Simply Rurban

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My aunt had sent me an email telling me about their travels and the dinner they had the evening before, my mouth was watering.  The meal –  crab cakes and salad and as she was describing the meal, I said to myself I need to find out the name of this hotel… raw milk cheese, organic greens, homemade bread – this place was going on my list, but then my aunt told me they brought all the meals with them!  Well, ever since that email I have been craving crab cakes.  I have never made crab cakes before – I went to the store bought a large can of crab and then start perusing my cookbooks and the web trying to find a recipe that spoke to me – I couldn’t find one.  I called my aunt and asked if she used the recipe in Nutritional Healing, since I know she has the same cookbook, but the answer was no.  She then gave me the ingredients that she put in her recipe.  Like me, she too just adds this and that and does not do much measuring.  I wrote the ingredients down, walked the couple of blocks to the store in hopes that they carried the missing ingredients I did not have and to my surprise they did!  I walked home, faster than normal, excited to get to cooking!  I had great expectations for these crab cakes and they surpassed them all!!!

The Best Crab Cakes

Ingredients

– 16oz. can of lump crab meat
– 2 eggs
– Dollop of good mustard
– 1/2 tsp mustard powder
– 1 tsp seasoning mix (what you like, mine has onion, celery, garlic, oregano, rosemary,
basil, red pepper, orange peel and paprika)
– 1 cup almond meal (this is the key – it is really expensive,about $12 a bag, you could use 1 1/2 cup, but my budget couldn’t handle that – I want this bag to last, store in the fridge or freezer)
– 1/2 cup bread crumbs or panko (use good bread and if you buy the bread crumbs, make
sure there are no preservatives/sugar)
– 1 – 2 Tbl butter, either melted or room temperature soft
– Butter for cooking
– Salt and pepper to season

1. In a large glass bowl, mix the butter and eggs.  If using room temperature butter, whip it good (remember that song from the 80’s?).  You want to make sure the butter is mixed in really well.

2. Add the spices, mix

3. Add the almond meal and bread crumbs ( or all almond meal or all bread crumbs, whatever you choose, but the almond meal is the magical ingredient).  Mix well, if too wet add a little more of either.

4. Add the crab meat and mix all together.

5. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Using an ice cream scooper, scoop the crab mixture and place the scoops on the wax paper.  After you have made all your scoops, press down with you hand to make cakes.

6.   Place the tray in the refrigerator and let the cakes dry and firm up some.  You can make these in the morning and let them sit until you are ready to make at dinner time.  I let them sit in the fridge for a little under 2 hours and they were fine.

7. Place butter in a skillet, I used a cast iron skillet, love the way it cooks.  Once the butter is melted and hot, place the cakes gently in the skillet, cook for 5 – 7 minutes, so that they are lightly brown and turn over, cook for another 5 – 7 minutes.

Serve on a bed of lettuce or with a salad and some grains.  Delicious!  This recipe made 11 cakes.  I cooked four and froze the other 7.  Wrap the cakes with wax paper – I took a sheet of wax paper, placed one cake on, folded the wax paper over the cake, placed another one, folded, etc, then I placed in a freezer bag.

I love crab cakes, but Stella has never been a big fan and usually will not eat them.  She devoured these – telling me she was in heaven and we needed to have these way more often!!!!

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