One night, my husband and I were watching America's Test Kitchen. This episode was about crab and how to make the perfect crab cake. That sparked a craving. I haven't had a good crab cake in a long time. Most restaurants serve crab cakes that are mostly filled with breadcrumbs and not a whole lot of crab. I wanted to take a stab at ATK's version, with a little twist of my own. But I didn't want to stop there, I wanted to make the buns and an aioli to top it. This was going to be the ultimate crab cake.
Before I begin, my eyes glance at a sign that has become a fixture in our kitchen. It may seem sappy, but this rings true for the love in our little family. We have gone through our share of struggles, but no matter what, we will hang on to that deep love and respect we have for one another.
First I started with the buns. I had mentioned that a book I often refer to is The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. Once again, I turned to her for her expertise. http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/2009/09/brioche-hamburger-buns-and-passing-the-love-updated/
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp sugar
3 large eggs
3 3/4 cups of flour plus some for covering work surface
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp unsalted room temperature butter
If you'd like toppings you can use poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse salt etc
In a measuring cup I add the warm water, milk and sugar, mix and let it stand for 5 minutes. Let it get all foamy on top.
I had a little oops, which turned out to be great. This differs from the original recipe, but I liked the outcome. I beat 3 eggs instead of 2. If you want to try it my oops way, just know you will need a fourth egg for the egg wash later.
I weigh my flour and add the salt. Then I add the butter in pats and use my fingers to gently mix into the flour.
Add the eggs and the yeast to the flour and mix well with hands until a dough forms. On a floured surface, knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes until the dough is pliable and can form a nice smooth ball.
I rub a little olive oil on the bowl I put the dough into so it won't stick. Cover with plastic and let it rise for 2 hours.
Then I go to work on the aioli. This is just "fancy" mayo.
Ingredients:
1 Egg
1 roasted bell pepper
1 roasted jalapeno
1 head of roasted garlic
salt
pepper
cayenne
lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp mayo
3 tbsp Dijon Mustard
Safflower oil
Cut the top off the garlic head so you can see the cloves inside. Rub with olive oil and cover in foil. Leave the peppers whole, wash them and rub with olive oil. Roast at 350 degrees. The peppers take about 30 mins until blistered. Keep turning to let them blister evenly. The garlic takes about 45-50 mins. Once peppers are done, put them in a paper bag for 10 mins to steam and cool enough for you to remove skin, stems, ribs and seeds. Take garlic out of foil to cool and then just squeeze the cloves out.
In a food processor, put all the ingredients in except the oil. I just eyeball the spices. Again, I like stuff spicy, so I do a lot of cayenne. Pulse until combined. Then slowly feed the oil through the tube as the mixture blends. Unfortunately had another oops : (
The safflower oil came out a little too fast, so my aioli was too thin. I then added some Dijon and mayo to thicken it up. Still thin, so it's more like a sauce then a mayo. But still tasted amazing. I put it in a airtight container and put it in a fridge.
Now the dough is ready for the next step. Split it into 8 sections of dough and form into a ball. Put on parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover with clean dish cloth and let it rise another hour or so.
Time for the crab cakes.
Ingredients:
1 can good quality jumbo lump crab
4 oz shrimp peeled and deveined
1/2 bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 whole onion minced
1 1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs
black pepper
heavy cream
milk
lemon juice
I went to the local fish market and got a can of good quality lump crabmeat. I pick through it to look for any shell. One trick America's Test Kitchen taught me was to soak the crab in milk and put in the fridge while working with the other components.
I also got unbelievable shrimp that is used for a binder (another ATK trick). These might have been too good to use for this purpose, but I couldn't pass on these babies!
The bread is ready to go in the oven. I heat it up to 400 degrees. I place a cheap foil pan filled with water on the oven floor (this helps to steam the bread). Mix together one egg and a little water. Brush on bread and top with any toppings you like. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden on top.
Take 1/2 of the panko and toast in a pan. The other half needs to be crushed a little finer. I just put it in a plastic bag and using a rolling pin to crush them. Take all the panko and put into a big bowl. Wipe out the pan and add a little olive oil. Add in onion and bell pepper. Add salt, a little lemon juice and pepper and let saute for about 5 minutes. Add that to the panko bowl. In a food processor add your peeled and deveined shrimp. Pulse a few times. Then while the blade is on, slowly pour in some cream. It will create a mousse. Add that to the bowl. Now drain the milk from the crab and add that to the bowl. Mix well until all combined. Create patties. Add oil to a large pan and a few patties at a time. Let them develop a nice crust on each side.
Now that all the pieces of the puzzle are done, time to assemble. I was dying to try this out.
If there was ever a recipe where you could taste the love that was put in it, this would be it. When I asked how it was, my husband couldn't even form a sentence. He sat there happily eating with a smile on his face. That was the biggest pat on the back I could receive.
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