The Culinary Works

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One of the great things about living on the west coast is that great sea food is always in season. Here is a recipe inspired by the classic Maryland style crab cakes with my own California spin.

Many of people are not big fans of mayonnaise and that flavor really shows in  a traditional crab cake recipe.  The substitution of sour cream mellows that flavor and the addition of citrus, avocado and cotija cheese will give your crab cakes a twist the really says west coast!

California Crab Cakes

• 1 Crab - cleaned or about 1/2 pound of crab meat
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tbsp of sour cream
• 1 tbsp of orange juice
• 1/2 tsp of Spike or your favorite seasoning
• 1 /2 ripe avocado, in large pieces
• 1/4 cup cotija cheese, shredded
  ( this is a Mexican style cheese )
• 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs, set aside into two 1/2 cup portions
  ( check your Asian foods section )
• Oil for frying

(Yeild: about 12 crab patties @ 2" x 3/4")

If you have not taken the easy route and purchased crab meat, you will want to start by shelling the meat from the crab.  This is not a difficult task with the help of a nut cracker, bamboo skewer and a bowl sitting over ice.  Shell fish will develop some interesting odors if left at room temperature for too long, but you can keep it fresh by keeping it cold as you work.   Don't break up the chunks of crab too much.  Keep the crab meat on ice in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

In a medium sized bowl, beat the egg with a fork until the yolk and white are thoroughly blended.  Next add your seasoning, the orange juice and the sour cream and blend.  Let this part of the mixture rest for about 10 minutes to allow the seasoning to blend in with the wet ingredients.  Add the avocado and use your fork to break up the pieces into uniform chunks.  Keeping the chunks larger so the flavor of the avocado stands out.  Now add the cotija along with the chilled crab and mix.  Break up any larger chunks of crab as you see fit.

Next, add the first 1/2 cup of Panko.   Gently fold the mixture into the bread crumbs until evenly distributed into the mixture.  Take care not to break up or crush the Panko as you mix.   Take the second 1/2 cup of panko and pour it into an empty bowl.

Set a saute pan over medium heat filled with about 1/8th of an inch of canola oil and wait until the oil is hot.  Form the crab cake mix into small patties and press each side into the remaining panko to give them a dry crust on the top and bottom. Pan fry until golden brown.  Be sure not to over crowd the pan otherwise it may be difficult to turn the cakes.

 

Serve with a squeze of lemon or your favorite light sauce.

 

For a nice variation, substitute shrimp or other types of fish or shellfish.  You can even stretch the recipe by using 1/2 crab mixed with a shredded white fish like cod or a delicate sole.

 

Enjoy!

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