Crab Cake Appetizer and Tuscan Soup

Sometimes I crave seafood, especially things like crab legs, crab cakes, and grilled shrimp.  When you live in Iowa it is nearly impossible to get fresh seafood.  When you grow up in Iowa you eat fish sticks and fried cod at the Friday night fish fry.  I had never eaten crab or shrimp before I met my husband at the age of 19.  Shocking, I know, but that's life in small town Iowa. 

It's the dead of winter here and I'm craving crab cakes.  Now, I could go to an upscale restaurant and pay $15 for two crab cakes or I could make them myself.  I had never made them before last night and they were good.

Crab Cakes

What you will need: 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat, 1/4 cup mayo, 4 scallions(green part only), 1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning, parsley flakes, salt and pepper, 2-4 tablespoons fine bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1/2 cup flour, 6 tablespoons vegetable oil.

NOTE: I did not buy fresh crab for two reasons. 1.  It was $12.99/lb for crab legs, which you have to boil and pull the meat out. And do you think you get one pound of meat from one pound of crab legs?  I bought jumbo lump crab in a can.  I bought 2 -6oz cans, which I realize does not equal a pound. 2. I didn't want to splurge on fresh, expensive crab because this was the first time making the recipe.  What if it went horribly wrong and I spent all that $$?  The canned crab worked just fine!

Scallions, in case you don't know are green onions.  I didn't know this when I first started cooking so I thought I'd stick that little tidbit in here;)  I couldn't find Old Bay seasoning, so I used a seafood seasoning I had on hand.

Moving right along.  Open the crab meat and drain.  Put it in a medium bowl.  Gently mix in the scallions, seasoning, parsley, 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs and mayo.  Be careful not to break up the crab too much. Season with salt and pepper.  Carefully fold in the egg with a rubber spatula until the mixture clings together.  Add more crumbs is necessary.  Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. With a soup spoon, scoop up some of the mixture, form it into a cake and place on the baking sheet.  Do this for the rest of the mixture. I made 12 crab cakes.  Of course you can make them as small or large as you like.  Put the baking sheet in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
When you are ready to cook the cakes, heat the oil in a fry pan.  Put the flour in a pie plate and dredge the cakes in the flour, shaking off any excess flour.  Cook the cakes in the hot oil until both sides are browned.  When I was frying these, I had people standing around waiting to eat them so I plated them and handed them off.  You can also heat the oven to 200 degrees and keep them warm there until you have cooked them all.
I served these with mayo and sweet relish mix.

Ribollita

I received The Food Network Magazine as a Christmas gift and I am loving it!  I just got a new magazine this week so I am excited to test new recipes.  I came across Ribollita and had never heard of it before, but the picture looked good and it was a slow-cooker recipe so I thought I'd try it.  I went to the store to get everything I needed and got it all in the Crock pot and went about my day.  After a few hours as the smell started filling the house I began to think more about the soup and wondered where it came from. So, I googled Ribollita.  Turns out, it's a Tuscan peasant soup.  It is made with vegetable that aren't very expensive and dry beans.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribollita

What you will need: 3 medium carrots, 3 stalks of celery, 1/4 head small cabbage, 4 oz pancetta or bacon, 1 cup dried cannellini beans (also known as navy beans), 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, salt and pepper, slices of crusty bread, olive oil, 3 garlic cloves

Roughly chop carrots and celery. Slice the cabbage so it's in long strips, dice the bacon (I use kitchen shears to cut the bacon). Put all this and the dry beans, tomato paste in a large Crock pot. Top with seven cups of water. Cover and cook for 7-8 hours on low. Leave one slice of bread out on the counter so it can get good and dry.
Before serving, add the stale bread. Cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes.  Stir the soup well and then add the grated Parmesan and parsley.  Salt and pepper to taste. Heat three tbsp of olive oil and cook the sliced garlic cloves until brown. Swirl this in the soup.  Serve with good bread (recipe below)

I loved this soup because it was so easy. If you are a working person, it is simple to throw all this in the crock and let it cook away while you are at work.

For the bread, I bought an Italian loaf at the store. I brush the slices with olive oil, rub them with a garlic clove and top with Parmesan.  Put in a 425 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and take out when it's nice and brown.