Recipe: Blue Corn Crab Cakes with Mango-Green Onion Relish

the appetizer:

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook presents tasty Southwestern recipes, including Blue Corn Crab Cakes with Mango-Green Onion Relish; Chicken and Mushroom Posole Soup; and Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Yellow Pepper Mole Sauce.

Blue Corn Crab Cakes
with Mango-Green Onion Relish

Serves 4

The secret to a great-tasting crab cake isn't much of a secret—you've got to use the best-quality crab you can get. I hate a crab cake that's more about the bread crumbs than the crab. Nutty blue corn goes really well with the sweet crab, and blue cornmeal is available everywhere now, but feel free to substitute yellow cornmeal. The serrano chile gives a nice dash of heat to the relish.

6 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, diced
1/4 cup sour cream or crème fraîche
1/4 cup prepared horseradish, drained
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 pounds lump crabmeat
3 tablespoons Wondra flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups blue cornmeal
Mango-Green Onion Relish (recipe follows)
Smoked Red Pepper Sauce, for garnish (optional, recipe follows)
Chopped fresh chives, for garnish (optional)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeños and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sour cream, horseradish, mustard, and onion mixture until combined. Pick over the crabmeat to remove any bits of shell. Add the crab and the flour to the bowl and gently fold to combine; season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate, covered, for 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

3. Divide the chilled crab mixture into 8 patties about 1/2 inch thick. Dredge each cake in the cornmeal and tap off any excess.

4. Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan over high heat and fry the cakes until crusty and lightly golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.

5. Place 2 crab cakes on each of 4 dinner plates and top each cake with mango-green onion relish and red pepper sauce. Garnish with chives.

Mango-Green Onion Relish

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

2 ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted, and diced
2 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the mangoes, green onions, serrano chile, lime juice, honey, and oil in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Let the relish sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Smoked Red Pepper Sauce

Makes about 2-1/2 cups

This is one of the workhorses of the mesa grill kitchen. Roasted red peppers and chipotle puree give the sauce a deep color and flavor that complements so many dishes.

4 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 small red onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves roasted garlic, peeled
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon chipotle chile purée
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

Combine the red peppers, onion, garlic, vinegar, honey, mustard, and chipotle purée in a blender, season with salt and pepper, and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the oil and blend until emulsified. Strain the sauce into a bowl. This sauce can be made 1 day in advance and refrigerated.

from:
Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook:
Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen
by Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson
Clarkson Potter 2007
Hardcover; 288 pages; $35.00
ISBN-13: 978-0-307-35141-8
Recipe reprinted by permission.

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