01-23-12

Monday, January 23, 2012
For previous recipes please use the Archive links in the left-hand column.

This Week's Theme: Favorite Ingredients - Crab

Today's Recipe: Crab Cakes

Many thanks to Glenda Fleming for subscribing to the PLUS Edition.

It wouldn't surprise me if this one from Rosemary Zwick were true:

It was mealtime during a cross country flight. "Would you like dinner?" the flight attendant asked Harry.

"What are my choices?" Harry asked.

"Yes or no," she replied.

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This week's theme

• 20th Century American Classics

This week's recipes

• James Beard's Roquefort-Filled Mushrooms
• Cobb Salad with Brown Derby French Dressing
• Spinach with Sour Cream
• The "21" Club Hamburger
• Chocolate Meringue Pie

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Thanks to reader Andi for sharing this idea for a quick and easy dinner:

On a day when I DO feel like cooking, I make a batch of stuffed shells ahead of time. I boil the shells and stuff them with a ricotta/meat/mushroom mixture. Then I freeze them on a cookie sheet and put in a freezer bag. On a day when I DON'T feel like cooking, I put a little store-bought Italian sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, put some frozen shells on it, spoon some more sauce over the top, finish with some mozzarella cheese and bake at about 350F for about half an hour or until the cheese browns. Yummy and easy clean up, too.

Share your secrets to a quick and easy dish by sending it to me with "Quick and Easy" in the subject. I promise I won't tell anyone.

Like most seafood lovers around the world, I don't have access to fresh crabs. Fortunately, I am able to buy crab meat in several forms, from small cans to larger tubs of fresh meat. Regardless of the type of crab meat I can get, it is never cheap and therefore always considered a treat in my house. This week I offer some special recipes for a very special ingredient:

Monday's Starters
Crab Cakes
Crab and Artichoke Dip*

Tuesday's Soups or Salads
Easy Corn and Crab Soup
Chili Crab Soup*

Wednesday's Soups or Salads
Crab Louis
Crab and Melon Salad*

Thursday's Entrees
Crab au Gratin
Peppers Stuffed with Corn and Crab Meat*

Friday's Entrees
Crab Quiche
Crab Sandwiches*

* Indicates recipes that will only be available in the PLUS Edition.

I have had plenty of crab cakes that tasted exactly like big lumps of fried bread crumbs, and I know you have too. The secret to great crab cakes is to use as little bread crumbs as possible, as in this recipe.

Crab Cakes

1 lb (450 g) lump crab meat, picked over
4 scallions (spring onions), green parts only, chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) mayonnaise
2-4 Tbs (30-60 ml) dry bread crumbs
1 Tbs (15 ml) chopped fresh parsley, basil, or cilantro (coriander leaves)
2 tsp (10 ml) Old Bay or other seafood seasoning
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
All-purpose flour for dredging
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable or olive oil

Combine the crab meat, scallions, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the bread crumbs, herb, and seasonings in a mixing bowl and toss gently to combine. Carefully fold in the egg with a rubber spatula until the mixture just clings together, adding more bread crumbs if necessary. Form into 4 to 6 patties and refrigerate for 30 minutes to overnight. Dredge lightly in flour. Heat the oil in a large skillet - preferably non-stick - over moderate heat and fry the crab cakes until crisp and browned, about 4 minutes per side. Serve with tartar sauce. Serves 4 to 6.

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Today's second recipe

• Crab and Artichoke Dip

Today's bonus recipes from the WWRecipes Archives

• Quick Cheese Straws
• Quick Feta Dip
• Rhode Island Stuffies
• Classic Steamers

Today's Readers' Recipes

• Apple and Raisin-Stuffed Acorn Squash
• Skillet Chicken Soup
• Irene’s Spicy Sausage-Barley Soup
• Blender Soup

Quizine - An interesting and unusual bit of food trivia every day

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Ask the Chef - It's usually about food, but you never know what people are going to ask me

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Thanks to Nancy Marr for this week's review:

Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference is a great little book that has a lot of information to help keep you from running to the store when you’re in the middle of a recipe. In my case, that’s something my husband will really appreciate. Click here to learn more.

