FREEPORT, Maine — We don't want to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen on these hot summer days, and Chef Bo Byrne's got a recipe that is quick and easy. Bo is the Executive Chef of the Broad Arrow Tavern at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport.. You can learn more about the Harraseeket here.
Got some fresh crabmeat on hand? Here's the recipe:
Broad Arrow Tavern, Harraseeket Inn Crab Cakes
You'll need:
one red pepper
one yellow pepper
one leek
one pound crab meat
1/4 cup mayo
teaspoon each of Dijon mustard, horseradish, and parsley
1/4 bread crumbs
butter
salt, pepper, (about a tsp) cayenne pepper
Slice leeks and soak in cold water. With your hand, move the leeks around a bit in the water to rinse off any dirt. Drain leeks. Dice your peppers. Pulse the peppers and leeks in the food processor – just a few pulses. Saute this mixture in a little butter. Cook this over medium heat for about 5 or 6 minutes. Once this mixture is cooked, you can put it in the refrigerator to cool while you work on the crab meat. You want to get as much liquid and moisture out of the crab meat, so drain and squeeze out any liquid from the crab. Make sure you also pick through the crab meat to be sure there are no shells in your final product! Add drained crab meat to the chilled leek and bell pepper mixture. Add cayenne pepper, Dijon mustard, horseradish, and parsley (about a teaspoon of each for a small batch of crab cakes). Add a quarter cup of mayonnaise, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add ¼ cup of breadcrumbs, being careful not to add to much of the breadcrumbs which will take away from the flavor of the crab in the cakes. Give this mixture a light stir, and form in to balls which will make your crab cakes. (You can store these uncooked crab cakes in your fridge for up to a week if you plan to cook them later!) To cook put in hot pan with some melted butter for a quick saute. They are usually cooked after about four minutes, be sure to heat up the middle! Everything in the mixture is cooked (there is no raw egg in this recipe) so it does not need to cook for long.
Chef Bo created a remoulade sauce with extra diced peppers, parsley, horseradish, squeeze of lemon, and served this alongside the crab cakes.
Enjoy!