Saturday, October 18, 2014

Crab Cakes #Recipe for #Cat Week--and a #Haiku @LucyBurdette

 


 CAT HAIKU by Lucy Burdette, in honor of Yoda on Cat Week!

White whiskers on gray
Purr box sputtering to life
What else but Cat Week



LUCY BURDETTE: You might reasonably ask, what the heck is Cat Week? And why is it happening at Mystery Lovers Kitchen? 

Cats are smart and secretive and mysterious and quiet stalkers--and yet so adorable that we forgive them anything. And so they go together with cozies like butter with hot biscuits, or chocolate cake with cold milk, or fresh tomatoes with basil and olive oil… You get the picture!

I've had a cat in my life ever since the year I turned 13. I was desperate for a date with Mickey Dolenz for my birthday, but my mother was smart enough to give me a kitten instead. (Yoda, seen above doing his best trick, is our current feline denizen.) All my fictional characters have had cats too--Cassie had Cashbox, and Dr. Rebecca Butterman had Spencer, and Hayley has Evinrude, of course!
Evinrude posing for DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS


We're each putting our own special spin on Cat Week, but to my mind this theme cried out for a fishy recipe. Yoda the cat loves tuna fish, so I thought he would love crab meat too. And that would give me the chance to snap a photo of him eating daintily from a treasured crystal goblet that belonged to my mother. Right?

 

Wrong. 

He's a cat after all, so this is the closest he came to posing.

 

 Now on to the recipe...










Yoda's Crab Cakes

Ingredients

One pound crab meat, picked over to remove bits of shell

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

Two scallions, finely minced

One half small hot pepper, minced

1/4 teaspoon celery salt

 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

 1/4 teaspoon red and black cracked pepper

About 4 tablespoons mayonnaise 

 One egg, well beaten

 
Mix the first seven ingredients, from crab meat to pepper. Then begin adding a tablespoon of mayonnaise at a time until the mixture seems wet enough for you. Add the beaten egg. 






Shape the crab mixture into cakes. This should make about eight. 









 
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add four crab cakes at a time. Sauté them until brown, then flip and continue to sauté the other side. 




 
Keep the first crab cakes warm while you are preparing the next four. Serve with cocktail sauce (one part horseradish to two parts ketchup) and coleslaw.

 





 Purrfectly delicious!








Lucy Burdette is the author of the Key West food critic mysteries. Murder with Ganache is in stores now.





Death with All the Trimmings will be on bookshelves December 2. Pre-order it here.


 Yoda the cat says: "Buy the darn books so she can get off my case and keep me in catnip." 
















16 comments:

  1. Lovely post, Lucy! And Yoda is very beautiful. This is a terrific kickoff to cat week. Off to share.

    We love crabcakes here and will make these - maybe even tomorrow!

    XO

    MJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Yoda thanks you MJ--he knows your little wiener dogs don't agree (his words, not mine!) The crab cakes were yummy. I made the mistake of leaving out the egg so they were a little messy--yours will be better! xo

      Delete
  2. Seconding MJ, Yoda is such a beauty and I love the purr video!! The cats we've loved really do leave paw-prints on our hearts, and I enjoyed hearing your memories. Thanks to you and Yoda for the delicious crab cakes recipe, too.

    Have a purr-fectly lovely fall weekend,

    ~ Cleo

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would love to share crabcakes with Yoda! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yoda has an excellent purr motor! So cute, Lucy! I love crab cakes. These sound delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yoda says thanks:). I love crab cakes too, though only make them for special occasions. this counted!

      Delete
  5. Love it! And the crab cakes look divine! Let's hope all our cat-loving fans share the posts! What better way to spread the word? #Catweek.

    Daryl / Avery

    ReplyDelete
  6. Much to the chagrin of Aleister, Calumet, Licorice, and Mariusz, I don't like seafood. Mariusz (who is sitting with me as I type) says to tell you he'll take any leftovers you have!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. those are some amazing names! we will definitely save our leftovers:)

      Delete
  7. Thank you. Aleister is a pure black cat who I named after Aleister Crowley. Calumet was named after the famous thoroughbred racing stable (she was born in the barn where I board my off track thoroughbred). I thought the name Licorice worked for my second black cat (who has a little white on him). Finally, the most recent addition to the family, Mariusz is named after the Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so clever with your names. we've had cats with names like Puddy Tat, Tipper, and Tigger:)

      Delete
  8. Our terrier mix would love these. She thinks that she is a cat being raised in a home with two cats Ash and Noodles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL Joyce! I would love to meet your dog and see her cat characteristics:)

      Delete