Weight Watchers Crab Cakes

“You are too funny,” came the voice as I took pictures of the crab cakes.

“Hey, you’re going to miss this when we move!”

“You ain’t kidding!  What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Crab Cakes.  Want some?”

“No, not this time.  I’m really picky about crab cakes.  I like more filler, less crab.”

I looked up to see if she was kidding.  She wasn’t.  (This whole exchange was with my neighbor, through her kitchen window, by the way).  Who wants crab cakes with less crab?  Apparently, she does.

We’ve lived here a little over two years now, and she’s grown used to seeing me on the deck, taking pictures of our meals regularly.  Nick runs over there once or twice a week, with something straight from our table.  We have a good bartering system.  She takes care of my garden and I take care of an occasional dinner, dessert or pregnancy craving.  It’s perfect trade-off.

But seriously, a crab cake with less crab?  Still shaking my head over that one.  That’s what the restaurants do to save money … skimp on the crab and ante up more bread crumbs.  Who knew that would become something that people have a taste for?

I got this recipe for Weight Watchers Crab Cakes from a co-worker a few years ago, and they first made an appearance at our annual New Years’ Eve Seafood Feast (here and here and wait, here too – wow, three years worth; didn’t realize that we had been making them that long, and goodness my pictures sucked back then, sometimes it’s painful to go back and peek!).

I had a hankering for crab last week so they hit the table yet again.  I like this recipe because it’s fairly forgivable if you do a little tweaking here and there.  This time, to use up some frozen ingredients, I used green bell pepper instead of the red, and made larger dinner size crab cakes instead of the mini size that the recipe calls for.

Perfect … a crab cake without the guilt … or the extra filler – dig in!

Weight Watchers Crab Cakes

¼ cup reduced fat mayo
Large egg
1/3 finely chopped shallots
1/3 finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
½ teaspoon salt
6 slices white bread made into fine crumb (I used Weight Watchers wheat bread)
1 lb cooked lump crab meat
1¼ teaspoons olive oil

Combine mayo, egg, shallots, pepper, lemon juice, thyme, & salt. Add 1 1/3 cup bread crumbs and crab meat. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hrs. Form crab mixture into 24 mini crab cakes. Coat with remaining bread crumbs. Place on wax paper. Preheat oven to 350. Spray non-stick baking sheet with fat free spray. Over medium high heat, heat oil. Add 8 of the crab cakes and cook until golden, 1½ to 2 min on each side. Transfer to baking sheet. Repeat until all crab cakes are made. Bake until cooked through 8-10 minutes.