A Taste of Home

Earlier this week, I started reading James A. Michener's Chesapeake. I was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Michener's descriptions of the region, particularly the Choptank River, have made me quite homesick. I miss the water, the sounds of gaggles of geese, and the Blue Crabs. In the book, the Choptank Indians make "Cakes of Crab", crab, vegetables, herbs, and corn meal fried in bear fat. I didn't think I could get my hands on any bear fat, but I could handle the rest and have a nice reminder of home to tide me over until my summer visit.

I looked at several recipes and settled on the one on the side of my Old Bay can. In my opinion, when it comes to crab cakes, less is more.

Serves 4

2 slices bread, crusts removed

2 T. mayonnaise

2 t. Old Bay

2 t. parsley flakes

1/2 t. prepared yellow mustard

1 egg, beaten

1 lb. crab meat

Break bread into small pieces. Mix in mayonnaise, old Bay, parsley, mustard and egg. Stir in crab meat. Shape mixture into patties. Broil 10 min. or fry until golden brown.

This recipe is a good one and our crab cakes were fine. There are things I will do differently next time. First, I will only use pure lump crab meat going forward, I know I will pay more but it will be worth it. Harris Teeter didn't even have it available when I did my shopping, but I know they will during the summer. Secondly, in the future I will fry, fry fry! My husband thought it would be healthier to broil, hmmmph.

I served this lovely Cherry Tomato salad on the side. This salad tastes like sunshine and I imagine it could only be improved with tomatoes straight out of the garden.