Blog for the Bay: Oven-Baked Crab Cakes

Oven-baked crab cakes
Metrocurean photo

Fellow food bloggers Foodie Tots and Arugula Files are hosting "Blog for the Bay" today to help rally District foodies to support clean water in the Chesapeake Bay and help blue crab populations. To get involved, sign the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's petition to encourage the EPA to clean up the bay here.

It's a cause close to my heart, since crab cakes were revered in my house when I was growing up. When I needed to beg a favor out of my dad, “pretty please with crab cakes on top” was how I’d get my way.

In honor of today's Blog for the Bay, here's a recipe, adapted from my grandmother, for oven-baked and, most importantly, bread crumb-free crab cakes. These cakes are scooped out like cookies and baked without the need for breading. This recipe makes eight large crab cakes, but you can easily make bite sized versions for hors d'oeuvres. The lemon yogurt sauce is a fresh addition, using one of my favorite multi-tasking ingredients, Greek yogurt.

Oven-Baked Crab Cakes with Lemon Yogurt Sauce
serves: 4

for crab cakes
1 pound backfin crab meat, picked through for shells
½ cup mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp mustard powder
¼ tsp Old Bay
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped

for sauce
½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste

preparation
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• To prepare the crab cakes, mix all ingredients in a bowl, careful not to break up the crab lumps. With a small cookie dough scoop or spoon, divide mixture into eight mounds on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until crab cakes start to brown.
• To prepare the sauce, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Adjust quantities for desired thickness.
• Serve crab cakes with a drizzle of the lemon sauce.