Crab Cakes with Fennel Remoulade

Every so often I decide that my stack of food magazines is getting out of control and I sit down (snacks on hand) to flick through them, tearing out any interesting recipes as I go. The scraps are then pasted into a sketchbook for future reference. As a general rule, I will only tear out something that strikes me as innovative or inspirational in some way, but this recipe, although nothing new, just grabbed me as a perfect starter for Wednesday night’s 3-course dinner.
I am always a bit reluctant to eat crab any other way than with thin brown toast and a little good mayonnaise and salad but I gave these cakes a whirl as the recipe is so simple that the flavour of the crab seemed sure to sing through – and it did, as did the texture. So here is the recipe, along with the remoulade, which is adapted from Olive magazine.
Crab cakes with Fennel Remoulade
250g cooked white crabmeat
1.5 tablespoons good mayonnaise
1.5 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
1 egg, beaten
3 spring onions, chopped finely
Fresh breadcrumbs
A good knob of butter
For the remoulade
One bulb of fennel, finely sliced
1 small onion or 2 shallots, finely sliced
A small handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tablespoons good mayonnaise
1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
1 dessert spoon caper berries, chopped
1 tablespoon cornichons, chopped
Juice of 1/2 large lemon
- Mix together the crab meat, mayonnaise, spring onion and parsley.
- Form into 6 cakes and dip into the egg followed by the crumbs. Allow to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
- Mix all the remoulade ingredients together and set aside.
- Fry the crab cakes in butter for around 2 minutes each side until golden brown.