Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce

There are not a lot of dishes as yummy as crab cakes, especially when you can get quality large-lump crab meat. I've found it at Costco, and most recently, at a large Safeway supermarket. If you can find fresh crab meat where you live, great! We can’t, because we don’t have yummy crabs in Hawaii.

The secret to good crab cakes is not to use a lot of breadcrumbs. Unlike crab dip, where you want the crab to spread out, with crab cakes you want them to hold together. And what’s a good crab cake without a good remoulade sauce?

My recommendations: (1) Make the remoulade first, at least an hour, preferable two to three hours, ahead of time so you can let the flavors blend in the refrigerator. (2) Mix and form the crab cakes at least a half-hour, preferably a full hour, before cooking, so they won’t fall apart in the pan.

Here’s how I make the cakes and accompanying sauce.

Crab Cakes: Ingredients 

• LUMP CRAB MEAT, 1 pound, as fresh as you can get it
• PANKO BREAD CRUMBS, 3 heaping tablespoons
• ITALIAN PARSLEY, 3 teaspoons, fresh,  chopped into a course mince
• KOSHER SALT and FRESHLY-GROUND PEPPER to taste
• EGG, 1 beaten
• MAYONNAISE, ¼ cup
• GROUND DRY MUSTARD (I use Coleman’s), 1 teaspoon
• (Optional) HOT SAUCE, 1-2 dashes (use your favorite; I use Tabasco)
• CANOLA OIL, 2 tablespoons 

Crab Cakes: Directions 

1. Mix together the crab meat, bread crumbs and parsley, then season with the salt and pepper.
2. Whip the egg in a bowl (act as though you’re making scrambled eggs).
3. Add in the mayonnaise, mustard and (optional) hot pepper sauce and blend well.
4. Pour the mayonnaise mixture into the crab mixture and mix well.
5. Form into patties and let them set in the refrigerator for a half-hour or so.
6. Preheat the oil in a heavy frying pan, and then fry one side of the refrigerated patties on medium-high heat for about three minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp.
7. Fry the other side and then broil for a few minutes until heated through. 

Remoulade: Ingredients 

• MAYONNAISE, 1 cup
• MUSTARD, yellow, ¼ cup
• SWEET PAPRIKA, 1 tablespoon
• PICKLE RELISH, 2 tablespoons
• CAPERS, 1 tablespoon, finely minced
• (Optional) HOT SAUCE, 5-6 dashes (use your favorite; I use Tabasco)
• (Optional) GARLIC, 1 clove, crushed and finely minced 

Remoulade: Directions 

1. Mix the ingredients in a bowl and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour so the flavors will marry.
2. Serve as a dressing for the hot crab cakes.

The remoulade is a great sauce for vegetables, and with seafood as a substitute for tartar sauce.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

This is so easy, it’s sinful. It’s also sinful in another way – it tastes soooo good!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can (6-1/2 oz.) crabmeat or 1 cup frozen crabmeat, thawed
• 18 medium mushrooms, stems removed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. In small bowl, blend Mayonnaise, bread crumbs, cheese and garlic; fold in crabmeat. Evenly spoon mixture into mushroom caps.
3. On baking sheet, arrange mushroom caps. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through and lightly browned.

Chicken Vesuvio

This is a simple, easy recipe for a very tasty dish of Italian-style chicken that doesn’t look as though it drowned in red sauce.

The recipe calls for artichoke hearts. You can either use frozen hearts, which is fine, but I use marinated artichoke hearts from Costco. Its tanginess adds tremendously to the chicken.

