These crab cakes benedict were served as the entree for our Mardi Gras party as part of Foodbuzz' 24x24. They're ever so much better than the plain pipe rack eggs benedict! And, I especially love the combination of the remoulade sauce and the hollandaise sauce. I really need to find a couple of other uses for it so I've got an excuse to make more!
Crab Cakes Benedict
So, how to put them together... Toast English muffin halves, top each with a warm crab cake,
then a poached egg,
then some remoulade/hollandaise sauce.
If it's just us, I poach my eggs in a water bath in a skillet. It's somehow more elegant. But, for a crowd, I'm not going to try that! So, I used my trusty egg cooker.
I kept the first batch warm and just kept poaching. The yolks were a little more cooked than I'd have liked but they were fine for the party.
I've blogged about these crab cakes before but long before the camera became a part of my blogging. Not only that but these were the entree for the Mardi Gras party. So, I'd feel a bit strange just sending you to an old blog. Ergo, a repeat.
One of our guests was born and raised in Havre de Grace, Maryland. He proclaimed these the best crab cakes he'd ever eaten. Wow! Now, that's a compliment. As much as I really don't like repeating dishes too often, I still think I could eat these once a week. They're that good.
Harry Caray's Crab Cakes
1/4 c finely diced red onion
2 T thinly sliced scallions
3/4 c panko
1/2 c heavy cream
1 T dijon mustard
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t Tabasco
1 t Old Bay seasoning
1/2 t garlic powder
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 T lemon juice
1 1/2 lbs crab meat
1/2 c flour
olive oil or a mixture of butter and olive oil
Mix the ingredients through the crab meat in a large mixing bowl. I start with the onions and scallions.
Use a light hand as they're much better if they're not dense.
Interestingly enough, all the recipes seem to call for lump crab meat. I've found the claw meat more flavorful in these. Also, the original recipe calls for chopped red bell pepper. I think that detracts from the flavor, so I leave it out. I use a 1/3 c measure to scoop out the right amount for each crab cake.
Get the olive oil to the shimmering point and VERY carefully toss in a couple of droplets of water to make sure it's hot enough. I say VERY because you don't want to get burned by the popping! Form a crab cake and lightly dust it with flour. Don't crowd the crab cakes in the pan or you'll have a tough time flipping them.
This is too crowded - I messed one up when flipping and sadly had to use it as my test crab cake. Ah, come on, you believe that, don't you?
Once the first side is nicely browned, flip the crab cakes and continue to brown them. You may have to add more olive oil. The original recipe called for browning these for a couple of minutes then baking them. Because I've switched to olive oil, they're not browning as quickly. And, I don't like the idea of getting yet another pan dirty. So, I just do them totally in the skillet.
It looks like Stacy and I failed miserably in the photo department for the two sauces that were combined. Maybe I should make some more just to take photos? No, there's already too much from the CSA basket to justify making sauce... Darn. I'd love to hear your ideas for using this combined sauce.
Harry Caray's Remoulade Sauce
1 c Hellman's Olive Oil mayonnaise
2 T capers (chopped if they're larger)
2 T very finely diced red onion
2 T Dijon mustard
1/4 t Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 t paprika
1 t Worcestershire
1/4 t Tabasco
1/2 t lemon juice
Mix and serve. For the crab cakes benedict, I mixed the remoulade above with a double batch of Mom's Blender Hollandaise. This is the easiest hollandaise sauce to make. It doesn't separate. You can make it ahead and warm it up before serving. It just plain works.
Mom's Blender Hollandaise
3 egg yolks
1 T lemon juice
1/4 t salt
1/2 c hot melted butter
In a blender, combine the egg yolks, lemon juice and salt. Then, with the lid partially removed, pour the butter in in a steady stream. To warm up before serving, place in a bowl in a pan of warm water or use a double boiler.
Late Sunday afternoon I typically sit down with the pile of recipes I've clipped and a cookbook or two and try to come up with the week's menus. The goal is to have at least half new dishes. For example, this week we're having a honey lemon chicken from Rachael Ray's latest magazine, a pea and parsley pesto sauce for linguine and a mustard roasted fish from Ina Garten's Back to Basics. Then, Connie heads to the grocery store while I start Sunday's supper.
We had leftover crab cakes from Saturday evening so they were repurposed into crab benedicts on Sunday evening. Growing up, crab cakes were not one of my favorites. They were gooey with filler and lacking real crab flavor. Then, about seven or eight years ago, I had some at Sangiovese that were incredible. Just enough filler to hold the crabmeat together. Bursting with flavor. That set me on a quest to find my own fabulous crabcake recipe. I even bought a cookbook of 50 crab cake recipes. Believe it or not, the best recipe I've found is from Harry Caray's Restaurant Cookbook. Yup, a Chicago restaurant. Jane and Michael Stern are known for their cookbooks highlighting well-known restaurants. They were Guy Fieri before Guy was Guy!
In November of 2005 I sprang for a can of crabmeat from the fish store across the street from the office. Pulled every cookbook that I thought might have a crab cake recipe. This was the one that sounded best so I made it and fell in love with these crab cakes. Three notes, the fish store is long gone so I now get my crabmeat at Trader Joe's. It's relatively reasonably priced there. Yes, I've modified the recipe a bit. And, these crab cakes are awesome as an appetizer. I've made them for the annual holiday party. Takes forever to make dozens of tiny patties and brown them but they're worth it.
Crab Cakes
1 lb can crab meat, flaked
1/4 c finely diced red onion
2 finely diced shallots (I buy the dried ones at Penzeys)
3/4 c Panko
1/3 c half and half (cream if you really want to cheat)
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1/4 t Tabasco
1 t Old Bay seasoning
1/2 t granulated garlic
2 eggs
1 T lemon juice
1/2 c flour
olive oil
Mix everything together except for the flour and olive oil. The best way is to use your hands and gently toss it all together. Heat the olive oil in a skillet until a couple of drops of water sizzle. You'll want to just coat the bottom of the skillet. This recipe makes six big crab cakes. Form the crab cakes then lightly coat them with flour and brown them in the sizzling oil. They're awesome served with Remoulade Sauce.
Remoulade Sauce
1 c mayonnaise (Hellmans made with olive oil)
2 T capers
2 T finely diced red onion
2 T Dijon mustard
1/2 t Old Bay seasoning
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t Worcestershire
1/4 t Tabasco
1/2 t lemon juice
Combine and serve.
Now for the leftovers. Our joke in the morning is to ask the one who got up first, "Where's my Eggs Benedict?" I'd intended to actually surprise Connie with Crab Benedict on Sunday morning but we wound up heading to the office early instead. So, I made them for him Sunday evening.
Crab Benedict
2 whole grain english muffins, split and toasted
2 crab cakes, warmed and split in half
4 eggs, poached
Stack a muffin half, then a crab cake half, then a poached egg and top with Hollanade Sauce. What is Hollanade sauce, you ask? Eggs Benedict is traditionally served with Hollandaise Sauce. We had leftover Remoulade Sauce. Around here, leftovers can take on new identities! So, I made a packet of Hollandaise sauce (I know, homemade is much better but I knew the mix would be less likely to separate and would therefore work better) and mixed it with the leftover Remoulade sauce (about 1/2 c was leftover.)
I may never go back to Eggs Benedict again. The flavors played so well together!
