Today it was rainy in Brooklyn and I guess it put me in a cooking mood.
I decided to make
Shrimp & Crab Burgers (w/ Wasabi Mayo, Zucchini with Sage & Butter and Corn.
Let's start with the burgers. For those you will need.
15-20 medium size shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut into small pieces
1 - 6 oz. can of Crab Meat or Fresh Crab Meat - drained of all juices
Old Bay Seasoning to taste
Salt & Pepper
2-3 table spoons of salted butter
3 eggs
2-3 cups of bread crumbs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 large Onion- chopped
3 scallions- chopped
3 cloves of garlic- chopped
1 stalk of celery- chopped
1/2 green pepper- chopped
1/2 yellow pepper- chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper- chopped
lettuce and tomato
Melt a tablespoon of butter into a skillet. Add veggies and and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Sauteed for about 6-10 minutes until onions are almost translucent. Once cooked put into a large bowl.
In the same skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon of butter, your cut and lightly seasoned (w/ salt & pepper) shrimp and 1/2 tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning (more to taste). Cook until on a medium heat for roughly 10 minutes until pink but do not over cook.
Once fully cooked, pop them on over into the bowl with the veggies.
Now I thought I had bread crumbs but didn't when I peeked in my cabinet. I did realize that I had hot dog buns from a BBQ though; so I toasted those and cut them into small pieces and crumbled them up with my hands. Of course you can use store bought bread crumbs but be sure to adjust the salt you add because they can be salty.Once fully cooked, pop them on over into the bowl with the veggies.
Add all but about 1/2 a cup of your bread crumbs to the bowl and leave the rest aside for when you are making the burgers themselves. Those you may want to zap in the food processor.
Then, add your drained and flaked crab into the bowl with the veggies and shrimp. Fresh is always better but more expensive...it's a damn recession so I used the canned OK...I know...very unlike me. Shut Up! Lil Richard style...
OK, now beat 2 of your eggs but don't add them until you have tasted your shrimp and crab burger mixture...don't need salmonella now do we people? Once you've got it to your liking, add your eggs and fully mix everything together. You can put that in the fridge to set for a little while before you form you patties if you have time.
I was only only making one for myself so I just popped the first one into the freezer while I made my others to freeze or refrigerate for the rest of the week.
I covered them with that Glad Press'n Seal, which I must say is nice product but you have to use a lot for it to work and it ain't cheap.
If you want to make these for a much later a later date, you can mix everything but the eggs and then refrigerate or freeze the shrimp, crab and veggie mix until you want to make then and then form the burgers once you have added the freshly beaten eggs.
I mixed my bread crumbs with a little bit of flour to be sure they held together. Take your formed patties and either place them into the flour and breadcrumb mixture (flipping them of course) or dust them with them while the patties are in your hands. Don't be afraid if they are falling apart a little, just dust them in your hands and set aside. If they are really falling apart you may need to add more egg.
Place the patties into a hot skillet with butter and cook on eat side for around 4-7 minutes depending on thickness.
I had my burgers on a toasted English Muffin and because I'm a sauce and spice freak I decided to make some Wasabi Mayo since I had bottle someone bought me ages ago.
For that I mixed, 1 tablespoon of Wasabi Powder, 3 tablespoons of Miracle Whip and, a tablespoon of Pickapeppa Sauce...thanks Kia...
Now onto the zucchini. Super easy.
6- 7 sage leaves
1 zucchini
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
1 table spoon of butter
salt and pepper to taste
Sage is a nice flavor but it is not necessary or can be substituted for thyme or rosemary. I only used it because while hacking down the jungle that was the my side yard, I found a thriving sage plant.
Sage is a very porous plant so I soaked it in water with a touch of salt for a few minutes and then rinsed each leaf under a running faucet to be sure it was completely clean of grit. Clean it like it's little collard greens...
Once clean, lay the sage leaves on top of each other and slice....
Zest your lemon
Put the sage and lemon zest in skillet with a teaspoon of olive oil and allow to saute on a low flame.
Clean and slice a whole zucchini and place into skillet with sage a olive oil, in one layer if possible.
Voila...Dinner is Served!
.....Dag that went fast...
