Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mini Crab Cakes

I am not a huge fan of crab, but my husband and the rest of my family love crab. I recently attended a cooking class at the Oregon Culinary Institute and crab cakes were one of the featured items. My husband LOVED them! They were made with many high caloric items however, so I started a search of a lower calorie and fat option.

I found several recipes that looked okay, but one clearly stood out from the pack...this Mini Crab Cake recipe from Weight Watchers. Don't be fooled that it is a Weight Watchers recipe. The taste is fabulous--so the fact that it is low in fat and calories only makes it an added bonus!!

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 large egg
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots
1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 slices firm white bread
1 pound cooked lump crab meat, picked over
1 1/4 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Tear bread into large chunks and place in food processor. Pulse 8-10 times until bread is processed into a fine crumbs. Transfer bread crumbs into bowl; set aside.


2. In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, egg, shallots, red bell pepper, lemon juice, thyme, hot pepper sauce (if using), and salt. Stir in 1/3 cup of the bread crumbs and the crab. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.


3. Form the crab mixture into 24 cakes. Coat with bread crumbs and place on wax paper or aluminum foil. I found that I had a large amount of leftover bread crumbs---in making this recipe again, I would generously coat with bread crumbs and even firmly press bread crumbs onto both sides of each crab cake.


***Note***The first crab cake I tried to make the mixture would not stay together. I added an additional 1/3 cup bread crumbs to the mixture, stirred well, and the mixture held together much better. When forming each crab cake, squeeze the mixture together in the palm of your hand and apply pressure to form a ball first, and then slightly flatten to make each crab cake. The mixture will be delicate.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.

5. In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add 8 of the crab cakes and cook until golden brown, 1 1/2-2 minutes on each side.

6. Transfer to the baking sheet. Repeat twice more with remaining crab cakes.


7. Bake the crab cakes until cooked through, 8-10 minutes. These two-bite delights can be made ahead, cooled, and then stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Per serving (2 cakes): 106 Calories, 5 g Fat, 1 g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans. Fat, 57 mg Cholesterol, 309 mg Sodium, 6 g Carbs, 1 g Fiber, 9 g Protein, 54 mg Calcium. (2 WW Points)

Recipe from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook, 2006

No comments: