Snappy! Steal this chef’s creative crab recipe

In this special weekly feature, “Today” food editor Phil Lempert brings you recipes “stolen” (with permission) from notable restaurants across America. See how much money you can save — and fun you can have — by cooking these dishes at home!

THIS WEEK: Crispy Dungeness Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Beet & Fuji Apple Salad with Meyer Lemon Sour Cream, from Yankee Pier in Larkspur, Calif.

Dungeness crabs, which are fished all along the Pacific Coast from December to April, get their name from the town of Dungeness, Wash., where they were harvested commercially for the first time. They are best fresh but are available frozen all year at most supermarkets.

At Yankee Pier in Larkspur, Calif. — a cozy restaurant just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco in Marin County — chef Phil Conde offers us his special recipe for Crispy Dungeness Crab Cakes.

About the chef:
Sociology or cooking? That was young Phil Conde’s career dilemma.

He chose the latter, of course, and after finishing a bachelor's degree in sociology at San Francisco State, Conde decided to attend the California Culinary Academy.

After graduation, Phil worked under Ola Fendert at Plouf in San Francisco, where, he says, he learned that you could be a good chef while at the same time remain approachable and mellow in the kitchen.

From there, Conde joined the team at The Grand Cafe at The Hotel Monaco, a luxury hotel near Union Square, where he worked with chef Denis Soriano.

He then accepted another Bay Area position, this time with Bradley Ogden's Lark Creek Restaurant Group at One Market, and became mentored by Ogden and chef Adrian Hoffman. After a brief stint at the Lark Creek Café in San Mateo, now closed, Phil sailed into Yankee Pier.

(PLEASE NOTE: Ingredient prices are estimates and based on national averages. Amounts listed are for one portion. Increase proportionately according to number of portions desired.)

($22.95 at Yankee Pier; cook-at-home cost is $ 8.11)

Crispy Dungeness Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Beet and Fuji Apple Salad with Meyer Lemon Sour Cream

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ounces Dungeness crabmeat ($3.99)

• 1 cup very fine breadcrumbs ($0.08)

• 1 tablespoon red onion, minced ($0.05)

• 1 tablespoon red bell pepper, minced ($0.07)

• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, chopped ($0.12)

• 4 tablespoons lemon juice ($0.28)

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise ($0.22)

• 1 large red beet ($0.40)

• 1 Fuji apple, diced ($0.45)

• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced ($0.22)

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice ($0.07)

• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil ($0.14)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil ($0.03)

• 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce ($0.89)

• 1 Meyer lemon, juiced ($0.80)

• 1/4 cup sour cream ($0.30)

Recipe continues below ↓

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Start by steaming the crab legs in a large pot; about 10 minutes. (If frozen, follow directions on packaging.) Next, remove the meat from the shells and allow it to chill in the cooler. (One pound of crab legs yields about 6 ounces of crabmeat.)

Fold together the crabmeat, red onion, red pepper, cilantro and lemon juice, then add the mayonnaise and mix until the crab is bound together. Mold the crab mixture into 2-inch-diameter cakes.

Coat each cake with the breadcrumbs and set aside.

Place the beet in a roasting pan. Add some water, salt and pepper to the pan, cover with foil and roast in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours. Remove the foil and allow the beet to cool. Once it is cool enough to handle, use gloves to peel and dice the beet. Toss the diced beets, apples and red onion together, then coat the mixture with the lemon juice and extra virgin oil.

Heat a sauté pan with the vegetable oil and fry the cakes until golden brown. Cook 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Reserve the cakes in the oven until plate is ready for service.

Next, fold the sour cream and the Meyer lemon juice together, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. (The Meyer lemon, originally from China, is believed to be a cross between a regular lemon and an orange. In America, they are grown in California’s Central Valley, as well as Texas and Florida. Peak season to find these hybrid lemons is November, December and January. Regular lemon juice can be used when Meyer lemons are unavailable.)

Finally, place the sour cream mixture on the plate, then top with the shredded romaine lettuce, beet salad and crab cakes.

MANAGE YOUR RECIPES

Want to nominate your favorite restaurant dish for a "Steal This Recipe" feature? Just e-mail Phil at (or use the mail box below) with the name of the restaurant, city and state, and the dish you would like to have re-created. Want to know more about Phil and food? Visit his Web site at www.supermarketguru.com.

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