Bembridge Crab Cakes

With a peppery spring salad and chilli mayonnaise

The Coast Bar and Dining Room

By Luke Staples, Head Chef

We love these crab cakes, and this recipe is always worth having up your sleeve. Great as a starter or light supper, these can also be served as warm canapés.

Ingredients

For the crab cakes

3 – 4 Baking potatoes

20g Butter

4 Shallots, peeled & finely diced

2 Garlic cloves, crushed

450g 50/50 Crab meat (you can buy this already dressed from your local fishmongers)

Grated zest of a lemon

2tbsp Chopped chives

1tbsp Chopped tarragon

4 Egg yolks

80g Plain flour

3 Eggs lightly beaten

100g White breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper to season

Vegetable oil, enough for deep or shallow frying

For the chilli mayonnaise

300g Good quality mayonnaise

1 Red chilli, deseeded and finely diced

Pinch of smoked paprika

Juice of ½ a lemon

For the spring salad

1 Cucumber

1 Bunch of spring radishes

½ Bunch of spring onions

1 Bunch of watercress

Method

1. Bake the potatoes in a preheated oven at 180°c for 1 hour. Scrape out the flesh and weigh it, you need about 400g. Put the flesh of the potatoes in a bowl and mash them with a fork.
2. Heat the butter in a pan, add the diced shallots and cook gently for 2-3 minutes until soft but not coloured. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and leave it to cool.
3. Once cooled mix in the crab meat, mashed potato, herbs, lemon zest and egg yolks. Season the mixture with salt & pepper.
4. Divide into 12 balls. Roll the balls in the flour, dip them into the egg wash, and then roll them in breadcrumbs.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°c. Heat the oil to 180°c in a deep fat fryer or a large pan. Add the crab cakes and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Transfer them into the preheated oven and cook for a further 4 to 8 minutes until heated right through.
6. To make the chilli mayonnaise; mix together the mayonnaise, paprika, lemon juice and the chillies.
7. For the spring salad; wash the vegetables then shave the cucumber with a vegetable peeler (do not use the soft part of the cucumber), slice the radishes & spring onions, mix with watercress and dress with olive oil (optional).

Tip – It’s great to have a mixture of white and the brown crab meat – the white meat gives you texture and sweetness and you get good attitude and a nice roundness of flavour from the brown.