	Thanks to Caryn from Manalapan, NJ for this review: My son got me this utensil last year for Christmas and I didn't think I'd ever really use it, as I had many, many tools to choose from. However, once I picked it up and tried it, I couldn't put it down. This 5-in-1 tool is just about the only utensil I use to cook. I highly recommend it. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Alan Duxbury for this review: I thought you might like a review for Shepherd Spy: Tales of Violence and Intrigue and Terrorist Sheep. It is available on Amazon and at only 48 pages may seem small but it's worth buying not only for the excellent artistry and plot, but also because you can keep it on your cookery book shelf next to the large sign reading "Real Shepherd's Pie isn't made with beef!" Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Laurel Hennessy for this review: One thing in my kitchen that I use just about daily are my kitchen shears. I use them to snip herbs right into a pan and to cut my salad greens into bite-size pieces. I've also used them to cut chicken strips for stir fry. They are dishwasher safe so cleanup is a breeze. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Sherril Gerard of Santa Ana, CA for this review: I have a pigtail food flipper and love it. Fantastic for bacon and pork chop turning and other items. You must learn not to scratch the skillet but once mastered you will love it. It doesn't let the meat juices escape from holes made by large forks, and no stiff tongs to make your hands ache. I use it for french toast, hot dogs, etc. etc. I even gave all my girls one in their Christmas stockings this year. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Mary Silcox for this review: The Podleski sisters are masters when it comes to developing tasty, healthy, and easy to follow recipes. I own all three of their previous books (Looneyspoons, Crazy Plates, and Eat Shrink and Be Merry) and credit them with helping me to lose a significant amount of weight and develop a healthier lifestyle. What I like best about their recipes is that they do not sacrifice flavour for nutritional value. Indeed, they don't even eschew ingredients such as butter and bacon - they just restrict their use to small quantities when needed to add deliciousness. In their newest book, The Looneyspoons Collection, the sisters re-formulate many of their recipes following current nutritional thinking, and taking advantage of healthy alternatives (e.g., whole wheat pasta, reduced salt products) not available when they started out. So long as you can stomach their terribly cheesy puns (recipe titles include "the lord of the wings", "a wok in the pork," etc.) I think you'll find this a terrific addition to your cookbook collection, even if you already have the sisters' other titles. I particularly recommend "tube beef or not tube beef" and "worth every penne" - both delicious dishes that also make great leftovers. Click here to learn more.
	Thanks to Donna in Buffalo, MN for this review: Today the kitchen got a bit brighter when the light bulb in my head went off. Why it took me 40 of my 61 years to think of this is beyond me but better late than never, right? I purchased my first ulu knife in Bar Harbor, ME while motor home traveling in the mid '90s. This gadget is great for cleanly cutting my herbs, quickly, safely and neatly. Today, needing some of my fresh rosemary for my turkey dressing I discovered one more use. Instead of trying to strip the sticky rosemary leaves from the stem by hand I used my ulu to cut right next to the stem. It was really slick and no sticky fingers. Sure glad I wasn't any older when I figured this out. Click here to learn more.

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Barbara Forsythe, Editor

What did Grimod mean when he said that a truffle was a "foretaste of paradise"? Brillat-Savarin wrote, "Nobody dares admit that he has been present at a meal where there was not at least one dish with truffles." What is it about this underground fungus? Is it the fact that it is underground, hidden from sight, hard to find? For more than a century agronomists have dreamed of farming it, but many think that if they succeeded, if it became readily available, it would lose its mystique. At a dollar a basket, the bumpy fungus might find itself abandoned like the kiwi, a Chinese gooseberry whose tree produces too many fruit to maintain exotic status. Waverley Root thought it was the price: Truffles were so valuable that nobody dared eat a big enough piece to understand what it really tasted like. Surely, if you just took a bite, like from an apple, it would be a disappointment.... But then one day he did.

Mark Kurlansky, from "Choice Cuts"

Please address your comments regarding "The Last Morsel" to editor Barbara Forsythe at Barbara@wwrecipes.com

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