Culinary adventure #2...Crab Cakes

Happy New Year!!  Hopefully everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the end of 2010 and all that 2011 has in store.  While many of you headed out on New Year's Eve to restaurants, bars, and parties, I for once opted to stay in.   Yes, there were plenty of options in Cleveland we could have chosen from, but  my boyfriend and I decided we would ring in 2011 by doing one of our favorite activities, cooking together.  Maybe it was the fact that both of us have been very overwhelmed between working and the holidays that we needed a night in, just us two.  As I titled this blog, I also realized that I haven't been that great at including things I cook, and I apologize for that.  For our New Year's Eve dinner, we decided on crab cakes, with twice baked potatoes and roasted asparagus with rosemary infused olive oil.  I will take no credit for the asparagus either since all I did was eat and enjoy it.

For my crab cakes, I first caramelized onions with garlic, thyme, rosemary, and basil (all fresh).  Next, I took a pound and a half of lump crab meat and mixed in breadcrumbs, 1 large egg white, a dash of mayo, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and the onion and herb mixture.  After seasoning the mixture with cracked black pepper and sea salt,   I ended up forming 5 large and one baby crab cake.

I refrigerated them for about a half hour while the potatoes and asparagus were cooking.  Meanwhile, we found a recipe for a simple garlic aioli and put our own twist on it.  If I had the link, I would have included it, but since we are both addicted to our smart phones, it is not saved in my email or recipe file.  When the potatoes were fully baked, we halved them, scooped out the insides, mixed in sour cream and cheddar, and popped them back in the oven to twice bake while the crab cakes were cooking.  I cooked the crab cakes in olive oil over medium heat, three at a time.  The first three came out PERFECTLY and I think I jinxed myself there.  The last three all fell apart and ended up looking more like crab cake hash. Finally, with about four and a half hours remaining in 2010, we sat down to enjoy this delicious meal.  It paired really well with our homemade strawberry wine too.

Overall, it was a perfect New Year's Eve proving all you really need is great food, champagne, and someone to enjoy it with.  And since we did not dress up and go out for New Year's Eve, tonight we will be dining at Michaelangelo's in Little Italy.

Until next time...follow your heart, fulfill your hunger.