tell me more

I tried to make crab cakes yesterday (not a first attempt) and screwed it up with the wrong bread crumbs. Being lazy, I used store-bought bread crumbs, but neglected to note that they were “Italian” flavored. Hmm … I also should have used one egg instead of two, so I ended up with super salty, weirdly seasoned, runny cakes.

Not very tasty. The soup I turned them into, on the other hand, was quite good. So my rather hacked, but delicious cream of crab soup:

4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp mustard
1 egg
1/2 cup grated onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 pint heavy cream
1 pint skim milk
1 pound crab meat (canned is fine)
1/3 cup bread crumbs
parsley sprigs

Over low heat, melt butter slowly and whisk in flour. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and beaten egg; whisk until mixture is smooth. Add onions and garlic and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add cream and milk and bring everything to a boil. Add crab meat, bring to boil again, after which turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add bread crumbs. You can use more or less depending on desired consistency/thickness of soup. Bring mixture to boil, simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot and garnish with parsley.

If soup is too thick, you can thin by adding skim milk (or any milk really). If soup is too thin, you can thicken by reducing or by adding more bread crumbs or whisking in more flour/cornstarch. Everything should be brought back to a boil after adding any ingredients.