Splurge Worthy

Photo and recipe found here.

Fresh crab meat is expensive. Our local grocery store sells fresh Dungeness crab meat for just under $40 a pound. At that price, you want to be sure your recipe isn’t going to bury it with too much mayo or bread. Last week was our staycation. We were supposed to go to Portland to see family and scatter my father’s ashes at sea, and then to Vancouver for a vacation, but of course, COVID has put all of that on indefinite hold. We decided to take the week off of work anyway, and overall it was a nice week, though more boring than our usual staycation, since we couldn’t go out to restaurants or bookstores or museums.

One morning, I was watching TV, and saw my favorite PBS chef, Jacques Pepin, make some lovely, delicate crab cakes. If there’s one time when I feel justified in splurging a bit on an appetizer, it is when our vacation has been postponed and we can’t go out and spend much money, besides getting take out, going to the grocery store, going to the liquor store. So I spent almost $20 on some Dungeness crab, and gave this recipe a try. The website says the crab cakes are very delicate and that there is enough bread to hold them together, but there isn’t. I molded them into four crab cakes, and they started out fine, but when I flipped them, they kind of fell apart. But they crisped up just a little, and were so delicious and delicate. The picture shows a bit of butter (aka, Boston) lettuce, which is not in the recipe, but you could certainly use some lettuce and make it more of a salad.

I didn’t have any white bread, and didn’t want to buy some just for this, nor did I want to try store bought breadcrumbs, so I used some sourdough that we had. Perhaps that contributed to my crab cakes falling apart.

What I ended up doing was piling the equivalent of 2 crab cakes into the center of the tomato / avocado salsa on each plate. So it says it makes enough for 4, but really, it was enough for the two of us (Maya didn’t want any, and at $40 a pound, who am I to argue?) It was really good, and I have a feeling I will be splurging again, maybe next payday…I won’t change a thing.

Here is the recipe. Experts say crab cakes go best with a crisp white wine, like a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, or Sancerre. I agree, and I think that is what I did, but if you want to feel like a true San Franciscan, you have crab with Chardonnay and sourdough bread.

Crab Cakes with Avocado Salsa

Delicate to handle, elegant and refined in taste, these crab cakes have just enough bread in them to hold together, with some mayonnaise added for moisture and flavor. Although nothing can replace real crabmeat, you can substitute surimi, the imitation crabmeat made of crab shells and fish such as pollack and cod. Surimi is widely available in markets.

Crab Cakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces crabmeat
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 slices white bread (1 1/2 ounces), processed to make crumbs (3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Salsa
1 small ripe avocado
1 ripe tomato (5 ounces), peeled, halved, seeded, and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

For the Crab Cakes:
Pick the crabmeat over for shells and cartilage. Cut it into 1/4-inch pieces. (You should have 1 1/2 loosely packed cups.)

Gently mix the crabmeat with the salt, pepper, thyme, chives, Tabasco, and mayonnaise in a bowl. Add the bread crumbs and toss them lightly into the mixture.

Divide the mixture into portions and form it into patties about 1 inch thick. Handle the mixture gently; the cakes are fragile.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. When it is hot, carefully place the patties in the skillet and cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until nicely browned.

For the Salsa:
While the crab cakes are cooking, peel and pit the avocado and coarsely chop it. Combine the avocado and tomato in a bowl. Add the vinegar, oil, pepper, salt, and water, tossing gently to mix.

To serve, spoon the avocado mixture onto four individual plates and sprinkle with the chives. Place the crab cakes on top and serve.