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 ASIAN CRAB CAKES
WITH RED PEPPER AND GINGER MAYONNAISE
CHOCOLATE PEAR CAKE
A Note from the Shoalwater Webmaster: I was absolutely tickled when I read the following article in the Longview Daily News. Please, enjoy the article and then treat yourself to some crab cakes and chocolate pear cake!
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Crab cakes and an alligator boy
By Grace Reade, Longview Daily News
For now, visiting season is over, but it's only a brief respite. Next month, U,K friends Donna and Vivien will be over to experience not only the wonderful Pacific Northwest but also their first Thanksgiving.
Now that will be interesting, as I'm not exactly au fait with all the customs and foodstuffs, Thanksgiving not being a British celebration. But I'll do my best thanks to friends who've supplied many recipes.
One dish I will NOT be doing is that awful green bean casserole which utilizes tinned soup. My daughter Sue just loves that to bits, but I just cannot abide the stuff.
Everything else is of course wonderful, and I'm looking forward very much to serving up a groaning table of delectable dishes, enough to satisfy the most discerning palate.
Having Reg (husband Bill's big brother) here was a lot of fun. We were able to show him places which, although not new to us, had him astonished and overawed. I think the best day had to be when we went out as far as Long Beach. He'd touched the Atlantic of course and the idea of touching the Pacific too appealed to him immensely.
One place in particular that also appealed was Marsh's Museum in Long Beach. What an emporium of wonders that place is! Apart from all the kitschy souvenirs and usual tourist rubbish, Reg was enchanted to see all those old-time fortune-telling machines, peep-shows for a nickel, and even the precursor to the modern disc-player, a coin-operated musical box.
What really had us all gobsmacked, though, was Jake the Alligator Boy. I don't think I've ever seen anything so weird and gross since Margaret Thatcher first came to power. Reg looked as though he felt the same. All in all, Marsh's Free Museum was well worth the trip out there.
I don't do restaurant reviews generally as I find it almost impossible to be truly objective, but for once I'm going to mention somewhere else which is well worth the trip out there.
Back in 1998, when our friend Pete Farrell first visited us in Longview, we made the same trip and since then I've been hungering for the wonderful crab cakes at the Shoalwater restaurant in Seaview.
With fingers, eyes and toes crossed I hoped that the same cakes would still be on the menu. Oh delightful day, indeed the Shoalwater restaurant, part of the Shelburne Inn, is live and kicking, and we stopped there for a hopefully delicious lunch,
Now if this had been a restaurant review trip, we'd all have selected different dishes, but the guys decided to go along with my choice of -- you guessed it -- the Asian crab cakes, touched up with a little shrimp.
First of all, I had to try their fondue -- did I mention I'm also a fondue lover? -- and that was as sticky and cheesy as anyone could wish for. The most prized part of any cheese fondue is, of course, the very thick and glutinous residue left at the bottom of the pot, which is something to be fought over in Swiss ski eateries, and again I was not disappointed.
Bill and Reg were allowed a tiny taste but no more, as I was just too greedy and selfish. "Mine", I said, "back off and leave me be." So they did. They were more interested in their microbrews than my appetizer, anyhow.
I have to admit that we were fairly ravenous when the crab cakes finally arrived and would probably have eaten just about anything, but of course just about anything was not on the agenda. No, we had platters each of large, juicy-looking crab cakes, enhanced with an exquisitely toothsome red pepper and ginger mayonnaise and a tangy sauce verte.
My memory hadn't let me down. In fact, these cakes seemed even better than before, and I almost wished I' doubled my order. Surprisingly though, the two each we were served were just filling enough --- more would have been sheer greed and would have ruined the experience. Mind you, if you say my last name and first initial quickly enough it does come out as Greade, doesn't it?
I've wanted that particular recipe for quite some time and I thought about approaching the chef with sickly smile and touching my forelock but there was no need in the end. The Shoalwater cookbook was on sale there, with the Asian crab cake recipe easily found.
The only difference between the dish and the recipe itself was the addition of finely chopped shrimp, which was a stroke of genius in my humble opinion, although how can you improve on perfection itself? Much kudos to Chef Cheri Walker and Ann and Tony Kischner for making that impossible improvement.
There was just one tiny fly in the ointment and that was, naturally, my fault. In my haste to buy the book I inadvertently left my credit card behind and didn't realize for a couple of days just how careless I'd been.
