Baked crab cakes

Description

There are many ways to cook a crab in Maryland. Soups, salads, breakfast dishes and tasty main courses are made with crab, but crab cakes are probably the best known dish of all Maryland. The problem is that there are more than one recipe and it is difficult to choose.

Ingredients

1⁄2  
pepper, chopped
1⁄2 t
salt
1⁄2 t
pepper
2 t
olive oil
2⁄3 c
bread crumbs
1 pn
paprika
3 T
mayonnaise
4  
scallions (washed and sliced)
2 T
red pepper (roasted and sliced)
1 T
parsley (finely chopped fresh parsley)
1 lb
crab (crab meat, cooked and flaked)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Rub butter in a 9-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over a medium heat. Sauté scallions and chopped green peppers for 2-3 minutes. Add roasted peppers and cook until green peppers are soft and scallions translucent.
  3. Place paprika, parsley and bread crumbs in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Place 1 Tbs of seasoned bread crumbs into a large bowl and set the rest aside.
  4. Add sautéed scallions and peppers together with the crab meat to the 1 Tbs seasoned bread crumbs. Pour in the mayonnaise and stir to mix.
  5. Form into 4 cakes. Coat the cakes on all sides with the reserved seasoned bread crumbs.
  6. Place cakes on the coated baking pan and bake on the center rack for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
  7. Remove from oven and serve.

Notes

  • Get a live crab and cook it in plenty of boiling salted water or order a crab already cooked from the fish counter at the grocery store. Pick the meat, including the claws, and discard the shell.
  • If you use canned crab meat, don't forget to check for shell pieces as they get sometimes mixed with the lumps of meat.

Serve crab cakes with rice and a salad, or use them to make a crab sandwich, Baltimore style.