Recipe Spicy Basil Crab Cakes with Tomato and Courgette Concasse

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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19 Apr 2015
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Location
Maidstone, Kent, UK
These crab cakes are very easy to make and fast to cook. I used vegan basil mayonnaise but you could replace this with ready made mayo. You could also substitute green courgettes for the yellow. I served this as a starter.

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44042


Ingredients (makes 4 small cakes)
240g crab meat
2 tbsp finely chopped red chillies
4 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 tsp Thai fish sauce
6 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
2 tbsp basil mayonnaise
20 freshly chopped basil leaves, (approximately 4 tbsps)
Flour to coat
Oil to fry
For the concasse
1 or 2 yellow courgettes (depending on size)
4 medium red tomatoes
Chervil or parsley, chopped
Zest of half a lemon or lime
salt
To serve:
Annatto oil or basil oil
Slices of charred lemon or lime (I use a blow-torch)
A few green shoots

For the crab cakes:
  1. Place all the ingredients except for the flour and oil in a bowl. Mix well and squeeze the mixture together with your hands. Shape into four cakes.
  2. Shake a dusting of flour onto a plate. Carefully coat each crab cake in flour. At this point you can store the crab cakes in a covered container in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.
  3. Fry the crab cakes gently in oil for approximately 4 minutes on each side until a light golden brown.
For the concasse:
  1. Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for 10 seconds. Drain and immerse in ice cold water. The skins should now be easily removed.
  2. Remove the tomato skins. Quarter the tomatoes and remove the seeds and any white fleshy parts. Chop the tomato flesh into small dice. Set aside.
  3. Cut the courgettes into small dice. You are aiming for an approximately equal amount of courgette to tomato. Steam or microwave for a few minutes until tender. Allow to cool to room temperature.
  4. Mix together the tomatoes, courgettes and chervil or parsley and zest. Add a little salt to taste just before plating. If you add it earlier you will end up with the concasse sitting in a puddle.
To plate:
  1. Place a chef’s ring or pastry cutter of approximately the same diameter as a crab cake in the centre of the plate.
  2. Fill with the concasse and remove ring.
  3. Place a crab cake on top of the concasse and arrange the green shoots and charred lemon or lime slices around. Drizzle a little oil around the plate.
  4. Seve with basil mayonnaise in a separate bowl.

44043
 
As soon as I saw crab in the recipe title I was hooked. Blue Point crabs are indigenous and readily available. Crab cakes are on the menu of most seafood restaurants in my area. Really good once can be hard to find. Restaurants frequently use too much breadcrumb. More crumb than crab. I like your ratio of crumb to crab. As always your plate is picture perfect.
 
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