Crab Cakes

We had almost a pound of crab left after making the Udon Carbonara, and my mom suggested that we use it to make crab cakes. So we did.


crab cakes

I followed this recipe and it was very easy. Apparently it's based on a Frugal Gourmet recipe so it's probably a good dish to eat before you touch lil boys. Mix egg, parsley, some mayo, lemon juice, dry mustard, and salt/pepper in a bowl. Then you add in the crab and a bunch of bread crumbs, a little bit at a time so that it mixes in well. At this point in the process some naysaying emerged - my deft and dexterous mixing of the ingredients was mistaken for "smashing" by Sarah, who kept insisting that the crab cakes would end up like hockey pucks, would be hard and heavy, etc. She was being a bit... ... ...crabby.

Once the patties were formed I refrigerated them for like 20 or 30 minutes. Meanwhile Sarah made and toasted some bread crumbs, in which I dredged the crab patties before frying them to a golden brown. In the end they came out crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, really good stuff - even Sarah agreed!

To go with this, I made a remoulade sauce, which is basically what you call tartar sauce if you're too cool for tartar sauce. It's very Euro. Two parts mayo, one part mustard, some chopped anchovies and capers, and about ⅔ of a red pepper that I had roasted while I was doing all of this. The pepper gave it a nice sweetness that balanced well with the sourness and saltiness of the rest of the sauce.


garlic mashed potatoes and crab cakes with red pepper remolade

A pound of chunk crab meat costs $15, but the other ingredients are all negligible in terms of cost and this made enough for two people to have as a main course, provided that there is a good-sized side; (garlic mashed potatoes worked for us). You could also make numerous smaller patties and do some sort of hors d'oeuvre thing.

udon carbonara

cross cultural carbonara

And so it is fitting that today, for my final blog post for the month, I finally am catching up with all the dishes I had cooked before November began. I don't think I can maintain this one a day pace for December, but it would be nice to get entirely caught up with everything I've cooked in November as well.

This recipe is for an Italian carbonara with Asian flavors. You've got the traditional salty bacon, (traditional for all intents and purposes; I know real Italians use guanchiale), the egg yolk, the garlic and the American addition of cream. Sounds pretty run of the mill, right? Not so fast– the ingredient list also includes bonito flakes, udon noodles, sesame seeds and miso paste, not to mention corn kernels, chives and crab. Needless to say, this is not your Nona's carbonara.

Nathan's mom Tenli got the recipe from SFGate, and we made it while she was visiting Halloween weekend. We were able to find all the necessary ingredients at the Chelsea Whole Foods, save for fresh Udon noodles. It was fun to explore an unfamiliar section of the grocery store, but it really threw into sharp relief just how difficult it is to find Asian food products outside of China Town. Tenli lives out in Oakland, and it probably would have been a safer bet if she brought some of the stuff with her! Luckily, we pulled it all together even without Bay Area imports.


serving up spaghetti– I mean udon

The recipe came together beautifully. I was definitely skeptical about the Japanese getting their hands on my beloved carbonara, but the chef really blended those flavors into something new and delicious. Even with all the add ons, the creamy sauce and the crispy bacon still were the predominate elements. That is not to say that the unusual ingredients did not make their presence known. The dashi seafood broth gave it a very rich umami flavor, which, combined with the miso paste, gave the dish definite Asian undertones. There were just so many more layers of flavors than this simple dish normally contains. It's certainly a little bit more complex than carbonara original flavor, but you can definitely taste the difference.

I particularly appreciated the addition of the corn and crab, which gave the pasta an unexpected sweetness. I also liked the bright green chives, although we actually used the tops of scallions, thinly sliced. The only thing I might change would be to add the egg white in addition to the yolk. It might not make as pretty of a picture, but there's really no reason to let it go to waste.


japanese inspired carbonara

I didn't think that the recipe was particularly well laid out on the SF Gate website, so I'm including a slightly adapted version for you here. If you like carbonara, you should definitely try making this. It was an awesome change of pace and a surprisingly happy marriage of the Eastern and Western flavors. Yum.

Udon Carbonara
(recipe adapted from executive chef Sam Josi, of San Francisco's Umami)

Dashi:
2 pieces kombu (dried kelp), each about 4-inches square
½ cup dried bonito flakes
Wipe the kombu clean; give it a few slits with a knife to open up the tough, rough exterior. Place the kombu and 2 quarts water in a sauce pan over medium-high heat; bring to just shy of a boil - just until small bubbles are fully formed along the bottom. Lower the heat, discard the kombu and add the dried bonito flakes. Keep the pan over the heat until the bonito falls to the bottom of the pan, about three minutes. Skim foam then strain with a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. This can be made ahead of time and kept refrigerated several days, otherwise freeze.

