Crab Cakes with BLT topping. Oh, Yum!

I was feeling a little “Crabby” today, which is to say that I was in the mood for some crab cakes.   I love crab cakes, but most times when I’ve had them they contained chopped green or red peppers.  In my opinion,  the strong flavor of the pepper overwhelms the delicate flavor of the crabmeat, and so I’m disappointed.   Whenever I’ve tried to make crab cakes at home I’ve had difficulty in getting them to hold a “patty” shape , while dipping in crumbs and frying them.  Any that I’ve attempted fall apart before I’m finished with them.

So, OK, I gave up on making my own crab cakes.  UNTIL I found this recipe for Crab Cake Sliders.  While the idea of small sliders didn’t appeal to me, as in ” oh no, even smaller crab cakes to try to keep together”, there were aspects of this recipe that intrigued me and made me think that these just might be possible.  First, I liked the combination of seasonings that go into them, secondly, some of the buns are broken up and used as a binder with the crabmeat, and lastly, there’s no peppers and no  breading involved.   These are formed, set to chill in the refrigerator for some time, then broiled.  Finely they are enhanced by the addition of BACON, lettuce and sliced tomato.  A BLT on a crab cake—whoever thought this up is at genius level.   I wish I could take the credit, but sadly it goes to someone at Food Network Magazine.

Because I wanted to serve these as a main meal, I decided to form the crabmeat mixture into patties sized to fit onto regular sandwich rolls.  I used my 1/2 cup measure to portion out the crabmeat onto the baking sheet, then flattened them slightly with a fork.  This technique gave me 5 patties, with a tiny bit left over to nibble on.  😀  I will definitely keep this recipe readily at hand for when I’m entertaining and want to make sliders.  The crab cakes held together better than any others that I’ve made, and the whole sandwich was filling and delicious.  As good as I imagined they would be.

CRAB CAKE SLIDERS

Yield:  Makes 15 sliders

Ingredients:

• 18 mini potato buns
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
  

  All the ingredients.

• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. yellow mustard
• 1 green onion, sliced, green part only
• kosher salt
• 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked through**
• 10 strips bacon
• finely grated lemon zest
• freshly ground black pepper
• Sliced tomato and lettuce leaves, for topping

**  I Use canned crab meat that I found in the seafood dept. of  my supermarket.  It was large pieces of lump crabmeat with no tendons or shell to pick over.  A pound of readily usable crabmeat–a bargain in my estimate.

1.  Prepare the crab cakes:  Tear 3 buns (or similar amount of bread) into small pieces to make about 3/4 cup; put into a medium bowl.  Whisk 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, the melted butter, egg, Old Bay, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, green onion, and salt in another small bowl.

Mayonnaise and seasonings mixture.

Add the mayonnaise mixture to the bun pieces and stir to combine.  Let sit for 10 minutes, then gently fold in the crabmeat.

2.  Brush a baking sheet with some melted butter.  Tightly pack the crab mixture into 15 small patties and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.   Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Arrange the bacon on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and bake until golden and slightly crisp, about 20 minutes.  Transfer to paper towel-lined plate, reserving about 1 Tablespoon of the drippings.  Break each piece of bacon into thirds; set aside.  Combine the remaining 1/2 cup mayonnaise, the lemon zest, and the reserved bacon drippings in a bowl; season with salt an pepper.

4.  Preheat the broiler.  Arrange the remaining 15 buns cut side up on a baking sheet;  Brush with butter and broil until golden.  Transfer the crab cakes to the broiler and cook, rotating the pan as needed, until golden and warmed through, about 6 minutes.

5.  Spread the cut sides of the buns with some of the lemon mayonnaise.  Serve the crab cakes on the buns with tomatoes, lettuce and bacon.   SIGH!

Good beyond words. 😀

I served these with my homemade refrigerator dill pickles and a green salad.    Fantastic meal!

SOURCE:   Food Network Magazine,  June 2013