Crab Cakes

When you’re trying to cut back on calories and fat or are counting Points, you need to get a little creative with your food sometimes.  So when I got the craving for crab cakes, oh say 4 weeks ago, I dismissed the craving because frying stuff is pretty much out of the question.  However, when my dear friend down in Maryland sent me her coveted crab cake recipe and it involved broiling the cakes rather than frying them, I was all in.  Unfortuntely, when I actually decided to make the cakes, I didn’t have all of the ingredients for that recipe in my house…so I found another.

I made a couple of adjustments to the linked recipe (see my adjusted recipe below) but overall I really liked them. I used regular mayo because I was nervous about how lowfat mayo would work in the cakes but you could definitely give it a shot to even further lower the calories/fat/Points.  Of course, they weren’t quite the same since they weren’t fried but they certainly [almost] guilt-free.  Instead of pairing them with a starchy side like french fries or a baked potato, I set them atop a leafy green salad so my WW Points for dinner only came from the crab cakes and I was totally satisfied with the meal.

Crab Cakes

adapted from: Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, page 44

Weight Watcher Points = 8 for 2 crab cakes

• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup small diced yellow onion (1 small onion)
• 1 1/2 cups small diced celery (4 stalks)
• 1/2 cup small diced red bell pepper (1 small pepper)
• 1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons crab boil seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound lump crabmeat, drained and picked to remove shells
• 1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup good mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1. Place the 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons oil, onion, celery, red bell peppers, parsley, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, crab boil seasoning, salt, and pepper in a large saute pan over medium-low heat and cook until the vegetables are soft, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, break the lump crabmeat into small pieces and toss with the bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, and eggs. Add the cooked mixture and mix well. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Shape into 9 crab cakes. Place the crab cakes on a baking sheet.
2. Set the oven the broil and raise the top rack to 6-8 inches below the broiler unit. Once the broiler is hot, broil the crab cakes for 5 minutes.  Flip cakes over and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until nicely browned. Serve hot.