Recipe - Crab Cake Piccata (Pepper-Caper-Orange Sauce)

1/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup 1% lowfat milk, or nfdm,
sub.
1 md Egg
One fourth teaspoon Fresh thyme, chopped
1 pn Dried thyme
2 tablespoon Green onion and tops, minced
1 teaspoon Fresh parsley, chopped
3 dr Tabasco sauce, red
Salt and pepper

CAKES
6 ounce Imitation king crabmeat
One half teaspoon Doubleacting baking powder

SAUCE
One half cup Mandarin orange liquid, or
fresh orange juice
One half cup Hot water
1 pack Vegetable bouillon, or less
1 pn Red pepper flakes
1 Teapoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon Orange zest
2 teaspoon Capers
One fourth cup Bell pepper strips, 3color
Oil or spray oil for frying
Salt and pepper

STEP #1 BATTER In a big bowl, whisk together the flour and the milk until
very smooth. Add egg and whisk well. Add thyme (fresh and dried), green
onion, fresh parsley, and tabasco. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Mix well and set aside. NOTE The crab and the baking powder are added
just before frying.

STEP #2 SAUCE INGREDIENTS Using a pyrex 2cup measure, add One half cup juice
from Mandarin oranges (or substitute sweet orange juice, or tangarine
juice). Add equal One half cup hot water. Add bouillon, red pepper flakes,
cornstarch, orange zest or grated orange rind, and capers.

STEP #3 CRAB CAKES Preheat oven to 300oF. Near the time to cook the
cakes, coarsely chop the crabmeat. Using a nonmetal spoon, add the
baking powder to the batter; add crab meat. Heat a skillet large enough
to hold 4 cakes to mediumhigh temperature. Brush the pan with a little
extra virgin olive oil or use spray. Ladle 4 patties onto the hot pan.
Brown gently for about 2 minutes per side; making sure egg is cooked.
Transfer cakes to a plate and keep warm in oven while you make the sauce.

STEP # 4 COOK THE SAUCE Add a little oil to skillet and soften the bell
peppers. Add the sauce ingredients, stirring again to redissolve the
cornstarch. Cook over medium heat to thicken. Taste. Add salt and pepper, a
little more orange juice or zest (to taste). Serve (pour sauce directly on
top of cakes).

NOTEs Frozen pepper strips should be thawed and toweldried. Crab
should be at room temperature before adding to batter. The Sauce is similar
to Stouffer's Chicken Piccata, Cafe series. Ref: "Crab Cakes...." by Emile
Labrousse of Nob Hill, printed in MasterCook's Famous American Chefs file.
also John Ash of Marin, Eatting Right. This recipe used to be called
"Crab Cakes with Sweet Peppers & Caper Sauce II"

Menu: Warm Fennel Salad and Mardarin Oranges (April 96) Menu: Rice and
Asparagus Almondine (May 96)

per pattie est MC: 395 cals with 6.7% cff (3 g fat)

Recipe by: adapted from Labrousse; Ash. Posted to Kitmailbox Digest by PATh
phannema@wizard.ucr.edu on Mar 06, 1997