Ingredients

• CHICKEN, skin on, 8-10 pieces
• OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons
• BUTTER, 3 tablespoons
• RED POTATOES, 5 small, unpeeled, halved
• MUSHROOMS, 8 ounces, halved
• ARTICHOKES, 8 ounces
• WHITE WINE, 3/4 cup
• CHICKEN STOCK/BROTH, 3/4 cup
• GARLIC, 3 cloves crushed and minced
• OREGANO, 1-1/2 teaspoon
• THYME, 1 teaspoon
• GARLIC SALT, to taste
• BLACK PEPPER, freshly ground, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°.
2. Brown the skin-on chicken in the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter, set aside.
3. Brown the potatoes, then add the mushrooms and garlic. Toss gently.
4. Deglaze with the wine, then add the herbs and chicken stock. Stir for a few minutes until they are incorporated into a sauce.
5. Add the chicken back into the pan, nestling the pieces into the sauce.
6. Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven. Remove the chicken and potatoes and arrange on a serving dish.
8. Add the artichokes to the sauce, simmer over high heat.
9. Reduce the heat to low and stir in 2 tablespoons of butter to finish. Pour sauce on the chicken and potatoes.
10. (Optional) Garnish with chopped parsley.

Copper River Shaka Salmon

Someone gave us this jar of salmon for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I recently discovered it in our crowded pantry. So I thought I'd better use it before it went bad.

Shaka Salmon is packed by Copper River Seafoods in Cordova, Alaska, and distributed in Hawaii by Shaka Salmon of Haleiwa on Oahu's North Shore.

It's packed in oil and tastes great right out of the jar.

However, I wanted to try it with some rigatoni that I also found in the pantry, and fresh broccoli and grape tomatoes that we had chilling in the refrigerator. It's my usual preparation using the pasta and anything else I want to put in it. Sometimes, I use zucchini, sometimes Chinese snap peas ... it all depends on what I have.

Heat up the veggies in olive oil and butter, add in the protein (in this case the salmon, but sometimes shrimp or ham, or whatever), cook the pasta separately, then add it to the pan.

Voila! Shaka Salmon and Pasta with Broccoli!

Smothered Southern Chicken

The basic recipe was posted by a friend on Facebook, so I stole it and made a few modifications. For example, the cook used Bacon Bits; I replaced it with real bacon. Also, I floured the chicken and added some herbs.

If you use dried herbs, reduce the measurement by half and rub the herbs between your hands to release the essential oils.

Ingredients

• CHICKEN BREASTS, 4, pounded to an even thickness
• (Alternative) CHICKEN THIGHS, 6-8, butterflied
• FLOUR, about a half cup
• SALT, BLACK PEPPER, GARLIC POWDER, 1/8 teaspoon each
• OLIVE OIL
• ONION, 1 large, thinly frenched
• BUTTER
• MUSHROOMS, 8 oz., thinly sliced
• GARLIC, 4 cloves, minced
• SOY SAUCE, 1 tablespoon
• SAGE, ROSEMARY, THYME, freshly minced, 1/2 teaspoon each
• CHICKEN BROTH, 1/2 cup
• BACON, 6 slices, cut into lardons
• CHEESE, Monterrey jack (or pepper-jack), shredded

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Caramelize the onion in about a tablespoon of butter, 2 garlic cloves, minced and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Sauté slowly until the onions soft. Set aside.
3. Sauté the bacon pieces until crispy. Set aside.
4. Prep the chicken. Cut each breast into four equal pieces (thighs in half) and pound. Dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
5. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil (or spray with cooking spray) in a large sauce pan. Add the chicken to the pan and cook over medium-high heat for about 2-3 minutes per side, until the pink is gone and the coating is browned.
6. Sauté the mushrooms in a tablespoon of butter, two minced garlic cloves, and a tablespoon of soy sauce. Sauté about 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms have cooked off their juices and become a little colored.
7. When the chicken pieces are done, place them in a casserole dish or baking pan.
8. Heat the chicken broth in a small pan and pour over the chicken, topping it with the onions, mushrooms, herbs, bacon, and cheese.
9. Bake the chicken in the oven for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Chinese-Style Preserved Lemons

Have you ever had preserved lemons? They’re mouth-puckerers for sure. Salty and sour, but strangely yummy.

