Rev: Crab Cakes On Mixed Greens w/Peanut Vinaigrette-CL 1/05

[tinalag]

I made these last night for New Year's Eve. I actually got my Jan/Feb CL before January(I'd had a spate of receiving CL late the last couple of months).

Anyway, I thought they were great. I'm always on the lookout for Crab Cake recipes sans mayonnaise and this was the best one I've found so far. I had been using the Oct.99 CL recipe but I think this one is much better even though the two recipes have a lot in common. It is a Graham Kerr recipe. I've always LOVED him.

They are very much like Maryland Crab Cakes which have more crab than breading. I substituted nonfat Greek yogurt which is already strained and therefore thick, and also saved me a step. I used Vidalia onions since I couldn't find Walla Walla and egg whites instead of egg substitute.

They held together very nicely and we had leftovers which I re-warmed in the pan today and they were even better today.

The only think I think I might tweak is the seasoning. I might add some hot sauce or red pepper flakes but I thought they were really good. I will definitely make these again.:)

[Kismet]

Glad to hear that these are good. They're on my "to try" list for this month! :)

[SusanMac]

Yum, these are on my list, too.

1) Is it tough to find the Greek yogurt? Did you find it in the regular grocery store? I've never looked for it before.

2) How was the salad with the peanut dressing? The cakes & salad seem like they're not dependent on each other really, but I'm intrigued with the mixture of the cakes and the peanut flavors together.

[tinalag]

I'm not sure about how tough or easy it is to find Greek yogurt in your part of the country. It's pretty popular in NYC right now so just about every grocery store has it. I found mine at my regular grocery store. I used a brand called "Total" and it was 0% fat. Whole Foods may have it and I think I read somewhere that you can find it in Safeway.

However, the recipe really just calls for plain nonfat yogurt and then you have to strain it on cheesecloth overnight to get the thick "yogurt cheese". The Greek yogurt is nice because it saves a step.

As to the greens, I first made the Crab Cakes without the greens and when I served them the next day it was with greens. I actually liked them VERY much with the greens. The dressing on the salad was a good complement to the crab cakes. I think I would definitely opt for them on a bed of greens. Since it is only myself and DH we had leftovers for 3 nights. I didn't have any rice wine vinegar so the first night of leftovers I used white wine vinegar (which was a bit too strong) and the second I used apple cider vinegar (which was better). However, I want to get some rice wine vinegar and try it with that. It is a much milder vinegar and I think it would allow more of the flavors to come through. But I still really liked the dressing. Also I just used the greens I had on hand which happened to be baby spinach, but I think watercress would be dynamite.


:D

[lhall]

I made these tonight, but since DDs wanted Krabby Patties I used canned crab. :o I couldn't justify the cost of the crab meat from the seafood department for a 7 & a 4 year old. I did the yogurt on paper towels and just used less since it's more watery than the 12 hour method.

In any case, despite DH and I not being big fans of peanut dishes we really liked the dresssing. Nice and tangy with a hint of sweetness. It also makes just the right amount for 4 servings.

Leigh

[Kismet]

I made these for dinner last night and thought that they were quite tasty! The greens & dressing were just perfect with the cakes - don't skip that part! I did think that the crab cakes were a bit "moister" than most, so they were a bit hard to put together and cook. The crunch of the celery and sweetness of the red peppers was just perfect in the cakes.

[Peggy]

We had these crab cakes for dinner tonight and thought they were great. I agree that the mixed greens/peanut vinaigrette combination with the crab cakes is a must. The flavors are very complimentary.

Peggy

[ajowen]

I really like the salad part of this, but I must have done something wrong with the crabcakes. While they TASTED good, they were more like crab crumbs than crabcakes. I wasn't as impressed. (I will do the salad/dressing combo again though)

[Ralph]

While we enjoyed these, too, we thought the salmon cakes (croquettes) from the same issue were a little better. Though that may have been because I just made them last week, so it's too close to not compare.

[Lauren]

I made these for our Sunday Valentines dinner. We really liked them! The dressing and greens really added to the dish. I'll repeat this one!