A Special Dinner for Your Honey!

I ‘m pretty sure the Lord knew what he was doing when he made me a southern girl who lives for most of the year in a comfortable and temperate climate. Because when the weather turns to this

(And yes, Kathleen of Cuisine Kathleen—we call this snow—even THIS is snow to us :) Check out her lively and beautiful posts here. But back to my original thought—when the weather turns to this, my thoughts turn to this

My mind turns to warmer places, cookbooks, new recipes, food, eating, and pants with elastic waistbands—”buffet pants” as we call them :) A couple of weekends ago, I called Beloved and told him to stop and pick up some crabmeat at Sam’s or Costco on his way home. Both places carry incredibly good and affordable lump crabmeat and I had a plan .

I have been told that for a land-locked girl, I make a mean crab cake :) I have been making this recipe and the accompanying sauce for years. The recipe comes from Come On In a Jackson, MS Junior League cookbook. I almost always “tweak” a recipe, but this one is perfect just as it is printed!

I love that the the crab cake is almost pure—not a lot of filler—just enough to keep it on the fork long enough to get it into your mouth.

Yvonne, over at Stonegable, reminded me that I had also been craving artichokes. She has a great tutorial on how to cook and eat them here. I never have any trouble with the "eating" part :)

The beginnings of Shrimp Portofino—a dish of shrimp, pasta, and spinach in a heavenly sauce. You can find that recipe here.

Wouldn’t this make a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner for YOUR beloved?

Crab Cakes Dijon

1/2 cup vegetable oil, divided

1 tablespoon chopped green pepper

4 tablespoons chopped green onion

1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, picked

1 large egg, beaten

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

6 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Saute pepper and onion in 2 tablspoons oil until wilted. Drain and mix with remaining ingredients. Chill mixture 20 minutes. Form into flat cakes—about 6 medium or 8 small. Chill about 15 minutes. Saute’ in remaining oil until golden brown, 5-8 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Serve with Dijon Sauce.

DON’T SKIP THE SAUCE!!! This is absolutely one of the best and is also good on boiled shrimp.

Dijon Sauce

1/2 plain yogurt

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon chopped onion

2 tablespoons dill relish

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Whisk together and server at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Thanks for stopping by! Please take time to say hello! I so very much love hearing from you. Come back tomorrow for dessert---you knew I’d have one :) I am linking to our friend Michael Lee West for Foodie Friday. Click on her button on the sidebar to join the party on Friday! Thanks~~Susan