Panko-breaded crab cakes

The recipe featured today is the ULTIMATE go-to dish for bachelors... and bachelorettes. A little over two years ago I invited a special lady over for dinner on our first date. People who have tasted my food know that I rarely make the same dish twice because I like to experiment with new flavors and techniques. These crab cakes however, are perfect the way they are. Naturally, this was the first thing that came to mind when I wanted to impress the special lady who eventually became my wife. I highly recommend these crab cakes for dates, anniversaries or any day that ends in "y" (ie. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc...). My only caution is to only make these crab cakes for someone you truly care about because it may just seal your fate.

Ingredients: 1 pound canned lump or claw crab meat, ½ cup yogurt, 3 large egg whites, 1 cup panko bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ cup green onion, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a pan with olive oil. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, egg whites, Dijon mustard, olive oil, green onion and ½ cup of the panko bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Next, add the crab meat to the wet mixture. In the picture shown above, canned claw crab meat was used instead of lump crab meat because claw meat typically costs half as much yet tastes the same. Give the mixture a light toss. Be careful not to break up the crab meat. 

Pour the other ½ cup of panko bread crumbs on a plate. Form the crab mixture into 8 equal-sized cakes. Place the cakes one at a time through the panko bread crumbs so that it is evenly coated on both sides. Place the cakes on the pan coated with olive oil. Place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the cakes and place back in the oven for 5 minutes or until they are golden brown. Serve with a side of lemon or over your favorite salad.

Makes 4 servings (2 crab cakes each), each serving contains approximately:

204 calories, 39 calories from fat, 4 g fat, 125 mg cholesterol, 350 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 

1 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 35 g protein

Compare with two servings (one crab cake each) of jumbo lump crab cakes at Ruby Tuesday:

790 calories, 58 g fat, 2074 mg sodium, 40 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 35 g protein

Data obtained from www.rubytuesday.com on December 23, 2011.