Mini Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Yield:  15 Appetizers

Preparation time 60 minutes: total cooking time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoon mayonnaise – (60ml)
• 4 teaspoon Dijon mustard – (60ml)
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (15ml)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (5ml)
• 1 pound British Columbia Dungeness Crab meat – (450grams) – clean and patted dry
• 1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs – (250ml)
• ¼ cup green onions, finely chopped – (60ml)
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated – (5ml)
• ½ teaspoon salt – (2.5ml)
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper – (1.25ml)
• 1½ tablespoon butter – (22.5ml)
• 1 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil – (7.5ml)
• 15 pumpernickel bread slices, toasted

Red Pepper Sauce

• 4 roasted red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise – (250ml)
• 2 tablespoon fresh tarragon, chopped – (30ml)
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard – (5ml)
• ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice – (2.5ml)
• ½ teaspoon tobacco sauce – (2.5ml)

Directions

1. Slice pumpernickel bread into small squares of rounds and toast.
2. Combine mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and egg in a bowl. Grate in lemon rind and squeeze in lemon juice. Add crab, breadcrumbs, green onion, salt and white pepper, mix ingredients well.
3. Form the mixture into little crab cakes approximately 2 inches in diameter and place them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  When you have used up all of your crab cake mixture, place your cakes in the fridge to set for 1 hour.
4. Add both butter and oil to a large non-stick skillet. Gently slide a few of the cakes from the baking sheet into the oil.  Pan has to be very hot to get the crispy exterior on the cakes and you do not want to overcrowd the skillet; it will cause the cakes to steam more than fry.
5. For the sauce, add roasted peppers, mayonnaise, fresh tarragon, garlic, Dijon, Lemon juice and Tabasco, to a blender.  Mix until smooth.
6. Place one crab cake on top of each toasted pumpernickel slice and top with a small dollop of the sauce.  Top with another crab cake and more sauce.
7. Serve.