Crab Cakes

Crab cakes are one of my favorite seafood meals to eat. I love, love, love them. But…..as much as I’m willing to eat most foods, I have a severe aversion to mayonnaise. I’m talking really servere. *shudder.* Needless to say, I like my crab cakes without it, and I was so happy to run across this recipe. Not only because I was easily able to replace the mayonnaise (Greek yogurt worked great!), but because I don’t think a good crab cake recipe should have a cup of mayonnaise in it, anyway. This one focuses on the crab, as I think a crab cake recipe should, and it’s a fresh, crispy, all-around awesome and super healthy recipe.

Crab Cakes with Avocado Puree
Adapted from: Emeril Legasse

I made a million changes to the recipe as it’s stated on the above webpage (omitting/changing the salsas and presentation, leaving out butter and switching around ingredients, etc.). Here’s the recipe as I used it, scaled down to serve 2.

Extra virgin olive oil, to saute
1/2 cup chopped Vidalia onion
1 1/2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
3/4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 
3/4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon chopped green onions (green part only)
1 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/8 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
sprinkle of cayenne
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage 
3 tablespoons fine bread crumbs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk 
3/4-1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 recipe avocado puree (recipe follows)
A handful of Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1. Spray a Pyrex dish with non-stick spray and set aside.  

2. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a medium skillet and add the onions. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Meanwhile, combine the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, green onions, chives, and parsley in a bowl and mix until well blended. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne and mix to blend. Add the sauteed onions, crabmeat, and bread crumbs and fold gently to mix, being careful not to break up the lumps.

4. Form the crabmeat mixture into 4 (2 1/2 to 3-inch) round cakes, about 2 1/2 ounces each, and pack gently but firmly. Place in the prepared Pyrex dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, approximately one hour.

5. Place the flour in a small shallow dish. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and the milk to make an egg wash. Place the panko in a third shallow dish. Dredge each crab cake in the flour, then in the egg wash, and then the panko crumbs, shaking to remove any excess breading. (Note that the crab cake mixture will be slightly wet and should be handled carefully. If the crab cakes become too loose during the breading, they can be refrigerated again until firm.) Set aside.

6. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Panfry the crab cakes until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Add more oil as needed.

7. To serve, arrange 2 crab cakes on a plat.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and spoon the avocado puree around the crab cakes.

Avocado Puree
Source: Adapted from Emeril Legasse

1 ripe avocado, diced
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 small lime, juiced
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
A dash of hot sauce

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Salsa with Black Beans, Peppers, and Sweet Corn

These types of black bean salsas are one of my new favorite things to eat in the summer. They’re so fresh and flavorful, and they go well with so many different meals…served over fish, in burritos, with tortilla chips. I even like to eat salsas like this as a side dish, as we did tonight with our crab cakes. So healthy and delicious.

Salsa with Black Beans, Peppers, and Sweet Corn
Original Recipe, Serves 2 as a side dish

1/3 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup frozen or fresh sweet corn
1 poblano chile, diced
2-3 fire roasted red pepper pieces from a jar, chopped (you could also roast a fresh red pepper under the broiler until blackened, peeling the skin off when cool and then chopping)
1/3-1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 small red onion, diced
Salt and pepper

1. Combine all vegetables, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.

Pesto

Whenever I have a bunch of basil to use up before it goes bad, I make a batch of pesto. I learned somewhere along the line to freeze it into tablespoon portions in an ice cube tray, then separate it out into plastic baggies once it’s frozen. This way, your basil doesn’t go bad and you have perfectly sized portions of pesto to pop out of the freezer whenever you need them. And it helps that I’m in love with pesto. In pastas, as a pizza sauce, stuffed with cheese into chicken breasts, sliced into scallops before searing them, in paninis…..

Pesto
Source: Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Italian Recipes
*Makes about 3/4 cup

This is a traditional pesto recipe without any unusual additons. I love it.

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
Salt and pepper

1. In a food processor or a blender, combine all of the ingredients. Cover and process or blend until nearly smooth, stopping and scraping the sides as necessary. If necessary, add additional olive oil to thin the pesto.

Chile Rellenos

Normally, I never, ever deepfry at home. It’s unhealthy, messy, makes my house smell, and I’m scared to do it. But…..we’ve made an exception twice now for these chile rellenos. Yum, yum, yum. That’s about all I can say about them. We made these stuffed only with chihuahua cheese and served alongside tortilla chips and guacamole.

Chile Rellenos
Source: Adapted from Rick Bayless, Authentic Mexican

4 poblano chiles
1 recipe quick-cooked tomato-chile sauce (recipe follows)
canola oil
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 cups chihuahua cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

1. Broil the chiles until blackened, then place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool and then peel the skin from the chiles. Carefully make a vertical slit in each chile, cutting through one side of the chile from the stem to the bottom. Scrap the seeds loose and under a gentle stream of water, flush the seeds from the chiles. Dry with paper towels.

