One of the best parts about being on the Shore (besides lots of reading), is the cooking and eating.  During the summer months, there are so many fresh veggies that meal prep is pretty minimal.  Last week we enjoyed many laid back dinners, but one of my favorite meals involved homemade crab cakes.  I can never get crab cakes at restaurants because they’re breaded, so it’s an extra special treat for me to enjoy a summer crab cake.  We happily ate them for two dinners.  (Side note: Urban Pl8’s crab cakes are GF!)

Gillian's Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs

We bought fresh crabmeat at Edward’s Seafood in Onley.  When you buy the best crabmeat, you don’t want a lot of filler in your cakes, but you do need enough to bind it together.  I bought Gillian’s Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs at Herbal Instincts Natural Food Market in Onancock (141 Market Street).  They have an amazing selection of gluten-free goodies, including Udi’s bagels, Pamela’s cookies, quinoa as well as organic meats.  A great place for Mom and me to stock up.

Herbal Instincts Market (Onancock, VA)

I’ve written about crab cakes before but I experimented a different recipe here.  I briefly referred to Mark Bittman’s crab cake recipe, but of course I wanted to add Old Bay and didn’t particularly want to use scallions to my crab cakes so I changed it up a little bit.  Here’s what we did:

ESVA Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons Gillian’s bread crumbs
• Less than ¼ cup mayonnaise (depends on how mayo-y you want your cakes)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• s&p
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix crabmeat, egg, Old Bay, mayo, dijon, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs in a bowl.  Refrigerate mix for about 30 minutes.  Remove mixture from fridge and make into tightly packed cakes.  (About 4-6 per pound of meat, depending on how big you want them.  I find them easier to flip if they’re smaller.)

Heat nonstick pan on medium high heat.  Add butter and olive.  Let melt and butter bubble.  Once bubbling has subsided, add cakes to pan.  Cook for 5 minutes (until nicely browned) and flip, cooking for another 5 minutes.  Serve warm.

We enjoyed our crab cakes with homemade deviled eggs, fresh corn and tomatoes, both grown on our road.  A truly local meal!

Perfect.  (And obviously, there was wine too, served by our favorite bartender.)

“Crabcakes and football! That’s what Maryland does.” As a former Baltimore resident myself, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I heard this line in the great comedy, Wedding Crashers. I don’t know if I agree with the football part, but Marylanders definitely take great pride in their crab cakes, and rightfully so.  After two years of living in Maryland, David and I remain quite biased in favor of the Commonwealth of Virginia since that’s where we were born and raised.  We even tend to be a bit tough on the state of Maryland.  We do have fond memories of our first two years of marriage in Baltimore, our friends, students, favorite local spots (Nacho’s Mama’s!), and of course, crab cakes.

You probably don’t know this, but the 2006 Miss USA Pageant was actually filmed in Baltimore.  (Isn’t that exciting?)  I think David and I might have been the only people to watch the pageant at all, let alone it’s entirety.  Seeing the host, Carson Kressley (remember, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy?) prancing around Baltimore, enthusiastically shouting about all of the beautiful sights and tourist attractions was mind numbing, yet we couldn’t stop watching.  (Who knew Baltimore had so many things to see?)  While I might not be moving back to Baltimore in the near future,  to quote the 2006 Miss USA Pageant Host, Carson’s comment to co-host, Nancy O’Dell of Access Hollywood, “We’ll Always Have Baltimore.”  Yes, we’ll always have Baltimore.

Last week, Jen (a Baltimore native and avid fan of The Wire), invited David and me over for homemade crab cakes, using fresh Chesapeake Bay crab meat sent by her mom.  Since restaurant-made crab cakes contain breadcrumbs as the binder for the crab meat, I was so excited about the rare opportunity to enjoy a gluten-free crab cake, triggering Baltimore and Eastern Shore nostalgia. Jen’s family recipe calls for Saltines but she used Glutino crackers instead. Absolutely delicious. Even the gluten eaters didn’t notice a difference. I love the use of Old Bay in this recipe.  It just wouldn’t be right to not include this great seasoning spice in a Maryland crab recipe.

The Lalley’s Maryland Crab Cakes:

• 1 lb jumbo lump crab meat
• 3 T mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 t Old Bay seasoning
• 6 crumbled Glutino Crackers
• Fresh chopped parsley

Pick out any pieces of shell in crab cakes. (It wouldn’t be authentic if there wasn’t a little bit of shell. Mix all of ingredients together and mold into crab cakes.

Sautee cakes in butter on medium heat until slightly browned on both sides. You could alternatively broil them. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

We enjoyed our crab cakes with asparagus and a delicious salad made by Maury, the salad expert. Such a great spring meal!  We’ll always have Baltimore…