Sauce and Pasta:
2 slices thick cut bacon, cut crosswise into ¼ inch pieces
¾ cup yellow corn kernels (we bought ours fresh at the whole foods salad bar, but I'm sure frozen would be fine)
2 peeled garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
⅓ cup king crab or Dungeness crab meat, about 1½ ounces (optional)
⅛ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp ground white pepper + more to taste
1¼ cups dashi (see above, or substitute with instant dashi, water or shellfish stock)
1 tbsp miso paste
3 tbsp heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
2 individual 6-ounce packages fresh udon noodles (we substituted dry noodles, which worked but weren't as thick as the fresh ones would have been)
Lemon juice to taste
1½ tbsp chives, ¾-inch lengths
1 tbsp toasted black sesame seeds

Cook the bacon in large skillet over medium heat about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until fat is rendered and bacon is somewhat crispy with some caramelization. Drain all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat; leave the bacon in the pan. Add corn, sliced garlic, salt to taste, 1/8 teaspoon white pepper, and crab if using. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for a minute, stirring often. Meanwhile whisk the 1½ cups dashi and miso together, add to skillet and reduce by half. Add cream and reduce further until it resembles a loose cream sauce. Keep sauce warm, but do not simmer.

Meanwhile, cook noodles in well-salted water. Drain and add to skillet; toss until well coated; warm over medium heat until the sauce thickens and the noodles are heated through. Taste and toss with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the chives and more pepper and salt if needed. Take off heat.

Place all the noodles in one large bowl, garnish with remaining chives and sesame seeds. Make a small indentation in the middle of the noodles for the egg yolk. Stir at the table before serving.

If dividing into smaller portions, let noodles cool for two minutes, then stir in egg before serving. Garnish with remaining chives immediately.

fried soft shell crab with rice and creamed kale

crispy soft shell crab

One food blog that I really admire is Caviar and Codfish. I found it back in late March, whilst trying to find the recipe for The Red Cat's phenomenal bacon chard pie. While I never did find that recipe, I've been following Robin's postings at Caviar and Codfish on and off ever since. The pictures are absolutely beautiful and the food always sounds amazing. Two of her more recent entries involve soft shell crab, something I like but would never thought of cooking myself.

Fast forward to late June. My dad and I are in Harlem, enjoying some quality father-daughter bonding time. As we walk down 125th st to Dinosaur BBQ, we pass specialty grocery store Citarella, and my eye is drawn to a sign proclaiming, "we have soft shell crab!"

Two days later, with Nathan away in Italy, I decide to skip my usual Tuesday movie night and try some soft shell crab. At $5.99 a piece, they aren't particularly cheap, but since it's just me, I only need one. Cooking the crab is incredibly easy. I dredge it in a mixture of salt and pepper, flour and a little cornmeal and pan fry it in hot melted butter for three minutes on each side.

As for the accompaniments, I decide to make some rice and follow Robin's lead and serve my crab with creamed spinach. However, I've got no spinach. What I do have is kale. Kale that has been sitting in my fridge taunting me for weeks. It's getting yellower and yellower, and I know if I don't eat it soon, it will die out of spite. Maybe, instead of the spinach, I could cream kale? First google hit: Bobby Flay. This could be just crazy enough to work...

I dice a shallot and cook it in melted butter until it is nice and soft. Then I add a spoonful or two of flour, and stir that around for a few minutes. Then I pour in some cream, and let that thicken as I stir it. A few sprinkles of nutmeg, and I am really to add my steamed chopped kale. I mix it all together, season with salt and pepper, and it's ready to go. But how does it taste?

AHA! I have discovered a way to cook kale that I actually like! Of course, a load of butter and cream will make most things taste ok, but still. Maybe I'm starting to come around on kale. I think the reason I find kale so off putting is that it really doesn't look like a vegetable. It looks like vegetation. And sure enough, there are varieties of kale that are purely ornamental. Something about the thick stems seems woody, although I suppose they aren't really so bad. If I treat kale like I would spinach or chard, maybe I'll like it more. Maybe we can even be friends.

And how was the crab, you ask? Pretty much awesome. It was crispy and yummy and wow soft shell crab is good. There was ONE thing I thought was weird though. You're supposed to clean soft shell crab by cutting off the eyes and the top of the head and emptying out the organs, or whatever. The fish dudes at Citarella said they would do this for me, and they certainly were off in the back doing something with it before they wrapped it up for me to take home. However, when I cut into my crab, a huge amount of light green liquid oozed out of the head, seeping into my kale and rice. I was worried that they didn't clean it properly, or that I didn't cook it long enough, but the flesh was all very white and firm, so I just ate it, goo and all. It was delicious, if unsightly. I asked Robin if this was normal, and she wrote back said it was just tomalley and internal fat, akin to the green goo you find in lobsters. I was glad to know there was nothing amiss with my dish, and learned a bit about crabs to boot!


creamed kale over rice with a soft shell crab