I have been wanting to try and make these for ages, I keep seeing tinned crab in Waitrose and finally bought a tin and had a go. We were not disappointed, homemade crab cakes are so much lighter and flavoursome as you can add ingredients to your own taste and they were so easy to make. You get a hit of different flavours with every bite, like the sweet crab meat, the burst of lemon, a hint of chilli, some crunch from the pine nuts or refreshing fragrant coriander it all works so well, my only complaint was I didn’t make enough and this recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1 small tin of white crab meat (mine was drained weight 120g)
• 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes (or 1 fresh red chilli chopped)
• small bunch or bag of coriander leaves picked and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp of pine nuts
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 preserved lemon (recipe here) or 1/2 lemon rind finely chopped
• 50g of breadcrumbs
• 1 egg yolk
• seasoning (salt and pepper)
• plain flour for dusting
• olive oil for frying

Method

1. Combine the crab, chilli flakes, lemon juice, preserved lemons and coriander in a large bowl. Heat a small frying pan and toast the pine nuts. Use a spice grinder or pestle and mortar to roughly grind making sure there is still some texture, then tip into the bowl with the crab. Add the breadcrumbs, egg yolk and a grind of salt and pepper, and mix lightly. Shape into 6 patties and chill in fridge for at least 30 mins.
2.  Once you are ready to serve dust the crab cakes with a little flour and fry gently for 3 mins on each side until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper. Serve the crab with a simple side salad and a drizzle of flavoured (recipe here) or plain olive oil.