Recipe Saturday - Crab Cakes!

Hi All,
I don't know if you all are aware of this, but I'm a Caterer. Food is my other passion, and I love what I do. While I was sitting here planning a engagement party menu, I was thinking... How cool would it be to share some of my favorite recipes with my readers. Soo.. I'm making Crab cakes as an entree for the party, and I thought I would share the recipe with you. I was given this recipe by a friend two years ago, when I was looking for a crab cake recipe. I changed a few ingredients, and added a lemon dill sauce (courtesy of Paula Dean). The party I was catering at the time was a little sophisticated, and the lemon dill sauce was a big hit. If you choose to make this recipe, you could leave the lemon dill sauce out, and they will still be wonderful. So here is the recipe, I hope you like it.

Crab Cakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

Ingredients

Lemon Dill Sauce:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

Crab Cakes:

3 tablespoons butter

1 green onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

Cayenne pepper

1 cup bread crumbs (Panko are best)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 pound white or claw crab meat, picked free of any bits of shell

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

To make the sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Refrigerate until chilled. The sauce will thicken as it chills.

To prepare the crab cakes, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, bell pepper, and garlic until the pepper is limp, approximately 3 minutes. Add the cream, mustard, 1 egg, parsley, cayenne pepper and 1/2 cup bread crumbs, to taste, and mix well. Gently fold in the crab meat.

Form the mixture into 8 patties, about 1/2-inch thick. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of bread crumbs with the Parmesan. Pat this topping onto both sides of the patties. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Using a skillet, combine the oil and remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Saute the crab cakes in the hot oil-butter mixture for approximately 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. These crab cakes can also be baked for 7 to 10 minutes in a 400 degree F oven.

To serve, spoon a dollop of the lemon dill sauce along side each crab cake.

Enjoy!!