It must be the weather

Today I had an overwhelming sensation to use crab meat. I really did. I was thinking maybe some crab rangoons with cream cheese, scallions, a bit o ginger, garlic, red onion, etc... But then I remembered someone telling me how difficult it is to make a perfect crab cake. I wanted to see how close I could get without following a recipe. Here goes:

1 Gala apple, processed
1 Large yellow onion, processed
1 red pepper, processed
1 sleeve of white flour buttery crackers (I used trader joes social crackers) * I also used a couple pieces of whole wheat bread and about a cup of rice crispies , all processed. yay for magic bullets!
18 oz of crab meat
4 tblsp of fresh lemon
1/2 cup of chives, chopped finely
1 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan chz
2-3 cups of panko bread crumbs
1 cup mayonaisse

4 tblsp minced crushed garlic

1 stick o butter
1 egg
* Go veg! : 1 portabello mushroom, processed

Quick! The Aioli!

Bowl - 1 cup of mayo, more or less depending on how much you like aioli.

Whilst processing the red pepper, over a tblsp of red pepper juice was produced. So. I used that, along with a tblsp or so of the processed red pepper and a tblsp of lemon juice and a modest handful of chives, add salt and pepper to taste. Done and done.

As for the rest.

1. Put bread crumbs in large bowl.
2. Melt stick of butter in frying pan and simmer chopped onions med low til cooked. Add mixture to bread crumbs.
3. The bread crumbs should still be a little dry, add egg and lemon juice to mixture until all is moist.
4. Add the rest of the red pepper, the apple, and a modest handful of chives. And a couple of tablespoons of minced garlic. 2 - 4, depending on your taste for garlic.
5. Here's where I split. My 2 roomates are veggie, so I made a little batch for them, processing a half a portabello mushroom and adding that to the mix. The rest of the batch I used a ton of crabmeat, 18 oz, for some really crabby cakes. ahah. Mix it in and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, whatever, to taste. I love using pink himalayan sea salt, cracked black pepper, white pepper, love it!
6. Roll into balls of a size you would like to eat. For appetizer portions, I like to do a meatball size. Entrees, 2, 2.5 meatballs mushed into one. I roll the balls in panko bread crumbs and either store them to be cooked later on, or place them on a cookie sheet with tinfoil.
   
   
7. Bake those biddies for 12 minutes at 425 or until the panko bread crumbs are browning.
8. Drizzle with red pepper aioli and SERVE! I love a sprout and spinach garnish.

~ 25 appetizer crab cakes, or ~ 12 entree crab cakes.

UPDATE: I tried making crab cakes again for my family a few days later. I nixed the parm cheeze and used about half the bread crumbs. I added a little parsley and a scoop of mayonaisse. They were delicious... Wayyy better! But if you were gonna stick with the portobello, I would keep the same amount of bread crumbs and cheeze, add parsley, no mayo. muah.

quadruple death baked mac & cheeze

just screwing around in the kitchen. i couldn't take pictures faster than my roommates were eating it, sorry for the lack of aesthetic appeal ;)

medium shell size pasta
small shell size pasta
6 servings total

milk - i've used both rice milk and whole milk and they've suited me fine.
1 1/4 cup

5 tblsp butter (unsalted is better)

cheeeeeeze: handful of gorgonzola crumbles, lotsa gruyere, white cheddar, sprinkle o feta, lil bit o mozarella. Mozarella kind of gives it a lumpy texture after it sits for a bit. if that's not your thang, substitute for more cheddar.

trader joes party crackers or ritz crackers. any buttery white flour based cracker.


cook pasta to an al dente. strain.

melt 1 tblsp of butter and mash up some crackers. 12 ish crackers. mix with butter.

in a little saucepan, bring a cup of milk and 4 tblsp of butter to a simmer. slowly add gorgonzola, cheddar and gruyere. add the mozarella and sprinkle of feta last. stir until the texture is something like gak meets water. add spots of milk as necessary.

turn on your broiler and have a oven safe bowl type object ready for use.

add cheeze sauce to pasta over low heat. stir in 1/4 cup of milk quickly, but don't mix it in too well. transfer to oven safe bowl. top it with butter crushed cracker mix and broil it for a good 3 minutes.

let it sit for a few and serve and enjoy. and then go to the gym.