Easy Weeknight Dinner: Crab Cakes

This is a little bit of a summery dish, but sometimes in the middle of the cold winter something light and (semi) fresh is just what the doctor ordered. These crab cakes are actually really easy to make. Even using the canned crab they still taste amazing. The seafood selection is not anything to brag about here in Lubbock, but they do have fresh? crab. It's just easier and a huge time saver to buy the canned lump meat. And like I said it taste good. BUTTTTT of course my motto is fresh is best so it's up to you.

I like to serve these with a salad. I usually just use romaine, green onion, feta, yellow tomatoes, a little salt and pepper and Brianna's Real French Vinaigrette dressing. Let's side bar about that for just a second. My aunt Nancy introduced me to Brianna's. I have tried a couple different ones and I love them all, but the Real French Vinaigrette is her best in my opinion. It's light and delicious and so far out of all the salad's I've made is everyone's favorite dressing. I literally could eat this salad every single day. Annndddd maybe I do, so shoot me :)

Ok but back to the crab cakes. They only take about 20-30 minutes total time in the kitchen, which is awesome!! Especially when there is a ton going on. That kind of time frame makes it so no one has any excuse to heat up a frozen dinner anymore. And 1 serving of this recipe is only 4 weight watcher points!!!!!

Give them a try, you won't be disappointed. And it's SO EASY! They only look hard to make, It's basically just mixing everything together forming little patties and pan frying. It doesn't get too much easier than that.

Crab Cakes

16 oz. "fresh" lump crabmeat, drained

4 large lemons

4 oz. diced pimiento, drained

2 green onions chopped

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (less WW points if you use the light kind!)

1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

2 tsp. Dijon Mustard

1 cup pank bread crumbs

Canola Oil

Step 1: Forge through the crabmeat and make sure that no pieces of the shell got left behind. It's not that big of a deal if you miss one though

Step 2: Zest the lemons and cut them in half. Juice the lemons so you get 1/4 of a cup, but I just squeeze them right into the mixing bowl. It's up to you! Stir together zest, juice, pimento, onions, egg, mayonnaise, old bay, and mustard. Stir until everything is mixed together completely. Begin mixing in the crab and half of the bread crumbs.

Step 3: Gently form patties from the mixture. You can make them as big or as small as you like, but make sure they are firmly packed so they don't fall apart in the pan. Right before you are ready to put them in the pan coat the patties in the remaining breadcrumbs (you might need a little extra panko for this)

Step 4: The recipe said to cook them in 2 Tbsp. of hot oil in a non stick skillet. I personally think they cook better if you use more oil than that. I make sure the entire pan is covered in the oil and is about an 1/8 of an inch thick. This will mean you may have to drain the pan because any panko that falls off will start to burn. I just think the extra oil makes them cook faster and more evenly without burning, but that's just my experience with them. Cook for 2 minutes on each side or until they turn golden brown in color (you can pretty much eyeball this - does it look cooked? Then it probably is!) 

Step 5: Drain the Crab cakes on a paper towel to get off the extra grease. 

Serve them with lemon wedges and you are done!!!

Hope you enjoy! <3 tan tan