Alina's Crab Cakes

I plan my recipes in advance, but I woke up on Saturday craving crab cakes with a cucumber sauce, and so that's what I made. I've never craved crab cakes before, but this recipe has changed that! These were really delicious.

I slightly modified this video recipe that I found on the Food Network website. Traditionally, crab cakes are loaded with mayo and other bad-for-you ingredients. My goal was to make them as healthy as possible, and so I mixed in plenty of veggies, baked them and only used a teeny bit of mayo.
I topped the crab cakes with a delicious cucumber and grapefruit salad.

 Total time: Approximately 40 minutes. Makes 4 servings (2 crab cakes per serving).

Ingredients:

• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 six oz can of lump crab meat
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs + another 1/2 cup to roll the crab cakes in
• 1 tbsp mayo
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• salt, to taste
• Lettuce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Saute the red pepper and scallions in a tbsp of EVOO until fragrant and bright, about 4 minutes. Stir frequently. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for another 60 seconds.

Meanwhile, whip the egg and add the crab, breadcrumbs, mayo, lime juice, cilantro and salt to the whipped egg.

Mix it all together.

Add the sauteed vegetables to the crab mixture and mix it well. Form the mixture into 8 balls, roll them in panko, and place them on a baking sheet. Spray the tops of the crab cakes with a little cooking spray. This will help them to get that delicious looking golden-brown top.

Bake them for 10 minutes on each side until they are crisp and golden.

Pile two crab cakes per plate on a bed of lettuce, spoon grapefruit salad over the top, and drizzle lightly with a little honey.

Now doesn't that look fancy? And your little secret is that it wasn't even hard!

Crab cakes garnished with grapefruit salad:

Adam's taste rating: 4 ladles

Alina's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 3 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 4 ladles

Overall average: 3.75 ladles