N-FRIED GULF CRAB CAKES
Serves 4 to 8
pounds fresh flaked blue crab meat
egg yolks
cup heavy cream
cup chopped fresh herbs such as basil, Italian parsley, or thyme leaves cup minced celery cup minced onion
cup minced red pepper cup minced yellow pepper cup minced green pepper cup clarified butter cups fresh bread crumbs
I 1pe coJuice ofl lemon
2 tablespoons Pickapeppa sauce 2 teaspoons Tabasco 1 tablespoon dry mustard 1 cup chopped, roasted pecans
Flour 2 eggs ¥2 cup milk
1 recipe Sauce Bearnaise (page 238)
made with white wine, with creole or Dijon mustard folded in to taste
Salt and pepper
Peanut oil to fry the crab cakes
Lime wedges, for garnish
1. Carefully clean the crab meat of any shell or cartilage.
2. Beat the egg yolks, cream, and herbs together. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine crab, celery, onion, and peppers and mix together. Add clarified butter, about 3 cups of the bread cmrnbs, lemon juice, Pickapeppa, Tabasco, dry mustard, and pecans. Mix thoroughly. Pour in herbed egg yolk and cream and mix. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. Chill.
4. When you are ready to cook, carefully form about lA cup of the crab meat mixture into a cake. Lightly flour it, then dip it into an egg wash made by beating together 2 eggs and V2 cup milk. Then coat with fresh bread crumbs and put on a tray. Repeat until you have as many crab cakes as you need. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Prepare the mustard bearnaise and keep warm.
6. Pan-fry the crab cakes in peanut oil in a hot skillet for 1 minute on each side and then put them in the oven for about 2 minutes.
7. Put the cakes on warm plates and spoon some of the bearnaise over them. Garnish with lime wedges.ntinues)
JTUFFED BAKED MUSSELS with Shellfish Bearnaise and Aioli
Mussels are rapidly gaining new converts in this country. In this recipe, the sauce is so heady and rich that half a dozen mussels should satisfy the most demanding appetite as a first course. The aioli, traditionally somewhat thick, can be thinned a bit so you can drizzle it over the mussels by whisking in a little water or stock.
Serves 4
COURT BOUILLON AND MUSSELS
4 tablespoons ('/2 stick) butter 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped 1 leek, cleaned and roughly chopped 1 stalk celery, cleaned and roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme, stems on
6 whole black peppercorns
2 cups white wine
24 mussels, soaked, scraped, and debearded
SAUCES
1 recipe Sauce Bearnaise (page 238), Чг cup reduced mussel stock
using white wine or Champagne and 1 recipe Aioli (page 233)
white wine vinegar or Champagne vinegar instead of red wine and red wine vinegar
STUFFING
'A cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
1 bulb fennel, core removed, finely diced
1 tomato, concassee Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste 1 cup freshly made bread crumbs
Lemon wedges and chopped herbs, for garnish
1. Heat to high heat a pan large enough to hold the mussels evenly. Add the butter and the chopped onion, leek, and celery and stir briskly for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two. Add the bay leaf, thyme and black peppercorns. Add the wine and cook another minute or two.
2. Add the mussels and cook them, covered, just until they open their shells.
3. Remove the mussels and allow to cool on a plate. Carefully reduce the liquid in the pan until there is only half a cup remaining. Then strain.
4. Make the bearnaise sauce and whisk in the half cup of remaining mussel liquor. Keep warm.
5. Prepare the stuffing: Heat a saute pan, add the extra virgin olive oil, and bring to medium heat. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the diced red onion, fennel, and tomato and cook until softened. Season to taste with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Stir in the bread crumbs and remove from heat.
6. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove the mussels from their shells. Twist off half of each shell and discard. Return the mussels to remaining half shells and place on a baking sheet. Add the stuffing mixture to each shell.
7. Put the stuffed mussels in the oven for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and spoon on some of the shellfish-infused bearnaise sauce. Return the pan to the oven for a few moments.
8. Remove mussels from oven and arrange on plates. Put the aioli in a ketchup-style squeeze bottle and drizzle it over the mussels. Serve with lemon wedges and freshly chopped herbs showered over each dish.