Crab Cakes with Lemon Dill Sauce

 I had some kind of allergic reaction back in October when my hubby took me to the Dominican Republic. When it happened, we were eating at a seafood restaurant, so I have abstained from all seafood ever since - which was absolutely pain staking for me as seafood is my absolute favorite type of food. I finally got in to a food allergist last week and had a "scratch test" that proved I am NOT allergic to seafood - YAHOO!!

I also took my 10 year old son, who had his last scratch test at age 5 that showed he was allergic to eggs, seafood and shellfish. The test they did was much more specific and we found out that he is ONLY allergic to eggs, shrimp and salmon. We are having his blood work done next week. Anyway... seafood. Since I found out I'm not allergic, we have had sushi, salmon, and crab two ways. Seriously delicious.

I got this recipe from Paula Deen...

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

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1 pound white or claw crabmeat, picked free of any bits of shell (I got a pound of lump crab meat at Costco that was amazing!)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

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 crabmeat.

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.

*I cleaned out the skillet in between batches so the crab cakes wouldn't get any "burned" flavor from the patties that were in before them. Also, before adding the cream, mustard... I took the skillet off the heat - I was worried that the egg may scramble. Also, I formed the crab mixture into patties and set them on a cookie sheet (covered in aluminum) then topped them with the panko and parm. After they were in the refrigerator for a little over an hour, I flipped them over and coated the other side - I had a really busy day and that seemed to make things less of a mess and less time consuming for me.