Sunday, May 9, 2010

Crab Cakes with Tomato/Basil Salsa


I don't know what your favorite Mother got for her Mother's Day Dinner, but the Dog's Mom got this tasty Crab Cake with a Tomato Basil Salsa and a side of Grilled Eggplant. Besides getting Mom a present from the Liquor store, I made this entree for her.

Recipes for crab cakes are very much similar with bread crumbs, egg and seasonings that coincide with the title of the crab cake. For example, Louisiana Crab cakes have Creole Seasoning, Maryland Crab Cakes have Old Bay Seasoning, Italian Crab Cakes have Italian bread crumbs, and I even heard of a Halloween Crab Cake with pumpkin bread crumbs. From my research, it seems crab cakes can be made with just about anything to satisfy any one's particular tastes.

Of course, the Crab Cakes I made are Italian, (go figure.)

I combine 8 oz of Phillips lump crab or fresh King crab if its on sale , 1 egg, 1/4 cup of grated cheese. 1/8 cup of Italian bread crumbs, 1 tbsp of garlic, 1 tbsp of basil, dash of Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of salt. Mix ingredients and form two patties, pan fry them in olive oil and finish them off in a 350 degree oven to make sure they are hot in the middle.

The Tomato/Basil Salsa is just dicing up tomatoes and mixing them with chopped basil and salt to taste.

The Grilled Eggplant is prepared by slicing an eggplant in 1/4" pieces, salting them to let sweat for about 15 minutes, brush with olive oil and grill them out on the Weber or in a grill pan. Just a about a minute on each side to form good grill marks.