I grew up eating these. You could buy the really dried versions in Crack Seed shops, or from a huge jar in a small neighborhood store. But the best ones came from a neighbor’s roof.

Why the roof? Because that’s where they are placed to age in large mayonnaise jars.

Here’s the recipe, such as it is:

You’ll need a large glass jar; a gallon-sized jar works best. Buy a big bag of lemons and some Hawaiian salt. If you can’t find Hawaiian salt, kosher salt will do. You want the big grained salt, not the Morton’s kind. That’s all you need.

Line the bottom of the jar with salt, about a half-inch will do. Then remove the stems, wash and pack the lemons in the jar; the more, the merrier. Then, pour in lots of salt, at least a cup, maybe more. Screw the jar cover back on. Shake the jar to allow the salt to distribute.

Remove the cover, lay a couple of layers of waxed paper over the top, and replace the cover tightly. Personally, I’ve used cereal-bag plastic as a seal and that works great.

Put the jar on your roof where it can get some sun, and forget about it. Although, you should shake the jar every month or so to bathe the desiccating lemons with the lemon juice that’s exuding, and to distribute the salty liquid. You’ll see the lemons shrinking, a sign that you’re doing good.

Eventually, when they look like the picture above (I forgot mine for about eight months), open the jar and start munching. Be aware, this is major saliva-drool-producing time so have napkins or tissue handy for a quick wipe-wipe of your mouth.

BLT Steak's Popover Recipe

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, I ate at BLT Steakhouse in the Red River Resort. They are supposedly noted for their popovers, and even include their recipe with the bread.

It's rather tasty, and they serve it with some herbed butter on the side. So here you go, I'm sharing the recipe with you.

Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops

I’ve been meaning to do two things for a long time now: Brine some meat, and use my slow cooker. So I did both at the same time, after seeing Alton Brown and Anne Burrell tout the brining process on the Food Network.

Now … take it from me, you can’t just up and decide you want to make Slow Cooker Pepper Pork Chops for dinner one night. Nope. It requires planning and scheduling. For one thing, when you brine the chops, you have to let it sit in the fridge for at least eight hours, preferably overnight. Then, you have to slow cook it for a total of six hours.

My schedule: Make the brine and brine the meat either in the late afternoon or right after supper before someone starts washing the dishes and hogging the kitchen. Then, at 10:30 a.m. the next day, do the prep and put the meat in the cooker (it should be about 11 a.m. or so, depending on how fast you work).

It only needs tending once. After 1½ hours, turn the cooker down to low, and then forget it for 4½ hours. Total cooking time is 6 hours, so it should be ready around 5 p.m.

Ingredients

• VEGETABLE BROTH, 2 cups
• SALT, ½ cup (Alton recommends Kosher, but whatever you have is fine)
• LIGHT-BROWN SUGAR, ½ cup
• BLACK PEPPERCORNS, 2 tablespoons, slightly crushed
• ICE, 1 pound
• PORK CHOPS, 3 to 4, thick, bone-in
• SALT (yes, again), 2 teaspoons
• DRIED APPLE SLICES, 3 ounces*
• OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons
• ONION, 1 large, frenched (julienned)
• CHICKEN BROTH, 1½ cups
• BLACK PEPPER, 1 tablespoon coarsely ground
• THYME, dried, 1 teaspoon

Directions

1. Pour the vegetable broth, ½ cup kosher salt, brown sugar and peppercorns in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve.
2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add in the ice.
3. Put the pork chops into a zip-top bag along with the iced brine, seal and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
4. The next day, take the chops out of the brine, rinse off and pat dry, and season on both sides with salt. Put the meat aside.
5. Place the apples in the slow cooker.
6. Sauté the chops in some olive oil over medium-high heat, about 5 to 6 minutes per side until they are browned. Place the chops on top of the apples in the slow cooker.
7. Use the remaining ½ teaspoon or so of the olive oil to sauté the onions until they’re almost brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth, then add the black pepper and dried thyme. Pour this on top of the pork chops.
8. Cover the slow cooker, turn it onto “High,” and cook for 1½ hours. Set a kitchen timer or use the one on your oven. When the timer dings, turn the cooker heat to “Low” and cook for 4½ more hours.