It was panic stations here at the Reade house for a few hours but luckily I was able to backtrack my purchases and a quick phone call to the nice people at Shoalwater had me grinning with relief. They'd found it almost immediately and had it in the mail to me minutes after I called.
Yet again I find it in my heart to thank them all there, not only for the wonderful food, amazing selection of single malt scotches and general welcoming atmosphere, but also for the prompt and kind attention to the needs of a silly woman who would lose her head if it weren't nailed on tightly.
Grace Reade is a Liverpool transplant by way of Houston. She loves to cook, read about cooking and write about cooking. Reach her in care of The Daily News, P.O. Box 189, Longview, WA 98632, or by e-mail at tdnfoodlady@earthlink.net
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I searched through the Shoalwater book for this recipe and almost gave up until I was told which one it was.
Alas, there is no sign of that amazing fondue so perhaps I will go back, cap in hand, to beg prettily. In lieu, I'm adding a delicious sounding dessert recipe. At time of writing I've not actually tried to make any of the following but when I get my courage up, I shall indeed do so. G.R.
ASIAN CRAB CAKES
WITH RED PEPPER AND GINGER MAYONNAISE
2 cups cracker meal
1 pound crab meat, drained well
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
1 pound Gruyere cheese, grated
1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg white
1 tablespoon sake (Japanese rice wine)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger root, grated
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Peanut oil, for frying
2 cups Red Pepper and Ginger Mayonnaise (recipe follows)
Chive blossoms, for garnish
Set 1 1/2 cups of the cracker meal aside for breading.
Combine the remaining 1/2 cup of cracker meal with all of the remaining ingredients except the peanut oil and mayonnaise. Shape into 1/2-ounce patties, carefully forming the edges, and pat into the reserved cracker meal. Set them aside.
Coat the bottom of a frying pan with a thin layer of peanut oil. Set it over medium heat and sauté the cakes until golden on both sides.
Pool 1/4 cup of the Red Pepper and Ginger Mayonnaise on each plate and top with 2 cakes. Garnish with chive blossoms, bits of red pepper or green onion strands.
Makes 8 servings.
Red Pepper and Ginger Mayonnaise
2 sweet red peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded
1 cup mayonnaise
2 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoon sake
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoon ginger root, grated (or 1 piece1 inch in diameter by 2 inches long)
Combine all the ingredients and puree until smooth in a food processor or blender. If you prefer a smoother sauce, pass through a fine-mesh strainer.
CHOCOLATE PEAR CAKE
1/2 cup butter
10 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup coffee
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 tabelspoons pear liqueur (or pear brandy)
1 pear, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 pear, peeled, cored and pureed
1 recipe Crème Anglaise (See variation following)
1 pear, peeled and sliced, for garnish
Melt the butter and 2 ounces of the chocolate with the coffee, then stir in the cocoa. Place the mixture in a mixing bowl.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and the sugar. On low speed, add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until the dry ingredients are moistened.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add 2 tablespoons of the pear liqueur and gently fold in the diced pear.
Grease and line a 10-inch cake pan with parchment. Pour in the batter and check to see that the pears are evenly distributed in the pan. Bake in a preheated 350° oven until the cake begins to shrink away from the sides of the pan, about 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool.
For the glaze, melt the remaining 8 ounces of chocolate with the cream (a microwave works well for this, it takes about 2 minutes).
Stir in the pear puree and the remaining 2 TBS of pear brandy. Cool until it has begun to thicken enough to spread over the cake.
Glaze the cake and refrigerate briefly to set.
Serve garnished with sliced pears and a pear Crème Anglaise. To make pear Crème Anglaise, follow the accompanying recipe, substituting pear brandy for the liqueur and stirring in 1 pear, seeded and pureed, at the end.
Crème Anglaise
2 cups half and half
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum or Frangelico liqueur
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Heat the half and half in a saucepan until just before it boils.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until they become pale yellow and begin to thicken.
With the mixer on low, add the hot half and half in a slow stream.
Return the mixture to the sauce pan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for several minutes, until the Crème Anglaise begins to thicken and coat a spoon. When it begins to thicken, remove it from the heat and add the rum (pear brandy) and vanilla.
Crème Anglaise may be served warm or cold.
-- "The Shoalwater’s Finest Dinners," Ann and Tony Kischner with Cheri Walker. Harris and Friedrich, 1991
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