I can count on my fingers and toes how many times I have been asked to put a crab cake on one of my menus. I had them on my menu at the Five Fishermen for quite a long time, and after feeling blase about these bad boys, I decided to turn over a new leaf and create a new "cake". My salt cod cakes were smashing and went very well with my salsa verde, but over and over again, I would get the request for crab cakes. "Crab cakes?!" I would yell, and tell the server that there was no way in hell that I was going to give in to the customers. I know, they are always right, but they needed to broaden their horizons! So, after a few weeks of hair pulling and nail biting, I relinquished my salt cod cakes, and those crabby concoctions made their way back onto my menu.
On a recent trip to Cape Breton, our host, Duper, was very excited to tell me that his father had some Snow Crab and was eagerly awaiting my arrival so I could whip up a batch of somethin'-somethin'. Oh no, my nemesis, the crab cake was suggested. Okay, I like Duper and his wife, Katrina, and I was smitten by his father, Billy, so I put my feelings aside and whipped them up a batch of my super-duper (get it, Duper) crab cakes. I called them my 4 C's (My Caper Crab Cake Creation). Here is the recipe for my 4 C's, and I only hope that you get crab as fresh and delicious as I got, courtesy of one Billy MacDonald and his brother Harold.
My caper Crab Cakes
- 1 lbs picked over crab meat; strained of any liquid
- 1 lbs new potatoes; boiled
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- zest of 3 lemons
- salt and pepper
Boil the potatoes with their skins. Once cooked, roughly mash and let cool slightly. Add all the other ingredients and mix by hand. Taste for seasoning. Shape into cakes (I use a small ice cream scoop), and fry up in a pan with a little oil until golden brown.