2. Fill each chile with shredded chihuahua cheese, and seal closed with a toothpick. Dredge each chile in flour, shaking off the excess.

<3. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into two separate bowls. Mix 1/4 teaspoon of salt into the egg whites and whisk until the egg whites are just stiff enough to hold a gentle peak. Gently mix in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by 1 tablespoon of flour. Stop mixing when the flour is incorporated.

4. Heat 3/4 inch of canola oil to 375 degrees. Holding each chile by its stem, dip into the egg mixture and then drop into the oil. Fry until golden brown on each side, and serve with tomato chile sauce, garnishing with cilantro (the cilantro adds a ton of great flavor – we added on a bunch more once we tried it).

Tomato-Chile Sauce
Source: Rick Bayless, Authentic Mexican

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, drained
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, peeled and chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt

1. Add the tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, and garlic to a food processor and process until pureed.

2. Heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat, and when hot pour the tomato sauce into the pan. Stir for approximately five minutes as the puree sears into a thicker sauce. Season with salt and remove from the heat.

Mushroom and Gruyere Pierogies

I’ve been wanting to make homemade pierogies for ages. This photo is rather blah looking, but I loved the flavor combinations in the meal. The filling for the pierogies worked great (mashed potato, baby portabellas, and gruyere cheese), though next time I’ll be adding more cheese for a richer flavor. I served the pierogies with some sauteed chicken sausage and baby portabellas. Next time, I plan to do heaps of sliced onions instead.

Mushroom and Gruyere Pierogies
Source for Pierogie Dough: Ceres and Bacchus
Source for rest of meal: Original Recipe

Pierogie Dough
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Pierogie Filling*
1 large russet potato, peeled and boiled
1/4 cup skim milk, more or less as necessary
1/3 cup gruyere cheese, shredded (next time, I might try about 3/4 cup)
1/2 package baby portabella mushrooms, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

*This makes enough filling for approximately 2 batches of dough (roughly 40 pierogies).

1. To make the dough, place the flour and the salt in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add the egg and the cold water, and mix until the dough forms a ball.  Let the dough sit for at least 10 minutes or refrigerate for 1-24 hours.

2. Add extra virgin olive oil to a pan and heat on medium high. Saute the mushrooms and onion until the water released from the mushrooms has evaporated and the vegetables begin to brown.

3. Mash the boiled potato, adding skim milk as necessary. Add the gruyere cheese and sauteed mushrooms/onions to the mashed potato and mix to incorporate. Season generously with salt and pepper.

4. Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll the pierogie dough to a 1/8 inch thickness. Using a circular cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles and fill with a spoonful of filling. Fold the dough in half and press the edges to seal (I crimped with a fork).

5. Heat a pot of water to boiling and boil the pierogies. They will rise to the top when they’re cooked through(approximately 5 minutes).

6. Meanwhile, heat a saute pan with extra virgin olive oil. At this point, I sauteed chicken sausage and baby portabellas to serve with my pierogies, but you could also do onion slices or anything else that you’d like to serve, or just serve them plain.  When the pierogies have boiled, add them to the saute pan and toss with the olive oil and other ingredients to coat, leaving in the pan to brown as desired.

Potstickers with Spicy Dipping Sauce

The best thing about potstickers is that they’re crispy brown on one side (I like them even crispier than they turned out here), and nice and soft on the other side. They’re one of the only foods that I’ve ever had with such a contrast in textures, and I love it. Dipped in a super spicy sauce, they’re one of my favorite Chinese meals.

Ground Turkey Potstickers
Source: Original Recipe

This recipe is the combination of several other recipes that I’ve found, along with my own changes and additions.

1/2 lb ground turkey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts 
20-25 wonton wrappers
extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chicken stock

1. Brown the ground turkey in a saute pan.

2. Meanwhile, add the soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, ginger, green onions, and bean sprouts to the bowl of a food processor. Add the ground turkey, when thoroughly cooked, and process until roughly chopped. Don’t overmix – you’ll want to keep some of the texture from the bean sprouts and turkey.

3. Spoon the mixture into the wonton wrappers, and fold as desired. I used square wonton wrappers, placing the turkey mixture in the middle, wetting the edges of the wrapper with water, and then folding into a triangle. I then placed the triangular dumpling on top of my index finger (with the large side of the triangle resting on my finger), folding the two nearest corners down below my finger and sealing with water to form a wonton shape, as you’d find in wonton soup.

4. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat, and when hot add the wontons. Pour the chicken stock over the wontons, cover the pan tightly, and cook for five minutes. Be sure not to move the wontons or open the pan. This will ensure a nice, crispy crust on the bottom.

