Summer Appetizers Featuring the Best Crab Cakes with Lump Crabmeat

It's so easy to pick up recipes with the countless resources available such as the various food shows on television, lifestyle magazines and the internet. Recently, I was working out at the gym and playing on TV was a food show featuring summer appetizers. One of the easy-to-make recipes they featured were the best crab cakes with lump crabmeat I have ever tasted. I was so impressed with how easy the crab cakes were to make and how great they tasted that I thought I would pass along the recipe.

Best Crab Cakes with Lump Crabmeat

1 pound lump crabmeat

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1/4 of green onions

2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of lime juice

Couple of splashes of Tabasco sauce

1 egg

Salt and Pepper to taste

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Place the lump crabmeat into a bowl and go through it to ensure there are no shells. Add to the crabmeat the mayonnaise, breadcrumbs, chopped cilantro, green onions, egg, lime juice and Tabasco sauce and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate the mixture for 20 minutes.

Remove the crab cake mixture from the refrigerator and form the crab cakes. The recipe will make 8 nice size crab cakes.

Fill a bowl with about a cup of Panko breadcrumbs and then take your formed crab cakes and gently place them in the bowl and cover them with the breadcrumbs.

Now, cook the best crab cakes by heating them in a non-stick frying skillet and coating the bottom of the skillet with olive oil. Place the crab cakes in the heated skillet and cook them for about 6 minutes, roughly 3 minutes on each side.

Once the crab cakes are cooked, remove them, place them on your serving dish and serve the best crab cakes with your choice of toppings, whether it be guacamole, tarter sauce or a Thai chili sauce to name a few.

Other summer appetizers that are impressive and easy to make are the following:

1. Skewered Cooked Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
2. Dates with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto
with a Balsamic Glaze
3. Mini-Hot Dogs (old-fashioned but everyone
loves them!)
4. Shot Glasses with either Gazpacho or Cucumber
Soup

And for dessert to compliment those great summer appetizers be sure to include:

1. Skewered Summer Fruit
2. Brownie Bites
3. Lollipop Cookies

The above mentioned appetizer selections can all be served via tray-pass and therefore you don't have to worry about setting up a buffet. Just make sure that if you tray pass the crab cakes to make them in bite-sized portions. For easy decor, use loose flowers such as Cymbidium orchids, small rosemary branches or tea roses on your appetizer trays.

I hope you enjoy making these crab cakes with lump crabmeat. As I mentioned earlier, I thought they were the best crab cakes I have ever tasted. They are an easy item to prepare and will impress your friends if you serve them along with other summer appetizers at your next party. Until next time, remember the Budget Bash mantra: make it simple, delicious, stylish, fun & economical for all!