place of late, I simply could not resist these beauties. They were quite big and meaty, with a pleasant glow and brightly coloured ends. And, even more surprisingly, a small carrier bag full - just under a kilo in total - cost only about €5.At that price I bought them expecting the worst, but none of my worries materialised. When I got them home and unpacked them they were as nice looking as they had been in the shop. They smelled faintly of the sea, but in no way of fish. Once cooked they turned beautifully radiant and their flesh tasted sweet and fresh - perfect for crab cakes!
Well, I say that as if it was just a case of cooking and peeling them. In my enthusiasm I completely ignored the fact that we own no pliers that might have been useful to crack their hard shells. Cracking them by hand was out of the question, they were simply too strong. In the end I resorted to whacking them with a heavy saucepan, which was less than ideal because it meant picking the crabmeat over for small bits of shell. But it was quite sufficient and good proof of my theory that there are some gadgets that even a heavily used kitchen does not need. It's a good idea to have some pliers in your toolkit (I'm sure we'll get those in the near future), but your cutlery drawer does not need to be cluttered up with crab claw crackers.
40g cream crackers, possibly a little more or less (alternatively, you can use any other kind ofdry, unflavoured cracker or even dry bread crumbs)
350g fresh crabmeat
2 tbsp spring onion rings
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp Dijon mustard
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
3 to 4 tbsp oil
sweet chilli sauce or mayonnaise to serve
Place the crackers in a plastic bag and crush into fine crumbs with a rolling pin.
Put the crabmeat into a bowl with the parsley and onion rings and add just enough of the cracker crumbs to absorb any moisture from the crab. You may not need them all.
Whisk the egg in a small bowl along with the mayonnaise, mustard Worcestershire sauce and a little salt and pepper. Fold this into the crab meat, making sure not to break up the lumps of crab too much. If the mixture appears too wet, add a little more cracker crumbs. Shape the mixture into 7 cm patties, put them on a plate and chill for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 100 degrees. Heat the oil in a large shallow frying pan over medium heat. Add the crab cakes in batches and cook over a medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until crisp and richly golden. Keep warm in the oven while you cook the remainder.
Christine at 10:24 pm
