Feeling Crabby?

I WAS. The weather was reminiscent of a late fall day – rainy and chilly. My latest golf game was miserable (‘I spent more time on the sand than David Hasselhoff’), the living room was waiting to be vacuumed and I had a big pile of shirts waiting to be ironed.

Fortunately for me AND Mr. Charlestown Culinary, there was a cure. And of course this cure involved food! With three key ingredients - golden ripe champagne mangoes, a tub of fresh crab meat and a mint bush growing on the fire escape – I was able to turn my blues around with a vibrant dinner of ginger crab cakes with a mango mojito salad. Now if only I could figure out a recipe to improve my golf game...

Charlestown Culinary’s Mango Mojito Salad

2 ripe champagne mangoes, diced
½ lime, juiced
¼ cup red onion, diced
¼ cup cucumber, diced
10 mint leaves, shredded
Red pepper flakes
Sea salt

In a large bowl, combine mangoes, lime juice, red onion, cucumber and mint leaves. Stir well. Add red peppers flakes and salt, to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature at least one hour before serving.

HINT: Check out this link, for great instructions on how to dice a mango.

Charlestown Culinary’s Ginger Crab Cakes

8 ounces cooked crab meat (for best results DO NOT use canned)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1/3 cup panko crumbs
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ lime, juiced
½ teaspoon lime zest
Chipotle Tabasco sauce, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine crab, ginger, panko, mayonnaise, lime juice and lime zest. Mix gently. Add remaining ingredients to taste and mix gently. Dived crab mixture into four equal portions. Using a ramekin or round cookie cutter, form crab mixture into round cakes, and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven until crab cakes are golden brown, about 25 minutes. For best results, flip over crab cakes halfway through cooking.