* I couldn’t find dried apples, so I peeled, cored and sliced up a large apple and then laid the slices over the pork chops during the last half-hour of cooking.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

I got this basic recipe from a Williams-Sonoma Soup & Stew recipe book that was given to me by one of my sisters on the occasion of my retirement in 2006. The authors said it can be used to make a variety of “Cream of …” soups (i.e., carrots, broccoli).

When I watched Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, Anne Burrelle pureed all the vegetables in her food blender. So that’s what I did instead of cooking the veggies in the pot. Result? It cooked faster.

Then, I watched Sunny Anderson in her show, Cooking for Real. Instead of crème fraiche, she just added a cup of sour cream to the finished soup.

I compromised between the Williams-Sonoma recipe below, Anne Burrelle’s technique, and Sunny Anderson’s alteration – did all my fine dicing and chopping in the food processor, and added in my own version of sour cream whisked well into whipping cream.

Ingredients

• BUTTER, 1 tablespoon
• OLIVE OIL, 2 tablespoons
• LEEKS, 2, white and light-green parts cleaned and finely chopped*
• ASPARAGUS, 1 pound, trimmed, peeled, cut into 2-inch strips; reserve the tips*
• RUSSET POTATO, 1, peeled, cut into 2-inch chunks*
• CHICKEN STOCK, 4 cups
• SALT
• WHITE PEPPER, freshly ground
• LEMON, juice of ½ lemon
• CRÈME FRAÎCHE*, 3 tablespoons

Directions

1. Melt the butter in the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.
2. Saute the leeks until softened (about 5 minutes).
3. Add the asparagus and potato, sauté until nicely coated and beginning to soften (about 3 minutes longer).
4. Add the stock and flavor with salt and white pepper to taste.
5. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, reduce to simmer, covered partially, until veggies are very tender (about 15 minutes).
6. In a separate saucepan, boil some water, then add in the lemon juice and the asparagus tips. Boil until crisp-tender and still bright green (about 3 minutes). Drain, set aside.
7. When the leek/asparagus/potatoes are tender, take the soup off the heat and puree with an immersion or regular blender, or with a food processor.
8. Adjust the seasoning.
9. Garnish in the soup bowl with a dollop of crème fraiche* and the asparagus tips.

* My Changes:

Instead of sautéing the leeks, asparagus and potato chunks until tender, I finely minced them in my food processor: First the leeks, which I then sautéed in the butter and olive oil; then the asparagus and potatoes together, which I added to the leeks and cooked for a few minutes before adding the chicken broth.

And, of course, I live in Hawaii, where I can never find any crème fraiche, so I made a substitute, adding 2 tablespoons of sour cream to ½ cup whipping cream and blending until smooth. Just wait a little bit and the cream will clot nicely.

Annette Funicello’s Peanut Butter Pork Chops

I once posted a request for pork chop recipes on the Food TV Network community discussion boards to try and improve my technique(s) for making pork chops. I had the usual problem – my pork chops were coming out too dry and/or too tough.

Among the dozens of recipes, suggestions and people posted in reply was this one. Annette Funicello, the darling Mouseketeer of the ‘50s (my favorite one), and star of the Beach Blanket teen beach movies.

So simple, so good.

Ingredients

• PORK CHOPS, 6
• ONION, 1 medium, finely chopped
• CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP, 1 can
• PEANUT BUTTER, ½ cup
• WATER, 2 cups 

Directions

1. Brown pork chops in oil; remove from pan.
2. Put peanut butter and soup in pan and heat, adding water gradually; stir until smooth.
3. Add pork chops back to pan and add onion; bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer 50 minutes.
5. Serve with rice.