lump crab cakes

Two of my fellow food loving girlfriends and I decided that girls night should involve some effort on our parts. A month or so ago, we did Sunday brunch/lunch on Newbury at Joe’s American Bar & Grill, inspired by Marcia’s new found love of crab cakes. The crab cakes had large meaty lumps of crab, a little spicy kick, and were served over a fresh bed of mixed greens. Moral of the story, they were delicious, particularly when paired with a nice crisp white wine. Since then, I’ve played around with some crab cake recipes and realized how easy and quick crab cakes are to make, considering how fancy they can be.

It made a lot of sense to kick off our first girls night dinner with lump crab cakes and a nice bottle of vino.

• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. low fat mayo or miracle whip (you can use full fat mayo, but the three of us are going to need to be in bathing suits in a little over a month)
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• a healthy squeeze of lemon juice (around 1 tsp)
• 2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 3/4 to 1 cup of crushed Ritz crackers
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh curly parsley
• 1 pound fresh jumbo lump crabmeat, drained of liquids
• olive oil cooking spray

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, mayo, mustard, Worcestershire, Tabasco, lemon juice, Old Bay, S&P. Fold in the crab meat and parsley, taking care not to break up the lumps of crab. Add the cracker crumbs 1/4 cup at a time and combine. Continue to add the crumbs until the mixture begins to just stay packed together.

With wet hands, start making small crab cake patties. Do not pack too firmly, but just enough for the cakes to hold their shape.

Place the cakes on a large baking sheet, lightly covered with the olive oil spray. Refrigerate for at least a half an hour before cooking.

Set oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven. After 4 minutes of cooking, flip the cakes gently with a spatula and your hands taking care not to break apart the cakes. Cook another 3 minutes or until golden. Serve with lemon and some spicy mayo (Sriracha and mayo).

Kate and Marcia did most of the hard work, lucky for me. All I had to do was flip the crab cakes and eat them… not that I’m complaining. At the end of our meal, Marcia claimed these crab cakes were in fact BETTER than the ones we had on Newbury Street. How about them apples, Joe? I just love how easy they are to make and the fact that leftovers are delicious in a no fuss sandwich.

Wait, I have a blog?

Hi readers. Yes it’s true. I am actually suppose to contribute to this blog, and it has been over a month since my last post. Shame. Starring Michael Fassbender. A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks. I tried Burmese food, Jersey Mike’s and Bobby’s Burger Palace for the first time. I organized a holiday sweets exchange at the office. Four couples I know got engaged, and I accepted the role of groomsman. I ran more than 1 mile straight for the first time on my own free will since high school. I got my wisdom teeth pulled out. I poured boiling hot pasta water on my right index and middle fingers. I found out I would be moving onto a new client early this year. I made lemon chess pie, lobster rolls and rack of lamb for the first time. And lastly, I went to a tasting of new menu items at a friend’s restaurant.

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Catfish Soup from Yoma

Coconut Chicken Soup

New Years Eve Hot Pot at my Sister’s

Hot Pot Protein Spread

Omni Parker House Boston Cream Pie

Homemade Lobster Rolls

Rack of Lamb with Pale Dinner Roll (from scratch) and Steamed Green Beans

Pan Seared Scallops with a White Wine Sauce and Penne with Pepperjack Cream Sauce

Food wise I still find myself day dreaming about dropping everything and going to culinary school or start planning a restaurant/food venture and getting in way over my head. I took a look at my post with last year’s food resolutions and got somewhat depressed about things I didn’t get to accomplish. So with that, here are food resolutions for 2012.

1. Make noodles and pasta from scratch (rolled over from 2011)
2. Make dumplings and spring rolls from scratch
3. Make Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Ad Hoc at Home (also rolled over from 2011)
4. New ethnic food to try: Russian
5. Meat to try: alligator
6. Fruit to try: durian
7. Dish to eat that I surprisingly never had: eggs benedict
8. Dish to make: souffle
9. Restaurants to try: Neptune Oyster, B&G Oysters
10. Additional skills to learn: properly eating a crab, scaling and breaking down a whole fish, making legit bbq ribs on a charcoal grill

What are your food resolutions for 2012?

a berry nice girl

It’s been a while since I graced this blog or coworkers’ bellies with yummy treats.  I know I’ve said it before, but baking is so therapeutic.  It’s precise, like culinary chemistry, and the payoff is usually something delectable.

