Dungeness Crab Cakes and Spicy Chipotle Mayonnaise

Recently at our Elks Lodge, we had our annual crab feed.  I purchased about 1.5 pounds of crab and made crab cakes the next day.  The basic recipe for these cakes and the mayonnaise is from Tom Douglas's great crab cake book entitled "I Love Crab Cakes!".  Enjoy.

Ingredients
Crab Cakes

• 1 large edd yolk
• 2 teas. fresh lemon juice
• 2 teas. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teas. Tabasco
• 2 TB plus 1 teas. Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 teas. paprika
• 1/2 teas. chopped fresh or dried thyme
• 1/2 teas. celery seeds
• 1/4 teas. freshy ground black pepper
• 5 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 5 cups Panko bread crumbs - mushed to make sure they are fine and not course
• 3/4 cup chopped parsely
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 pound Dungeness crabmeat, drained, picked clean of shells, and lightly squeesed if wet.
• 5 TB unsalted butter
• Optional Ingredients include:
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1.4 chopped red bell pepper

Chipotle Mayonnaise

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 2 TB fresh lemon juice
• 2 TB Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 1-1/2 TB pureed canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce ( I normally use one whole pepper and one-half of a second from the can).
• 2 teas. minced garlic 
• 1 teas. kosher salt

Procedures

Crab Cakes

• In a food preocessor or a blender, combine the egg yolk, lemon juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, mustard, paprika, thyme, celery seeds, and black pepper.  Pulse to combine.  With the motor running, slowly add the oil through the feed tube until the mixture emulsifies and forms a mayonnaisre.  Set aside.  If you are worried about making the mayonnaise, try this.
• Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco, mustard, paprika, thyme, celery seeds and black pepper to 1/3 cup of prepared mayonnaise and mix throughly and set aside.
• Put the Panko bread crumbs in a shallow container and mix in 1/2 cup of chopped Parsley (reserve the remaining 1/4 cup chopped Parsley for the crab cake mixure). See aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the onion and remaining 1/4 cup Parsley and bell peppers if used.
• Add the reserved mayonnaise and the crabmeat amd mix lightly to combine.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in 1 cup of the bread crumb-parsley mixture.  Do not overwork the mixture or the crab cakes may get gummy.  Gently form 8 patties and dredge the patties lightly in the remaining bread-crumb parsley mixture.  
• Cover the crab cakes with plastic wrap and chill for an hour or longer.
• Place 1 or 2 nonstick skillets (depends upon the size of the skillets and the size of the crab cakes to cook) over medium heat and add about 2-1/2 TB butter to each plan.  As soon as the butter is melted, add 4 cakes to each pan (or the correct number of cakes so long as the cakes do not touch each other in the pan).  Gently fry the crab cakes until they are hot through and golden brown on both sides, turning once with a spatula about 4 minutes per side.

 Chipotle Mayonnaise

• Put the mayonnaise in a small bowl
• Use a whisk to stir in the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil
• Add in the cilantro, chipotle, garlic and salt and stir to combine
• Add more lemon juice, garlic or salt to taste
• Store in refrigerator until ready to serve

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with Blue Cheese Slaw

Aaron McCargo Jr. of "Foodnetwork" fame, has published the following sandwich. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

Blue Cheese Slaw:

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 (10-ounce) package cole slaw mix
• Kosher salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Canola oil, to fry

Buffalo Chicken:

• 1/2 cup buffalo hot sauce, store-bought
• 4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken cutlets
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika, plus more for seasoning
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 4 soft club rolls, split and toasted

Procedure

• In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, crumbled blue cheese, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice until well incorporated. Add cole slaw mix and toss well. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• In a deep-fryer or heavy-bottomed pot, heat enough canola oil to come halfway up the sides of the pot, to 350 degrees F.
• Put buffalo sauce in a shallow dish and set aside. Season thechicken with smoked paprika, and salt and pepper, to taste. Put the flour, 2 tablespoons of paprika, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of pepper in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish add the egg, buttermilk, and hot sauce and whisk together. Dredge each piece of chicken in the buttermilk mixture and shake off any excess, then dredge into flour mixture. Fry until the chicken is cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes and the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on an-instant read thermometer. Dip the finished chicken in the buffalo sauce and put them on the club rolls. Top the chicken with a liberal amount of slaw and form a sandwich.