Crab Cakes With Chardonnay Cream Sauce

Submitted by Cream Puff

"The secret to the crisp coating in this recipe? Crushed potato chips! This recipe is from Bon Appetit and is my favorite crab cake recipe."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Yields: 16 crab cakes
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 3⁄4 cups Chardonnay wine or 1 3/4 cups other dry white wine
• 1⁄3 cup chopped leeks or 1/3 cup green onion
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1⁄2 lbs crabmeat, drained (may used canned)
• 2 1⁄2 cups potato chips, crushed fine
• 1 1⁄4 cups fresh breadcrumbs, made from French bread
• 1 (7 1/4 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 1⁄2 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1⁄4 cup canola oil or 1/4 cup olive oil, using more if necessary
• salt & pepper

directions

1. Boil wine and leeks (or green onions) in heavy, medium saucepan until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 10 minutes). Reduce heat and add cream; simmer until liquid is reduced to sauce consistency (about 10 minutes). Season to taste with salt & pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
2. In large bowl, mix crabmeat, 1/2 cup crushed potato chips, bread crumbs and next 7 ingredients until well blended. Using 1/4 cupful of crabmeat for each cake, form mixture into 16 (2-1/2 inch diameter) cakes. Place remaining potato chips in shallow dish. Press each cake into chips, turning to coat evenly.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add crab cakes to skillet and cook until golden brown and heated through, adding more oil as necessary, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer crab cakes to paper towel lined plate to drain.
4. How to plate: Place 2 crab cakes on each plate; spoon sauce around crab cakes and then serve immediately.
5. NOTE: You can prepare the crab mixture and form the crab cakes, and make the sauce, 6 hours ahead. Cover sauce and crab cakes separately and refrigerate. Re-warm sauce and fry crab cakes just before serving.

Reviews

[Patsy M.]

Cakes would not hold together, added more mayo and 1 more egg worked out fine and tasted just as good.

 

[DianaEatingRichly]

The crab cakes themselves were just okay. I had to add another egg to keep them together. But the cream sauce was wonderful!

 

[Lavender1638Fawn]

I don't recommend making the sauce first & keeping it warm, unsure how for that length of time. Not only do you have to make the mix & shape patties (with varying degrees of difficulty) you then have to fry them in at least 2 batches for 5mins per side. That sauce will evaporate/thicken. There are dedicated sauce pots with a paddle but pushing 30mins is still a long time to wait. I read the reviews of the moulding difficulty. When I got to the difficult stage, I used metal rings that Chef's use to make tidy portions of foods on baking trays, then froze them (they don't need to be completely flat); I expect the fridge would have worked but I wanted them to firm quickly. I removed them to fry with a fish-slice in hot oil & they didn't fall apart. Served with mash potato, broccoli, carrots & peas.

 

[duckroadmama]

I tried this recipe and put all the ingredients in to a tea! The sauce turned out great. I had so much trouble trying to mold the mixture into patties so I have to say that something is missing from the recipe. More mayonnaise? I didn't have time to FIX the recipe so I had to settle for NOT frying the mixture and just bringing it with romaine lettuce leaves and called it Crab Cake Lettuce Wraps. It tasted wonderful, BUT that wasn't what it was supposed to be. I'd like to know how the one review by Cream Puff managed to make these work!!?

 

[NorthwestGal]

The Chardonnay Cream Sauce was the highlight of this dish. The crab cakes were OK (though for my own personal preference, I would reduce the amount of roasted red peppers next time). But the sauce really contributed a lot of flavor and brought the whole dish together into a wonderful light meal. I served them with extra potato chips and fresh lemonade. Thanks, Cream Puff.