In my quest to eat a bit lighter, I was introduced to a Crab Cake Salad with Lemon Caper Vinaigrette that is incredible. Trust me, it was very difficult for me to skip over the other options on our menu – steak frites with gorgonzola butter, gyro with fries, Peruvian chicken with yucca fries and fried plantains – to settle for a salad. I was drawn in by the lightness of the dish, but the brightness and unadulterated flavor of these crab cakes is what made me absolutely love it! The lemon caper vinaigrette did come in a close second to the crab cakes as the star of the plate. The dressing is an essential component of the flavor profile in this salad. Imagine jumbo lumps of succulent crab meat brightened with fresh lemon and enhanced with a bit of scallions and seasoning…and not much else. If you love the taste of crab, that brings a smile to your face and an “MMmmmm” from deep down 🙂 When I prepared this crab cake salad myself, I realized that the recipe was markedly different from the crab cakes I am used to seeing. That’s why I loved it so much and I am excited about sharing it with you.
If you read my previous post, There’s More Crab Than Cake in These Crab Cakes!, you know that in the past I haven’t been a fan of crab cakes because I really don’t like meat or fish-mayonnaise combinations. I don’t eat chicken salad or tuna salad, and many places serve you crab cakes that are essentially shredded pieces of crab packed together with mayonnaise and lots of bread crumbs. Some places do serve you lump crab meat in their cakes, but still too much mayonnaise and crumbs. Not too appetizing to me 😦 Call me crazy, but I want to taste crab when I eat crab. So, I usually stick with crab legs since there’s no masking the flavor of the huge lumps of crab meat that come out of those babies! Well, the crab cake recipe I shared in my previous post did include mayonnaise, sour cream and a fair amount of bread crumbs, but the secret to making those ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS was the use of quality (a.k.a. expensive) colossal crab meat. 
With the huge lumps of crab in those cakes, you are able to fully enjoy the flavor of the crab spiced up with Old Bay seasoning and Cajun and Charleston Remoulade sauces on the side. We served those crab cakes with a vinegar-based Cole Slaw that was amazing.
Welcome to a Lemon Twist on Crab Cakes
The crab cakes that top the salad in this post’s featured dish are very different from those I shared in my previous post. If you peruse a variety of crab cake recipes, you will see that this recipe differs from many of those you find. Many recipes call for mayonnaise, a good amount of bread crumbs, and some call for Old Bay seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and other flavorings or seasonings that have pronounced flavors of their own that complement the crab. To the contrary, there is no mayonnaise at all in these crab cakes, just a few bread crumbs, and very simple seasoning all designed to brighten and enhance the natural flavor of the star – the delicious jumbo lump crab. With the Lemon Caper Vinaigrette, this makes for a great summer lunch salad.
Crab Cake Salad w/ Lemon Caper Vinaigrette
Crab Cake Ingredients
-
1 lb jumbo lump crab meat, picked for shell and cartilage
- 1 tsp garlic, finely minced (if you have a microplane, use it to prep the garlic)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Juice and zest from 1 lemon
- 1/4 to 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
Method
- Gently fold crab together with other ingredients – beginning with 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs. If you can, fold the ingredients by hand wearing gloves to ensure that the crab is not broken up too much or shredded during the mixing process.
- Add additional breadcrumbs a little at a time as necessary until a cake can be formed that holds its shape.
- Measure 1/4 cup of the crab mixture to form each cake gently with your hands,
using your pointer finger and thumb to shape the mixture into small cylindrical cakes. You should get 12-14 cakes from the recipe. Place cakes on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. - Sprinkle additional breadcrumbs on top of each of the crab cakes and gently press the bottom of the crab cakes onto the additional breadcrumbs that fall to the pan as you sprinkle the top.
- Cover the crab cakes and refrigerate 1-2 hours to help them hold together better during cooking.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add just enough vegetable oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan.
- Place the crab cakes into the skillet, leaving enough room to move the cakes around and flip them without damaging the delicate cakes.
- Cook on each side until evenly brown. Be gentle when cooking the sides of the cakes and flipping them to ensure they do not break apart. It may take 8-10 minutes.
The make up of the crab cakes presented in this recipe is more of a petite sized cake, but they are made of jumbo lump crab meat so you will love to dig into them. You can make the cakes a bit larger to present them as a dinner entrée.
Lemon Caper Vinaigrette Ingredients
-
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice – zest lemons with 5-hole zester before juicing for garnish
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp brined capers
- 1 Tbsp fresh chopped shallots
- 1 Tbsp fresh minced garlic
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Method
- With a whisk, combine all ingredients except capers and oil until smooth
- Add oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly to emulsify the ingredients. If you are doing this by yourself, twist a wet dishtowel and shape it round like a collar to prop your bowl up, so you can use two hands to pour and whisk.
- Add the capers, stir and taste. Adjust with salt and pepper. The capers are salty, so be sure to taste before adding the salt.
A few notes about the dressing:
- You can make this dressing using a blender, however, the consistency may be too thick to use on light weight greens like a Spring Mix.
- The use of vegetable oil helps to keep the dressing from coagulating when refrigerated. Olive oil will coagulate when chilled.
- The use of mustard in vinaigrette dressings helps to create an emulsification between the oil and vinegar (or other water-based liquid ingredients). This holds your dressing together and keeps it from separating like a simple oil-vinegar mixture.
Salad Ingredients
- Mixed spring greens
- Julienned red onions
- Sliced cucumbers
- Grape tomatoes (variety of colors)
- Chives and/or chive flowers
- Lemon garnish – either a thin round lemon slice, twisted between the cakes or Strips of blanched lemon zest.
Method
- Add 1 oz of Lemon Caper Vinaigrette to ~2 cups of greens and toss to coat greens.
- Finish salad with onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, chives and chive flowers.
- Top salad with 2 crab cakes and lemon garnish. To make lemon zest strips, zest lemons with a 5-hole zester before juicing for the dressing. Blanch the strips of zest in boiling water, shock in ice water, drain and dry.
This is a simple, refreshingly beautiful salad that will leave your taste buds satisfied and your waistline intact! I hope you love it.
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