These delicious stuffed mushrooms are very easy to make and are a lovely appetizer for guests before dinner or to take to a potluck or a party. They can easily be made without the crab if that’s not your thing or if you want them to be vegetarian friendly. They are perfect if you have a little left over meat from a night of feasting on crabs ( my personal recommendation is Dungeness crab).
These simple crab cakes are sure to please the whole family!
These crab cakes are my basic go-to recipe. No frills, not trying to impress anyone, I just want fried crab in my mouth-crab cakes.
Crab Cakes:
First start out by sauteing your onions that you have minced fine in about a 1/2 tablespoon of butter or oil with a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. Once they have cooked for about 7-10 minutes set them aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl combine your crab (that you have previously cooked and shelled) with the mayonnaise, egg, paprika, salt and pepper. When your onions are cooled add those as well. Stir to combine.
Empty out about one sleeve of Ritz crackers (or generic butter crackers) into a large zip-top freezer bag and begin smashing them with either the smooth side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin. Continue to crush until the crackers are a fine powder.
Add the crackers to the blended crab mixture and incorporate thoroughly. Allow the crab cake mix to sit for 5 minutes to allow the crumbs to absorb some of the moisture. After you have let it rest you may need to adjust the recipe. If the mixture seems too wet, more cracker crumbs should be added. If it it too dry and will not stick together to form a patty you may need to add a little more mayonnaise.
Form balls about the size of a racquetball (about 2 inches in diameter) and smash them slightly so that they form a medium sized patty. Have your panko bread crumbs ready in a shallow bowl and once you have formed the patty coat each side gently with the panko. Place the patty onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. They are much easier to fry if they are slightly firm.
To cook simply add enough cooking oil to just barely coat the whole bottom of the pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes on either side until they are golden brown. Try not to crowd them and add more oil to the pan if necessary between batches.
Enjoy!
Optional Tartar Sauce:
This is the quick tartar sauce that I usually make to go with my salmon/crab cakes. I REALLY love bread and butter pickles (especially my mom’s homemade ones) and I think the sweet tanginess really goes with the salty crab cakes.
We are both born and raised in Alaska, land of the midnight sun and fishing at 2am. We love to find new ways to use fresh ingredients or put a modern spin on an old Alaskan classic. We hope you will enjoy tasting Alaska.