Read Online The Minimalist Cooks Dinner by Mark Bittman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Mark Bittman
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often means putting the least into them. When you start loading crabcakes up with white bread, corn, curry, and complicated sauces, you might be making them different, but you’re not making them better.
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons flour, plus flour for dredging
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
Lemon wedges
Gently combine the crabmeat, egg, mustard, if using, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons flour. Cover and put in the freezer for 5 minutes. Shape the mixture into four hamburger-shaped patties. Line a plate with plastic wrap and put the crabcakes on it. Cover with more plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes (longer—up to a day—if you like) or freeze for 15 minutes.
Put the flour for dredging in a bowl. Pour the oil into a 12-inch skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, gently dredge one of the crabcakes in the flour. Gently tap off the excess flour and add the crabcake to the pan; repeat with the remaining crabcakes, then turn the heat to medium-high.
Cook, rotating the cakes in the pan as necessary to brown the first side, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, which will take slightly less time. Serve hot, with lemon wedges.
WINE
A lesser Cabernet or Bordeaux, Pinot Noir, or lighter wine from southern France
SERVE WITH
Simple Green Salad or salad with whatever sauce you are serving with the crabcakes (thinned a bit, if necessary, to use as salad dressing), or Tomato Salad with Basil
Keys To SUCCESS
START WITH picked lump or claw crabmeat, the biggest pieces from the body or claw. Mix gently so that some pieces retain their form, giving the crabcake a variety of textures.
PICKED CRABMEAT freezes fairly well; if you’re unable to cook it immediately throw it in the freezer for a few days. The quality of the thawed meat, at least when the crab is used in crabcakes, is nearly perfect.
IT’S BEST to chill the mix before shaping but, more important, it’s essential to chill it for a half-hour or so (longer is even better) before cooking it. When cold, the cakes will hold together through cooking and, once the egg does its work, they will retain their shape—barely—until attacked with a fork.
With MINIMAL Effort
Crabby Crabcakes with Tartar Sauce: Combine 1 cup mayonnaise (preferably homemade) with ¼ cup minced cornichons or other pickles, 2 tablespoons minced shallots, and horseradish to taste. Serve with the crabcakes.
Crabby Crabcakes with Aioli: Combine 1 cup mayonnaise (preferably homemade) with 1 teaspoon finely minced raw garlic and a pinch saffron. Let rest for an hour or so before serving with crabcakes.
Crunchier Crabcakes: Add ½ cup or so of minced bell pepper (a combination of colors is nice) and/or some minced shallots or onions to the crabcake mix.
| In place of the olive oil, use ¼ cup (½ stick) butter mixed with 2 tablespoons neutral oil. Heat until the butter foam subsides and then cook as above.
Southeast Asian Shrimp
and Grapefruit Salad
TIME: 30 minutes
MAKES: 4 servings
Although lime is by far the most commonly used citrus fruit in Thai and other Southeast Asian cooking, grapefruit and its close relative, the pomelo, are often found in savory dishes, especially cool salads. And why not? Grapefruit adds distinctive flavor, unusual texture, and an impressive amount of juice. This is a nearly traditional salad in which the grapefruit plays a leading role, complementing the mild shrimp and allowing you to make an almost ridiculously easy dressing, comprising nothing more than nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy, lime, a bit of sugar, and some water.
1 to 1½ pounds unshelled shrimp
Salt
3 tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar Juice of 2 limes
6 cups torn lettuce or mesclun, washed and dried
2 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned, tough white pith removed, each section cut in
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons flour, plus flour for dredging
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
Lemon wedges
Gently combine the crabmeat, egg, mustard, if using, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons flour. Cover and put in the freezer for 5 minutes. Shape the mixture into four hamburger-shaped patties. Line a plate with plastic wrap and put the crabcakes on it. Cover with more plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes (longer—up to a day—if you like) or freeze for 15 minutes.
Put the flour for dredging in a bowl. Pour the oil into a 12-inch skillet and turn the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, gently dredge one of the crabcakes in the flour. Gently tap off the excess flour and add the crabcake to the pan; repeat with the remaining crabcakes, then turn the heat to medium-high.
Cook, rotating the cakes in the pan as necessary to brown the first side, 5 to 8 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, which will take slightly less time. Serve hot, with lemon wedges.
WINE
A lesser Cabernet or Bordeaux, Pinot Noir, or lighter wine from southern France
SERVE WITH
Simple Green Salad or salad with whatever sauce you are serving with the crabcakes (thinned a bit, if necessary, to use as salad dressing), or Tomato Salad with Basil
Keys To SUCCESS
START WITH picked lump or claw crabmeat, the biggest pieces from the body or claw. Mix gently so that some pieces retain their form, giving the crabcake a variety of textures.
PICKED CRABMEAT freezes fairly well; if you’re unable to cook it immediately throw it in the freezer for a few days. The quality of the thawed meat, at least when the crab is used in crabcakes, is nearly perfect.
IT’S BEST to chill the mix before shaping but, more important, it’s essential to chill it for a half-hour or so (longer is even better) before cooking it. When cold, the cakes will hold together through cooking and, once the egg does its work, they will retain their shape—barely—until attacked with a fork.
With MINIMAL Effort
Crabby Crabcakes with Tartar Sauce: Combine 1 cup mayonnaise (preferably homemade) with ¼ cup minced cornichons or other pickles, 2 tablespoons minced shallots, and horseradish to taste. Serve with the crabcakes.
Crabby Crabcakes with Aioli: Combine 1 cup mayonnaise (preferably homemade) with 1 teaspoon finely minced raw garlic and a pinch saffron. Let rest for an hour or so before serving with crabcakes.
Crunchier Crabcakes: Add ½ cup or so of minced bell pepper (a combination of colors is nice) and/or some minced shallots or onions to the crabcake mix.
| In place of the olive oil, use ¼ cup (½ stick) butter mixed with 2 tablespoons neutral oil. Heat until the butter foam subsides and then cook as above.
Southeast Asian Shrimp
and Grapefruit Salad
TIME: 30 minutes
MAKES: 4 servings
Although lime is by far the most commonly used citrus fruit in Thai and other Southeast Asian cooking, grapefruit and its close relative, the pomelo, are often found in savory dishes, especially cool salads. And why not? Grapefruit adds distinctive flavor, unusual texture, and an impressive amount of juice. This is a nearly traditional salad in which the grapefruit plays a leading role, complementing the mild shrimp and allowing you to make an almost ridiculously easy dressing, comprising nothing more than nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy, lime, a bit of sugar, and some water.
1 to 1½ pounds unshelled shrimp
Salt
3 tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce) or soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar Juice of 2 limes
6 cups torn lettuce or mesclun, washed and dried
2 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned, tough white pith removed, each section cut in
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