Homemade Crab Cakes – Grain and Dairy Free

Ok, so the challenge of the day is to see if I can actually write an entire blog post while listening to my iTunes library on my headphones. The current song is Fall Out Boy’s “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark.”

Since I’m already dancing around in front of my computer like a moron and not really paying attention to the post I’m supposed to be writing, I’d say it’s a big FAIL.

Why do I mention this, you ask? Or better yet, why am I listening to my iTunes over headphones instead of just on my computer? Well, that’s easy. It’s because a family of elephants just moved in above me.

*crickets*

Ok, so maybe that’s not entirely true. They could be a perfectly normal couple. The problem is that I was cursed blessed with radar hearing. As in, I can hear things that dogs and bats can’t even hear. So for the poor, unfortunate, unsuspecting couple who just moved in to the apartment above mine, I can hear every. move. you. make.

That’s creepy, right? I don’t mean for it to be.

The Man tells me I should just go upstairs and talk to them, and maybe he’s right…but I just feel bad going upstairs and saying, “Excuse me, can you maybe not walk so loudly? Because it’s really annoying.” Because I know that for most other people, it wouldn’t be an issue. It’s ridiculous to call someone out for walking too loudly.

So instead, I wear headphones. (And speaking of, we’re not on to “We Run The Night”, by Havana Brown. “run’em like run’em run’em WHOOP!”)

But, as usual I digress. Let’s talk about crab cakes! These little suckers were a total accident. As a matter of fact, I thought they were going to tank, as in worse than my rock solid orange ginger glaze from last week. Fortunately for me, I was pleasantly surprised!

I sort of threw a bunch of stuff in a bowl, mixed it together, and formed it into patties. Then I fried them in some coconut oil and topped them with some lovely homemade garlic-dill aioli, and voila! Perfection.

I feel like I say “voila” a lot in this blog. Is that true?? Maybe I need to come up with some new phrases.

Anyway, I added a couple of tablespoons of pecan meal to the recipe to serve as a binder, because so many crab cake recipes either use breadcrumbs in the mix, or coat the cakes in breadcrumbs. Since I had no intention of using breadcrumbs at all, I had to come up with a substitute, and when I saw the pecan meal, well, the stars just aligned. Or something like that.

The thing is, the pecan meal gave the crab cakes a subtle nutty flavor that really worked for me. Nothing too overpowering, just a little something extra that served as a perfect replacement for a breaded exterior, if you will. It was a total coincidence, but hey, I’ll take the credit where I can get it!

The crab cake mixture is really simple – canned crab meat, some egg, some diced celery and onion, some pecan meal, and some spices. The whole thing came together in about ten minutes…which, if you know me at all, makes for a big huge win. And pretty much guarantees a repeat meal.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: (serves two)

2 cans crab meat (i used trader joe’s)

2 eggs

1/8 cup diced celery

1/8 cup diced red onion

3 tbsp pecan meal

1 tsp dill

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 chili powder

1 tablespoon lemon juice (or a few squirts fresh lemon juice)

salt and pepper to taste

coconut oil

WHAT TO DO:

In a bowl, combine crab, eggs, onion, celery, pecan meal and spices. Mix well and form into four patties. The mixture will be very wet, this is normal. In a skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, set the patties into the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes each side. Do not mess with the patties once they are in the oil! Just drop them in and let them cook. Flip patties and cook for additional 3 minutes. Drain excess oil, and serve with homemade aioli or tartar sauce.