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Crab Cakes With Riesling
Perfect Partners
The American crab cake, ideally a simple patty of freshly picked crabmeat, lightly bound together with bread crumbs and egg, often spiked with a lively seasoning is as popular as ever. You can hardly pick up a menu in an American restaurant these days without finding some version of crab cake among the appetizers. The following recipe gives this humble treat an elegant touch with a beurre blanc sauce, a luxurious sauce of melted butter balanced with concentrated wine and vinegar or lemon juice.
Riesling is a snug fit with the flavor of crab. Even when it's dry, Riesling seems sweet because of its aromatics, which favor the natural sweetness of the seafood.
Fragile Crab Cakes with Beurre Blanc
• 1 small yellow or white onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium sweet-pepper (red preferred), finely chopped
• 8 ounces crabmeat
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon hot Dijon mustard or California-style sweet-hot mustard
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon butter mixed with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Beurre blanc (recipe follows)
• Lemon wedges (optional)
Sauté the onion and pepper in the 2 tablespoons butter. When they are
soft, combine them in a bowl with the crabmeat, the bread crumbs and
the eggs beaten with the mustard. Toss the mixture together with the
parsley. Form into six patties and arrange them on a piece of wax paper.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Just before serving, panfry the patties in the mixture of butter and oil until they are brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. They will be very fragile. Don't worry if they fall apart; just form them back into patties on the plate. Serve with beurre blanc and thin lemon wedges (if desired).
Beurre Blanc
• 1/4 cup dry Riesling
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 stick cold butter, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
• Salt and white pepper
Boil the wine and shallot in a wide saucepan until the wine almost evaporates, moving the pan to keep the shallots from burning. Off the heat, add the lemon juice. It will sizzle merrily. As it settles down, start adding the butter, two or three slices at a time, swirling in the pan to melt it evenly. Add the next few slices of butter just before the first ones melt. Return the pan to the heat for a few seconds at a time as needed to keep the pan warm. All you are doing is melting the butter and incorporating it into the reduced liquid. It should never come close to simmering. Season to taste with salt and white pepper and spoon it over and around the crab cakes.
Note: To make the beurre blanc ahead, store it in a thermos to keep it warm, up to 2 hours. Don't keep it in a double boiler.
Makes 6 appetizer servings.