5. Remove the potstickers from the pan and serve with spicy dipping sauce (recipe follows).  

Spicy Dipping Sauce
Source: Adapted from Tyler Florence, Food Network

This recipe is super, super spicy, so I wouldn’t suggest making it as stated unless you really like spicy sauces. I happen to love it. With Chinese food, the spicier the better for me.

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon chili oil

1. Whisk together and serve alongside potstickers.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Scallops

So I’ve decided that this may not be the most photogenic meal. Regardless, I love scallops, and this is one of my favorite ways to eat them. The scallops are tossed in a sauce made from sundried tomatoes, black olives, and basil, and then they’re wrapped in prosciutto. Baked in the oven, they’re nice and tender with a bit of saltiness from the prosciutto and a lot of olive-oily goodness from the sauce.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Scallops
Source: Giada De Laurentiis

Making this recipe, I only use a drizzle of olive oil in the sauce rather than the 1/4 cup called for. Since this leaves the sauce thicker than it should be, it doesn’t stick as well to the scallops, so I pat the leftover sauce atop each scallop.  This way, you still get all of the flavor from the sauce, without so much oil.  I also omit the salt called for in the recipe, because prosciutto is plenty salty on its own. Actually, I reduce the amount of prosciutto for this reason as well. Here’s the recipe as I make it.

1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
2 tablespooons chopped fresh basil leaves
2 tablesppons chopped black olives
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (I used the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes)
8 medium scallops
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 slices prosciutto, each sliced in half

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. In a food processor, add the tomatoes, basil, olives and olive oil and process until finely chopped.

3. Season both sides of the scallops with pepper. Rub each scallop with the sauce mixture. Wrap each scallop in a half slice of prosciutto. Place the wrapped scallops in a greased baking dish, and top with the leftover sauce mixture.

4. Bake until the scallops are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

 

Artichoke and Tomato Panzanella

This is B’s all-time favorite salad. I can make a massive bowl of it, and he can eat it all every time. Which is great, because it’s so healthy! And after all, what’s not to love about a bread salad?

Artichoke and Tomato Panzanella
Source: Giada De Laurentiis

Per usual with me, I decreased the amount of dressing called for in this recipe, and I also scaled it down to serve two (if you have B eating with you…otherwise, it’d probably serve 3). Here’s the recipe as I made it.

1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
3 slices whole wheat bread, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces 
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges 
1/2 cup pitted black olives, halved
3/4 cup chopped, fresh basil leaves (about 1 bunch) 
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1. In a small bowl, stir together the 1/4 cup olive oil, white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.  

2. Place a grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle the bread and artichoke hearts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the bread and artichokes until golden brown at the edges, about 6 minutes total, turning every 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bread and artichokes from the grill and transfer to a large bowl.

3. Add the tomatoes, olives, and basil to the bowl and toss to combine. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, toss to combine, and serve immediately.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Another Giada recipe. This is a pasta that we’ve made several times over the past year or so, and it’s always delicious. The white wine flavor is surprisingly strong and just a bit sweet, and I think it’s what makes this pasta so different than other tomato-based pastas. Well, that and the goat cheese….the best part.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Source: Giada De Laurentiis 

I usually don’t change too much with Giada’s recipes. Here, the only changes I made were to use about half as many sundried tomatoes, about 3/4 cup of wine instead of 2/3, and a bit less pasta so as not to have massive amounts of leftovers.

1/2 ten ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped (oil reserved)
1 small onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup tomato paste 
3/4 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
4-5 ounces angel hair pasta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

 1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

2. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and the sun-dried tomatoes and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 2 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.

4. Add the pasta to the tomato mixture and toss to coat, adding some reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta to taste with salt and pepper. Serve, sprinkled with goat cheese and parsley.

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Avocado Salsa

Yum. This was the best meal that we’ve had in a long time. So, so good. B grilled the mahi-mahi nice and crispy, then we topped it with a really fresh salsa made with avocados, hot peppers, cilantro, and red onions. This might be the best fish I’ve ever had.

Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Avocado Salsa
Source: Adapted from Laylita’s Recipes

I used the above salmon recipe as inspiration, but my meal ended up being quite different. Here’s what I did:

2 mahi-mahi fillets

Marinade
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
sprinkle of salt

Salsa
1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and chopped
3-4 slices of red onion (thin)
1 hungarian hot pepper, seeded and diced
Juice from 1 lime
A handful of chopped fresh cilantro
Salt to taste

 

1. Mix the coriander, cumin, paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and salt together. Rub the mahi-mahi fillets with olive oil and the seasoning mix, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. Combine the avocado, red onion, hot pepper, lime juice, cilantro, and salt in a bowl and mix well, chilling until ready to use.

3. Grill the mahi-mahi until cooked through and crispy on the outside. Serve the fish topped with the salsa.