Thursday, February 3, 2011

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

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(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

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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 .

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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!

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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.

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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 :)

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

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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

13 comments:

  1. Oh, Susan! This looks truly divine! Thanks for this recipe, and I hope your weather improves. I don't want to tell you how warm it is here, but it is raining. I had the AC on yesterday. Now, come summer, you can tell me how much nicer it is there. ;-)

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  2. Mr. P would love this, as soon as I can get out I'll pick up the goodies and put this together for him. Thanks for sharing the recipe..
    hugs ~lynne~

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  3. That looks and sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
    I have had my fill of this miserable weather, and "they" are saying chance of snow tomorrow evening and Mon. night.
    Stay warm !

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  4. I'll take your kind of snow any day!
    Snow less is fine with me! But really Susan, that's a sneeze of snow you are showing! :)
    The crab cakes look delicious!
    What a lovely dinner!

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  5. I LOVE crab cakes and order them whenever I can at restaurants. The recipe I was using was terrible...they kept falling apart as I cooked them, I'll definitely give this one a try...they look delicious, so does the sauce!

    XO,
    Janie

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  6. Yummy - so delicious! I know what you mean about the weather here in MS. Just got back from Wally World (it was packed)! Bread & Milk going like hot cakes - and school has already let out and we only have a few grains of sleet.
    Your crab cakes look delicious! I will be ear-marking this page.

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  7. Well now, that looks great! I haven't had a crab cake in years-gotta fix that:@)

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  8. Now THOSE are crab-cakes! But where at costco is the lump crab? I don't think I have run across it before? Help?

    ~Rainey~
    http://theprojecttable.blogspot.com

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  9. Susan, you are such a gormet cook. This dinner looks like something I'd be served in a fine restaurant! Thank you for the recipe. I'm so glad we weren't hit by this last snow storm, but we may get some tomorrow. Stay warm. Hugs, laurie

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  10. Buffet Pants - LOL.

    I'm coming to your house the next time it snows!!

    :)
    ButterYum

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  11. Wow Really Special Dinner and good location . very beautiful your post and good information special dinner . wonderful your recipe. thanks for most info shared .

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  12. i have been out and about in blogland for several years and had yet to have seen anyone cook artichokes...
    10 stars for you Susan ~!!!

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