Crab Cakes with Asparagus and Hollandaise

Name: Crab Cakes with Asparagus and Hollandaise
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: AMERICAN
Ingredients: 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) (8 oz./250 g) unsalted butter; 4 egg yolks; 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed; Fine sea salt; 2 egg yolks; 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard&#8239;; 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice&#8239;; 1 garlic clove, minced&#8239;; 1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning&#8239;; Pinch of fine sea salt&#8239;; 3/4 cup (6 fl. oz./180 ml) olive oil; 2 Tbs. avocado oil or canola oil; 1 shallot, finely diced; 1 lb. (500 g) pasteurized lump crabmeat; 1 cup (2 oz./60 g) dehydrated potato flakes; 1/3 cup (1/2 oz./15 g) chopped fresh tarragon; 1 bunch fresh chives, finely chopped; 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped; Grated zest of 1 orange; Fine sea salt; Fine sea salt; 1/2 lb. (250 g) asparagus; 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) (2 oz./60 g) unsalted butter; 2 Tbs. minced fresh chives; (Here&rsquo;s where you could add 1 Tbs. unsalted butter and 2 eggs, or double the amount)

Crab Cakes with Asparagus and Hollandaise is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Gavin Kaysen, an award-winning Minneapolis-based chef and author of the cookbook At Home, says this is his mom’s favorite dish, so much so that she agreed to be his sous chef when they filmed this class for his GK at Home series. Now, Minnesota is about as far away from the ocean as you can get, but he doesn’t let the lack of fresh crabs get in the way. Canned crabmeat is actually good, so long as you buy jumbo lump crab and not the shredded stuff. The secret to his crab cakes is to use dehydrated potato flakes instead of crushed crackers. They give the cakes a better texture, and they’re gluten-free as well.

If you haven’t made hollandaise sauce before, the chef says his recipe should give you the confidence to add it to your tool kit. Many home cooks are afraid of “breaking” their hollandaise, which happens when you apply too much heat and overcook the eggs. To prevent this, keep an eye on the water simmering below your bowl of eggs and butter and adjust the heat as needed to keep it at a gentle, steady simmer.

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Ingredients:

For the hollandaise sauce:

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) (8 oz./250 g) unsalted butter
4 egg yolks
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
Fine sea salt

For the Old Bay aioli:

2 egg yolks
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard 
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice 
1 garlic clove, minced 
1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning 
Pinch of fine sea salt 
3/4 cup (6 fl. oz./180 ml) olive oil

For the crab cakes:

2 Tbs. avocado oil or canola oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 lb. (500 g) pasteurized lump crabmeat
1 cup (2 oz./60 g) dehydrated potato flakes
1/3 cup (1/2 oz./15 g) chopped fresh tarragon
1 bunch fresh chives, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
Grated zest of 1 orange
Fine sea salt

For assembly:

Fine sea salt
1/2 lb. (250 g) asparagus
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) (2 oz./60 g) unsalted butter
2 Tbs. minced fresh chives
(Here’s where you could add 1 Tbs. unsalted butter and 2 eggs, or double the amount)

Directions:

To make the hollandaise sauce, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat.

Choose a saucepan over which a medium heatproof bowl (preferably a glass one) can sit with plenty of clearance between the bottom of the bowl and the pan. Fill the saucepan with 1 or 2 cups (8 or 16 fl. oz./250 or 500 ml) water (make sure it doesn’t come up to the bottom of the bowl). With the bowl not yet on the saucepan, bring the water to a simmer.

To the bowl (still off the heat), add the egg yolks, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Set the bowl over the simmering water and reduce the heat to low. Using a whisk, stir constantly while slowly adding the melted butter in a steady stream, adjusting the heat as needed to keep the water at a low simmer. Once all the butter has been added, stir until no visual butter remains on the surface. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and lemon juice as desired. You will have about 2 cups (16 fl. oz./500 ml) hollandaise.

Remove the bowl from the saucepan and cover the bowl with plastic wrap to keep warm until ready to serve.

To make the Old Bay aioli, in a medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, Old Bay and salt. Whisk to combine all the ingredients. While whisking vigorously, slowly drizzle in the olive oil, little by little, with your other hand. You must do this slowly so that the aioli doesn’t separate. Once all of the oil has been emulsified, taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Set aside

To make the crab cakes, in a small sauté pan over medium heat, warm the avocado oil. Add the shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Scrape the cooked shallot into a medium bowl. Add the crabmeat, potato flakes, tarragon, chives, parsley, orange zest, Old Bay aioli and 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix until well combined and cohesively bound.

Scoop and roll the crab mixture into 6 even balls. Flatten the balls into patties and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. If not serving right away, shock the asparagus in ice water for about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside until ready to reheat and serve.

To assemble, in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. When the foam subsides, add the crab cakes and space them apart. Cook until the bottoms have browned evenly, gently rotating the cakes to promote even browning, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the cakes and repeat to brown the second side, 3 to 4 minutes longer.

Remove the crab cakes from the pan and set on a paper towel to absorb any excess butter. 

If you’d like to add eggs, it would happen here: In the same sauté pan, melt 1 Tbs. butter and cook both eggs sunny-side up, about 3 minutes. 

To serve, arrange the asparagus in the center of a serving dish. Place the crab cakes on top of the asparagus. Liberally spoon the hollandaise over the crab cakes and garnish with the chives. Serves 6.

Adapted from At Home by Gavin Kaysen (Spoon Thief Publishing, 2023)