Crustacean Sensation, Crab Cake How To...

Because I was born in Maine, I am a lobster girl. While I love seafood and always appreciated crab, it was not until my move to the Bay Area that the annual ritual of Dungeness crab season began to light my fire right around Thanksgiving. That is the traditional opening of Dungeness crab season and it lasts until June, with crab being hauled from the ocean all the way from San Luis Obispo, California up to to Juneau, Alaska. Chefs all along the seaboard show their excitement by firing up specials, dinners and even month long celebrations such as the Lark Creek Restaurant Group’s annual Dungeness Crab Festival February 1-28th, 2011. I worked at the original LCI when I first moved to the area and learned so much from founding Chef Bradley Ogden and his crew. Nice memories…

My recipe starts with cooked crab. Here is a simple Lark Creek Inn recipe for cooking crab, although you can just use water or steam as well. This recipe is excellent as you can keep the stock to make a seafood bisque or stew, like the one I made with Chef Christian Caiazzo last month (recipe from blog post).  To begin; order about 3 pounds of whole crab and have them cracked and cleaned. With Dungeness, about ¼ of the weight is meat, with the larger crabs yielding more meat to shell than the smaller ones. Pick out the meat and reserve. (If you like, simmer the shells in the water or court bouillon to enhance the crab stock for later use. Cool and store.)

Crab cake ingredients and garnishes

Gather all of the ingredients seen here. (see recipe below)  From the top clockwise: Panko Japanese bread crumbs, Italian parsley, fennel bulb, a mild olive oil, mixed greens (garnish) and on the platter from top: crab meat, Old Bay seasoning mixture, lemon, blood orange (garnish), fennel seeds, green onion and an egg.

1.  To make the aioli; place the egg yolk in a medium bowl with garlic, lemon juice, freshly crushed fennel seeds and salt. Slowly drizzle in ½ cup of olive oil, whisking quickly to emulsify into a mayonnaise. Taste, season and chill.

2.  In a large bowl, add all crab cake ingredients and gently mix. Cook a small amount in a pan to taste for seasoning adjustments. Place about ½ cup of Wondra (granulated flour, great for browning) onto a plate with a sprinkling of salt.

Crab cake mixture

3.  Form 2 tablespoons of mixture into cakes, circling your thumb and forefinger around the cakes to form the sides. Dredge just one batch at a time into the flour mixture and cook in oil as directed. Set aside and repeat with remaining batches.

4.  Serve with aioli and garnish with fennel fronds. I made a garnish salad with the remaining shaved fennel, green onion and blood orange. You can lightly toss it in some of the aioli or with a lemon vinaigrette.

Try it! What is your favorite crab dish of all time?

Do not crowd the pan.

Crab Cakes with Fennel Aioli

{To print the recipe click here}

Chefs, home cooks and seafood fans alike thrill to the opening of Dungeness crab season on the west coast. From mid- November until June fishermen from San Luis Obispo, California to Juneau, Alaska bring this celebrated meaty delicacy to our tables. If you do not have Dungeness crab, any fresh crab meat will work. I use grated fresh fennel in the cakes and make an aioli with crushed fennel seeds. Specialty ingredients include Panko, a crisp white Japanese bread crumb, Wondra, a granulated flour in a tall canister and Old Bay, a seafood seasoning mixture. They are all readily available and great to use for every day cooking. Enjoy these cakes!

Ingredients:

•  ¾ lb. fresh crab meat
• One small fennel bulb
• 4 finely slivered green onions, reserve 2 tablespoons for garnish 
• 1 tablespoon Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fennel fronds, plus small sprigs for garnish 
• Zest of two lemons 
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus one teaspoon for aioli
• 1 egg, separated
• ½ cup Panko Japanese bread crumbs
• 2 ½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning mixture 
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt 
• ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper 
• ½ cup Wondra flour 
• Vegetable oil, or mild olive oil for pan frying
• 1 clove of very finely minced garlic 
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground fennel seeds 
• ½ cup mild olive oil

Directions:

1. Make aioli: Place egg yolk, garlic, one teaspoon lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ground fennel seeds in a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle ½ cup olive oil into bowl, whisking rapidly until all oil is incorporated and mixture is very thick and emulsified. Taste for salt and lemon, adjust to taste. Cover and refrigerate. 
2. Make cakes: Place crab meat into a large bowl. Cut fennel bulb in half through the core and remove core. On the large round holes of a grater, grate ½ cup packed fennel bulb, add to crab mixture. Add 3 tablespoons slivered green onion, parsley, chopped fennel fronds, zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, egg white, Panko, Old Bay, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper. Mix gently. Cook a small amount in a pan with oil to taste finished mixture. Adjust recipe to your taste. 
3. Cook cakes: Place ½ cup of Wondra flour onto a plate and season with kosher salt. Heat a frying pan on medium high heat and when hot, add oil. Dredge just one batch of cakes in flour at a time and place in pan with at least an inch around each cake. Cakes should sizzle, watch your heat and adjust to medium heat as needed. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes per side for a crisp, golden brown. Repeat until cakes are all cooked.
4. To serve: Re-heat cakes in pan, serve with a drizzle of aioli. Garnish with fennel fronds and slivered green onion.

Additional garnish: Very thinly shave remaining fennel, toss with 4 cups of mixed greens, 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon of slivered green onion. Toss with a small amount of aioli, season with a sprinkling of kosher salt, garnish with segments from two blood oranges and serve alongside the cakes.