oops

Well, I said I would post about mistakes...  I have been cooking so obsessively for so long, that I don't have many mistakes, but last night was the exception.  Saturday night I made a batch of  stuffed mushrooms to take to a party.  I had a bit of the filling left over, along with at least half of the beautiful jumbo lump crab meat I bought to make the mushrooms.  So I decided to use the leftover filling, add the rest of the crabmeat, another handful of breadcrumbs, and a bit more parmesan, and make crab cakes for Sunday night dinner.  So far, so good.

the formed crabcakes were pretty, and 

loaded with crab and good flavor

Well, I guess cheese is not necessarily a great binder for something that is going to be sauteed in oil.  Though the cakes had set up beautifully overnight in the fridge, after a few minutes in the sizzling pan, I had a mess.  The cheese was sticking to my spatula, and the crab cakes were breaking apart into lumpy piles of crispy crab meat.  The good news is, they still tasted good.  The bad news is, they looked like a train wreck on the plate.

ummm, crab lumps, anyone?

I think the lesson from my mistake is to add an egg to bind the breadcrumbs with the meat.  I think if I had thought to do that, and reduce the cheese a little, I would have had perfectly pretty little cakes.

The accompanying pasta with roasted red pepper sauce, however, was a complete success, and a perfect pairing with the crab.  Jim is encouraging me to take another stab at the crab cakes, since the flavor was so good, and he definitely voted a thumbs up on the red pepper sauce, which was a nice change from a tomato based sauce.

I started with long, thin tapered sweet red peppers they carry at Costco, called "Ancient Sweets".  I have no idea what type of pepper they are, and I have never seen them anywhere but Costco -- if you can find them, give them a try.  They are perfect for roasting, with a really intense, rich flavor.  Regular red bell peppers would work as well, and the easiest solution would be to simply use jarred, roasted red peppers, but be sure to rinse the brine off of those.  The easiest way to roast them, for me, is to put them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and run them under a hot broiler.  You do have to watch them fairly closely, and give them a turn, but they turn out nice and toasty, and the skins slip right off, after a quick rest in a covered bowl or a paper bag.

the skin slips right off of the roasted peppers --

an easy, though a bit messy, job

To mellow the bite of the garlic a bit, I simmered four cloves of garlic in about a cup of cream, along with a sprig of thyme, and a big pinch of red pepper flakes.  I had cream, so that is what I used.  Half and half would lighten the sauce a bit, but you have to be more careful, because if it comes up over a simmer, it will split and curdle.  I have read some recipes that even use non fat condensed milk, which I am going to try.  I'm sure it really cuts the calories.

fifteen minutes in the cream at a low simmer will

mellow the bite of the garlic without muting its 

flavor too much.

Once the cream has simmered, pluck out the thyme, and simply add the cream and peppers to a blender.

smooth, creamy, beautiful sauce is just 

a couple of minutes away

From the blender, the sauce goes back in the cream pan, to warm a little.  If it is too thick, just thin it with a bit of milk or water, add a little squeeze of fresh lemon juice for some brightness, and add salt to taste.

a bright, pretty sauce packed with flavor

When I make this, I make extra for the freezer.  It is great on pasta or gnocchi, would be good as a sauce for fish and seafood, and even as a dip for vegetables or chicken fingers.