Crab Cakes

I made a batch of crab cakes for dinner last night. I've tried several recipes in the past and they all seemed to have too many ingredients with conflicting flavors. So I went simple in my recipe and made something similar to a really good batch Dre and I made (recipe here).

Ingredients
8 oz of crab meat (or whatever two cans amounts to)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of mayo
1 egg
1/4 cup grated parmesan/romano
4 teaspoons of chives (fresh or dried)
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon of paprika
black pepper

Mix ingredients together and pan fry in canola oil. I really like the flavor of the bell pepper in them.

We ate them with a squeeze of lemon juice on top, although the aoili from this recipe is really good.

White bean spread

I've made this a few times as both a dip and on toasted bread topped with tenderloin and bacon (mmmm).

Ingredients

• 1 can of great northern beans
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup (or more) of grated parmesan/romano
  
• salt, black pepper, oregano, basil
• nutmeg
  
• balsamic vinegar (optional)
• olive oil (optional)

The first step is to drain most of the water out of the beans leaving just enough to make it easy to puree. Next, add the beans and garlic to the food processor and blend until smooth. Add more water if necessary to allow it to attain the consistency of hummus. Add the cheese, a dash of oregano and basil, a few grinds of black pepper, and salt to taste. I often add a dash of balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of olive oil, and a really small amount of nutmeg, but these are all optional.

It's good either warm or cold...I think it's best on some warm, toasted bread.

Asparagus Risotto

I actually made this a while ago...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of arborio rice
• 1/4 cup of onion
• 1 clove of garlic
  
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan/romano
• 4 cups of vegetable stock
• asparagus (probably about 10 spears)
• olive oil
• salt, black pepper, basil

Lightly toast the rice, onions, and garlic in olive oil. Slowly add the stock about a cup at a time, stirring continuously.

I chopped up the asparagus into 1 inch pieces and steamed them. Once the rice was cooked, I added the asparagus, cheese, basil, salt and black pepper. It was pretty easy.

From YummyFood