Crab Cakes and Homemade Tartar Sauce

Wednesday night I stopped by my FAVORITE new market, Fish City Market, in Wethersfield. It's on the same street that I work on, just down the road and on the way home. I have to force myself not to stop here everyday. They have a case with all sorts of lovely fresh fish, scallops, lobsters. There is a case with whole, glassy-eyed fish and one with all sorts of mussels and clams and oysters. It's WONDERFUL. But it's expensive. So only about once or twice a month, I stop for a new seafood treat. Wednesday was that day.

When you walk in, it doesn't smell like fish. It smells like a peaceful ocean. But the atmosphere is all hustle and bustle. (At least the times I go - coupon days!) You grab a number and start "case shopping"' as you wait. I feel a lot more freedom to try new recipes, because I know everything is fresh and even if I mess up the taste, I won't make us deathly ill. What to choose, what to choose.....there are shrimp of every size...HUGE shrimp (so big they must be for stuffing) and lobsters both alive and already steamed.....there's gorgeous salmon and sea bass and cod. If you've seen it on Food Network, it's probably here and just as good looking. Ina would be proud. I decided on crab for crab cakes. They were out of fresh meat by the pound so I opted for the pasteurized crab meat. Still big, juicy lump of crab. Delicious! (Note: This is not your average grovcery store canned crab on the tuna fish isle.)

Here how I put my crab cakes together: In a bowl, I mixed up 2 tablespoons or so of mayo and 1 tablespoon or so of dijon mustard. (It was a generous tablespoon, maybe closer to two.) I added a beaten egg, 8-10 crushed crackers and a dash of Worcestershire. I sprinkled in some Old Bay and Emeril creole seasoning, lemon zest from half a lemon, then the juice, a handful of chopped parsley. I added black pepper, but skipped the salt because it was in the creole mix. (I think if I did it again, I'd add a little of a very small-diced sauteed onion, celery and red bell pepper.) I folded in 1lb of the yummiest crab around. That's the star. And I put it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. I formed them into patties and pan fried them in butter for 4-5 minutes on each side until they had a beautiful crunchy brown crust. They were delicious!

I served them with lemon wedges and a homemade tarter sauce. I looked up several recipes on the internet and then made up my own from the parts I liked best from each version. I used a Chobani Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt as the base (Next time I think I will drain it over cheesecloth first or buy a "drier/firmer" yogurt, but the yogurt worked well. It felt like a guilty pleasure, but it was much better than the straight mayo version.) I added 2 tablespoons of mayo. I mean, you gotta have some right? Then I added a handful of fresh dill, a couple spoonfuls of minced capers, three spoonfuls dill relish (next time I'll cut it down to two), a little dijon, a dash of Worcestershire, lemon juice from the other half of the lemon, salt and pepper. This sat in the fridge for a half hour or so as well. If I did it again, I'd give it a full hour to overnight. I image the flavors just get better over time. Not being a huge fan of dill and despising all vinegar/salt condiments like mustard, capers and pickles, this was not David's favorite. But even he said it was "ok" and worked with the crab cakes. If he ate it, a real tartar sauce lover would like it! I thought it was delicious!

I would absolutely make this again.....the only draw back is, I would have a hard time going back to Fish City Market and buying this crab again when there are SO MANY other things I can't wait to try. I am gearing up for that whole fish. I REALLY want to try it. I'm just still a little scared. I'll have to work on my courage for that one.....giant stuffed shrimp? That sounds like What's For Dinner soon!