Old Bay Shrimp Cakes--PRE-HOLIDAY HIATUS RECIPE

Old Bay Shrimp Cakes

Serves: 4

Difficulty: Easy

Old Bay Shrimp Cakes

Simple, simple, simple. We love Old Bay seasoning.  It adds a bit of zip as well as a orangey hue to seafood evoking memories of steamed crabs strewn over newspapers in Baltimore…founding city to the Old Bay Company in 1939 (and where my husband grew to love this amazing spice). How can you avoid a seasoning that has been around that long? Give it a taste. Lick a pinch on your hand, close your eyes and you will find yourself seaside. Add it to your next Bloody Mary, boil frankfurters in an Old Bay-infused bath, sprinkle on potato salads, and popcorn! Sprinkle it everywhere. In this recipe, I use it to form shrimp cakes.  Again – simple, simple, simple.

Heading into the holidays, I would like to wish all of you a healthy happy New Year, chock full of great food, of course!

 

Old Bay....one of the world's great spices!

For the shrimp cakes:

• 1 lb peeled and deveined uncooked shrimp, coarsely chopped
• 1 C bread crumbs or panko
• 2 Tb chopped chives
• 1 egg
• Juice of ½-1 lemon, to taste
• 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning – there is no substitute!
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tb canola oil 

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Make shrimp cakes by placing all ingredients except canola oil in a bowl and use your hands to thoroughly combine.

 

Deveined shrimp

Mix all the fixin's together

Heat canola oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Form shrimp mixture into 6-8 hockey-puck-size round patties. 

Make the shrimp patties

Add patties to pan and pan-fry until browned all over, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cooked through, about 3 minutes more.

 

Pan-fry to a golden brown

Serve while warm with a wedge of lemon and/or tartar sauce. Scrumptious!

For tartar sauce:

• ½ C mayonnaise
• ½ tsp finely chopped cornichons
• ½ tsp finely chopped capers
• ½ tsp finely chopped shallots

Mix all ingredients until evenly combined. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Bon Appetit!

Larue

Adapted from A. J. Baime