Crab cake sandwiches

Whitney loves the State Farmers Market with its wide variety of cheap produce and other local businesses, so much so that she seems to forget that we are already subscribed to receive a box of produce every week from our CSA. One day she came home with ingredients for crab cake sandwiches and we got to work making use of our large stock of perishable foods.

Everything except condiments in this meal is from local farms and businesses. We used sweet potato from our Brinkley Farms CSA to make fries; crab from Locals Seafood; cabbage (for slaw), lettuce, and tomato from various NC Farmers Market vendors; and rolls from La Farm Bakery in Cary (sourced at the NC Farmers Market).

Maryland Crab cake Sandwich Inspiration from Bryan Voltaggio & Esquire
   For 2 sandwiches
Ingredients
3 Tbsp mayonnaise, preferably Duke's 
1 tsp Old Bay
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 ½ tsp lemon juice  
1 egg
2 scallions, minced  
2 drops Tabasco sauce
pinch of fine sea salt  
1/2 lb jumbo lump crabmeat, picked of fragments
1/3 cup cracker meal for breading  
1/3 cup clarified butter*
2 buns, toasted and buttered

Directions
   In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Old Bay, Worcestershire, mustard, lemon juice, eggs, scallions, Tabasco, and sea salt. Using a wire whisk, mix the ingredients together to incorporate evenly. Add the crabmeat by thirds and fold gently with a spatula to be sure the crab does not get broken up.
   Evenly coat the bottom of a baking dish with a generous dusting of the cracker meal, about ½ cup. Use an ice-cream scoop or a similar tool to divide crabmeat mixture into six or eight individual cakes. Place each crab cake in the cracker meal and dust with the remaining cracker meal, coating all sides. In a large frying pan, slowly heat the clarified butter. Use a candy thermometer to get it to 325 degrees, or stick the end of a chopstick into the butter — when it gives off a steady stream of bubbles, you're at 325.
   Using a slotted metal or other high-heat-resistant spatula and working one at a time, place each cake into the butter, leaving a half inch between them so the crab cakes brown evenly. Cook crab cakes on both sides in the clarified butter, about 6 full minutes per side, until golden brown. (If you need to cook in multiple batches, set your oven at the lowest temperature and insert a cooling rack over a baking sheet, to rest the crab cakes on.) Let cakes sit for a minute, and then transfer them to the buns. Top with tartar sauce.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries from Paula Deen
Ingredients
Olive Oil, for tossing
1 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced in 1/4-wide inch strips
1 tablespoon House Seasoning (salt, black pepper, garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Line a sheet tray with parchment. In a large bowl toss sweet potatoes with just enough oil to coat. Sprinkle with House Seasoning and paprika. Spread sweet potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheet, being sure not to overcrowd. Bake until sweet potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Tartar Sauce
Combine dab of mayo, some chopped pickle relish, dash of white vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.

Serve crab cake on sandwich with tartar sauce, baked sweet potato fries, and slaw.

Turkey Avocado Toasties

A few weeks ago Patrick and I did some grocery shopping at Costco. This means surplus amounts of ingredients! Once we got home and put everything away I browsed through a few cookbooks to see what I could find that would take advantage of the ingredients currently in the fridge. I found inspiration for this turkey avocado toastie which used 3 ingredients from the Costco trip - avocados, baguettes, and fresh spinach (for the side spinach salad)!

If you like Asian flavors then this will knock your socks off! Fresh ginger provides a burst of flavor, sesame oil gives the dish some umami savoriness, and wasabi paste is there for a spice kick!

Turkey Sandwiches with Ginger-Avocado Relish from Williams-Sonoma Weeknight Fresh & Fast cookbook

   Serves 4 | Time 30 minutes  

Ingredients

4 green onions, white and light green portions, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

5 tsp rice vinegar

3 1/2 tsp peeled and minced fresh ginger

2 tsp wasabi paste

1 firm but ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and diced

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb. turkey breast cutlets

Asian sesame oil for brushing

4 thick slices country-style bread

   I sliced two baguettes into 1/2" slices

4 large butter lettuce leaves, sliced

   Omitted for the side spinach salad

Directions

   In a bowl, combine the green onions, olive oil, vinegar, 2 tsp. of the minced ginger and the wasabi paste. Gently stir in the avocado. We added in the juice of 1 lime to prevent this ginger-avocado relish from browning. Season with salt and pepper. Set the relish aside. 

   Prepare a hot fire in a grill. We used our grill pan. 

   Brush the turkey on both sides with sesame oil, and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Before doing this I used a meat tenderizer to pound the turkey cutlets to 1/4" thickness. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 tsp. ginger over one side of the turkey. Brush one side of the bread slices with sesame oil.

   Place the turkey on the grill and cook, turning once, until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Place the bread, oiled side down, on the grill and cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.

   Arrange 1 bread slice, grilled side up, on each plate. Arrange the lettuce on the bread and top with the turkey. Spoon the relish on the turkey and serve immediately. 

Caprese sandwich and wilted spinach-squash side

Patrick requested caprese melts the other weekend. Sometimes I'll ask him for meal plan requests and he pulls out the strangest requests but I'm always happy to oblige him! This is a good example of that as I'm not sure we've ever done caprese melts before! Oh! And now I remember what else was so strange about this request ... we have a white board on the refrigerator where I'll write the weekly meal plan so when it was a blank slate I asked him to put in something he would like. I turn back around and see that he's written caprese melts with roasted red pepper and garlic aioli. Silly Patrick, does he think I'm running a gourmet cafe in our kitchen?! I knew caprese melts were definitely do-able but if he wanted garlic aioli he would have to tackle that.

This caprese melt is more of a throw together. I originally thought I'd make it into a panini but then we were making this on a Sunday evening after his orchestra rehearsal and I was too tired for all that fancy stuff. So the mozzarella was toasted on the baguette and then basil, balsamic vinegar, and tomatoes were added to the baguette!

Served with a side of steamed squash and wilted spinach.