Chicken and Crab Cakes

I bought some crab the other day, just because I was hungry for crab. Larry asked what I was going to make with it. I had no idea at the time, but that quickly changed. I made crab cakes, and a creamy bechamel sauce, then topped my chicken with both.

Chicken and Crab Cakes

This dish is a layered dish. First I made the crab cakes, Maryland style, with very little breading.

The Crab Cakes

4-6 oz crab meat

1/3 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1-2 tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 egg

1 tsp parsley and/or lemon verbena, chopped/chiffonade

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400* F or 200*C.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix all the ingredients together and form into small balls. Place the balls on the parchment paper and bake for about 8-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.

When the crab cakes are done, keep them warm until ready to use.

Next comes the chicken. You can do it a couple of ways. If you are cooking your chicken, generously season it with Old Bay seasoning on both sides and olive oil, then pan fry until it is golden. I cheated, or as I prefer to say, I took a shortcut, and used my Costco rotisserie chicken, that was already cooked, so I eliminated this step.

The Sauce

The Sauce is basically a bechamel sauce with Old Bay seasoning.

2 TBSP butter

1 TBSP flour

1/2-3/4 cup milk, depending on how thick you like your sauce

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped fine

1 tsp lemon verbena, optional, chiffonade fine

Mix the milk, seasonings and flour together, then add to the butter and melt together in a skillet, whisking everything together until everything is blended together to make a sauce. At first, I used only 1/2 cup of milk, but the sauce was too thick for how I wanted to use it, so I added more milk. I added the lemon verbena and parsley at the end.

Because my chicken was already cooked, I just added it to my sauce to heat up, once my sauce was done.

Once everything was hot, I dished up and served it over wild rice. First, a layer of rice, then a little sauce, next came the chicken, followed by the crab cake, finished with a dash more sauce on top. A cool, crisp chardonnay was the finishing touch that made the meal perfect, along with some asparagus topped with mushrooms, garlic, shallots and peppers.

On a side note. …. This summer is turning out to be a very snakey season. Twice just this week, I have had some very unwelcomed garter snakes in my yard, including this time. When I went out to my backyard to gather up some lemon verbena, lo and behold, a garter snake was slithering in the lemon verbena, and almost slithered right over my foot. Needless to say, I shrieked and jumped a mile high, and ran back into the house in a flash. I had Larry go out and gather some lemon verbena when he got home. I guess I am done working in my garden for the season. The first time, just a day or two before, probably this same snake was coiled up right outside my garage door. Because of the way it was coiled up, I thought it was a baby rattlesnake. I was able to get in my car, and was able to run some errands. While out and about, I didn’t want to take any chances that it was a rattlesnake, so I went to animal control to ask them to remove it. Sure enough, once I got home, the snake was still there. I waited for animal control to come, and when they finally did come, they said it just a garter snake. The officer caught it, but just placed it out over my back fence, in my open space right behind our yard. That’s why I say it was probably the same snake. I HATE snakes!!!!!!! So this meal came with a bit of adventure as well.

Life is always an adventure, but those adventures make for good stories. Live your adventures, but keep them safe and stay well. Til next time.