Sunday, May 23, 2010

Date Night In: Crab Cakes with Garlic Roasted Mushrooms


It's been another fab weekend here in Marin. I had a beautiful day today with two of my fave ladies touring around some of the many cute sights, shops, and a one-man's-junk-is-quite-a-few-San Franciscan's-treasures flea market. Look for today's highlights on many daily deliciousness photos to come.

My greatest accomplishment of this weekend though, was the dinner I prepared last night for the hubs and my date night in- Crab Cakes with Garlic Roasted Mushrooms. I've made crab cakes once before and they turned out ok, but this time I tried a new recipe found in our Cakebread Cellars cookbook and they were absolutely delish. These crab cakes are full of what crab cakes should be full of - CRAB! - with just enough of the other goodies to keep them in beautiful cake form.

The side dish of Garlic Roasted Mushrooms was inspired by the meal we were served when tasting with the caterers for our wedding (who were absolutely fab- if you get married in the Sonoma/Napa area you have to check out Grapevine Catering!). The hubs and I didn't like mushrooms until we had these and now we are diehard mushroom lovers.

Crab Cakes

1 pound crabmeat, picked over for shells and squeezed to remove excess liquid
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 stalk celery, finely minced
1 green onion, finely minced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 eggs, separated
extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Combine crab meant, bread crumbs, celery, green onion, mayo, lemon juice, parsley, mustard, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and egg yolks in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs whites until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the crab mixture. Shape about 1/3 cup of crab mixture into 2 inch wide patty. Repeat with rest of mixture.

Add enough olive oil to fill a large nonstick skillet 1/4 inch deep. Heat over medium high heat. Add crab cakes in a single layer and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown. Arrange on a serving platter and serve with lemon wedges.

Garlic Roasted Mushrooms

1/2 pound oyster mushrooms
1 tsp crushed garlic
olive oil, enough to coat mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss mushrooms with garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Roast on baking sheet 15 minutes.

Modern Housewife Tips:
1. Serves 4-6
2. Panko can be substitued for the fresh breadcrumbs which is a big time saver since the breadcrumbs should cook on very low heat in the oven for many hours, up to overnight.
3. Olive oil is kinda pricey so I used less oil and just made the patties thinner- 1 inch wide. I coated a large pan with 1/8 inch of oil, which equals about 1 cup.

recipe from The Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Cookbook

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