D picked up a plasticized foil bag of cooked blue crab meat
at the market. It was an experiment since we'd never had
such a thing before. After cooking with it, I think it's a
good product. Pretty pricy, but sweet, clean crab meat isn't
ever cheap.
I made some crab cakes with the meat. Since D is doing the
South Beach diet, ordinary refined starches are out of the
question. No bread crumbs, that is. I opted for brown rice
for the crab cakes. Brown rice in limited quantity is okay
in phase two of the diet. I had some already cooked, which I
zapped (about a cup, maybe a cup and a quarter) in the
microwave, covered, with a little water to make it softer,
more malleable. I added 1/4 habanero chile, minced very
fine; three scallions, chopped, some fine herbs, an egg,
salt and pepper. And the crab meat.
I made balls of the mix -- about the diameter of a half
dollar. I heated a non-stick skillet, and set four of the
crab/rice balls in it in olive oil. When they'd begun to
brown, I pressed them down to make patties about 3/8 inch
thick. Since there was no bread to act as a binder, the
patties were a bit crumbly, but with care and two spatulas,
I was able to turn them over to brown on the other side when
the time was right.
I had grilled a bell pepper earlier, and had it steaming in
a bag. I peeled it under running water and cut about 1/3 of
it off, which I put in the blender with half a bunch of
cilantro, some lemon juice, about 2 oz (weight) chevre, an
anchovy, some olive oil. Buzzed it all to a smooth sauce.
This was a sauce for the crab cakes.
Along with a salad of cucumber, apple, and avocado (dressed
with a dash of rice wine vinegar), and some grilled
asparagus ('tis the season) and sliced grilled chayote, that
was our dinner.
modom