This midweek treat for two might stretch to three if served with oven frites and a few crisp salad leaves under the cucumber relish. The fragile little crab cakes, made with breadcrumbs rather than mashed potato, firm up and create a gorgeous crisp shell in a hot oven. In the past I’ve made this recipe entirely with crab (100g white and 100g brown crab meat) but it works out very expensive and this time purposely cooked an extra fillet of cod when making the previous night’s recipe (Cod with Tomatoes, Peppers and Black Olives). It worked brilliantly and would be a good reason to buy frozen cod fillets to stash alongside a couple of 100g packs of www.seafoodandeatit.co.uk which is what I do, thus making a storecupboard meal.
Serves 2-3
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 15 min
1 small red chilli
100g Fifty Fifty white and brown crab meat
100g, approx, roast fillet of cod
Hellmann’s mayonnaise
3 tsp Thai fish sauce
50g bunch coriander
100g fresh breadcrumbs
flour for dusting
1 egg
½ (half) cucumber
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Finely dice the chilli. Place crab meat, 2 tbsp mayo, 2 tsp fish sauce, most of the finely chopped coriander, most of the chilli and just over half the breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl. Mix. Working quickly, halve the mix and make 3 thick patties from each half. Dust with flour. Beat the egg in a bowl and have the remaining crumbs on a large plate. Quickly turn one crab cake at a time through the egg and then place on the crumbs, turning to cover. Two knives is useful to pat them into shape. Chill, clingilm-covered, while the oven heats up to 220C/gas mark 7. Next make the relish. Peel the cucumber, halve lengthways, scrape out the seeds and finely slice. Place in a small bowl/jar with 1 tsp fish sauce, remaining coriander, lime juice and reserved chilli. Pour the oil into the middle of a foil-lined small, shallow roasting tin. Smear both sides of the cakes with oil and roast for 15 minutes or until very crisp. Rest on kitchen paper and serve with a dollop of mayo and the relish.