This past week, my team had an intern whose last day was Friday.  I told him he could pick his favorite flavor and I’d come up with a cupcake for him and the team.  Strawberry shortcake he said — so strawberry it was!

Cupcake Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups of chopped strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
3. In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, around 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time until combined.  Then add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Mix until just combined.  Add chopped strawberries, folding to avoid mushing the fruit.
4. Fill lined cupcake pans 3/4 of the way with batter.
5. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

Frosting Ingredients

• Frozen strawberries, pureed with sugar (to your taste depending on how sweet the strawberries are)
• 2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 cups of confectioner sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.  Beat in 1/3 cup of the strawberry puree and vanilla extract.  Add the confectioner sugar one cup at a time beating until well combined.  Frost the cupcakes and garnish with fresh strawberries.

The frosting is nothing short of amazing.  It literally tasted like ice cream… and I would know!  I licked the spoon the night I made it.  Did I feel guilty?  NO I DID NOT.  Make these cupcakes, you will run right down to Boston to give me a big hug and kiss.

bloody salad!

Yeah so… salad.  New year, same resolution — eat healthier and work out more.  It’s been 17 days and I’m running at a 75% success rate.  I went to the doctor today, had my annual weigh in and I didn’t hate it.  Motivation, yes.  In fact, my fingers and typing at with astronomical dexterity and speed, as I still need to get my nightly workout in.

Tonight’s dinner featured blood oranges, which beckoned me while I was perusing the produce section of the supermarket.

What you’ll need —

• Baby spinach
• Blood orange
• Red onion
• Salted pistachios, shelled
• Feta or goat cheese
• S&P to taste
• Dressing (minced garlic, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, S&P, and extra virgin olive oil)

Combine all ingredients and toss.  Eat, feel healthy, and go to the gym.

Goodnight and goodbye.

unwrap health and happiness

After the whirlwind I like to call the Holiday season, it’s wonderful to be nestled in and take the time to plan out a home cooked meal.  For those of us still in the spirit of gift giving (like me), why not give the gift of delicious food, particularly food that’s wrapped in parchment. Some recipients might not realize, but for me the best gift I can give is food.  Food is a source of nourishment for everyone, so why not make something that’s a necessity something special?

With the usual New Year resolutions of losing weight, especially now that I have a bathing suit deadline for March, I’m making every effort to eat healthier and treat my body right.  One very late night, my creativity stirred me from my sleep and I drew out the following recipe for a delicate white fish in papillote.

Halibut en Papillote

Ingredients

• 1/2 red onion, julienned
• 1 zucchini, julienned
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb of halibut (or other white fish) portioned into 4 filets
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 4 pats of butter
• Fresh thyme
• 1/2 Cup of dry white wine (I use Sauvignon blanc because that’s what I have in my fridge for drinking)
• S&P to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Julienne your vegetables! If you’re lucky and have the best sister in the world, you can use your new beautiful ceramic knife that cuts anything like butter — BUTTER people!
3. In a small bowl, combine the julienned veggies, minced garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Salt and pepper the filet of fish.
5. Place the fish, 1/4 of your veggie mixture, two slices of lemon, two sprigs of thyme, a pat of butter, and 1 Tbsp of wine on a large piece of square parchment. (*I wish I could artfully photograph how to properly fold a papillote, but I’ll leave that to Cook Think.  I’m no pro.  I mean, I cheated and stapled at the end of my crimping.  I can practically hear the French culinary masters cringing.)
6. Place the four packages on a baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish.
7. Unwrap and serve over brown rice, including all of the wonderful juices left behind!

The pat of butter snuck its way into my first healthy eating post! Forgive me!

One thing to note about this recipe is that the vegetables still have some bite to them after their time in the oven.  If you’re interested in baby food, I’d throw them onto a sauté pan for a few minutes before placing them in your parchment parcel.

Also, I’ve recently discovered Sous Style, brought to you by the ever talented Pippa Lord (Photo Director for Elle magazine).  The blog covers fashion and food, two of my biggest interests.  Plus, the Male Mondays posts (like this one) are a fun way to start your week.  You can thank me later.