'Island life' crab cakes

We have this special place we go to all the time and we try to live off the land when we go....well, kind of!

My daughter and I set a crab trap and half a day later we were in luck.  Dungeness crabs galore.  2 hours later and fresh crab cakes.

My recipe is as follows:

Red and yellow peppers diced

Shallots diced

Chopped parsley

Egg

Bread crumbs

Mayo

Dijon

Worcestershire

Salt and Pepper

Hot sauce

Chilli flakes

Steam crab for 8-10 minutes and de-shell (never fun but well worth it). 

I Sauté all of the vegetables with a TBS of butter in a nice cast iron skillet over our wood burning oven.  Sauté until soft and remove from the heat.

Mix in a stainless bowl:

Mayo

Dijon

Worcestershire

Salt and Pepper

Bread crumbs

Egg

Hot sauce

Chilli flakes

Chopped parsley

MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER WITH THE CRAB and put into a form if you have one or just use your hands to form your cake.  If you have time, place on parchment paper and leave in the freezer for 30  minutes for everything to mold together

Get a pan piping hot and add a splash of grape seed oil and a TBS of butter and sear each side until brown.  Once brown on each side, toss in the oven for 7-8 min and remove.

Mix mayo, the juices and lemon zest from a lemon and a splash of hot sauce (love valentina's and picture below) and top the crab cake.

Serve with some local greens and sip on your favorite white!!!!

Mandolin

When it comes to things I love in the kitchen, I only have a few besides a super sharp GLOBAL knife.  One of the others is my lovely Mandolin which I got for Christmas one year from my mum.  Of course, she bought it at the Gourmet Warehouse, where else?

The one below is the Cadillac of Mandolins but there are many other affordable ones to choose from.

Great for cutting french fries, thinly slicing beets or fennel and the list goes on.

Watch your fingers!

Gourmet Warehouse

Speaking of places I love.....yes, the number one kitchen store in Vancouver if not, Canada is The Gourmet Warehouse http://www.gourmetwarehouse.ca/ at Hastings and Clarke.  Ranging from the best of cookware to the sharpest and best of knives to frozen edible treats, this store will NEVER disappoint.  Owner/operator Caren McSherry and her staff do a fabulous job at keeping the store jammed with all of the absolute necessities for your kitchen and home. Check it out!

Thank you Caren!

Cioffi's

For those of you that have never been to Cioffi's deli and butcher on Hastings, you MUST go!  I tend to purchase all of my meats, cheese's, truffle products (yum) and pasta's from this wonderful family run business.  There is actually 2 stores right beside each other so try not to miss one of them.  From excellent cut meats, sausages and free range chicken to the best of deli cheeses and pasta's, you must go.  Cioffi's is located on Hastings, minutes from the PNE and is well worth the short drive.

Sorry, they don't have a website.

Directions:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=cioffi's+owners&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=cioffi's+owners&hnear=North+Vancouver,+BC&cid=0,0,7276892365625213744&ei=pSFYTZnoGYWasAPfm8WjDA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQnwIwAA