Crab Cake Sliders

The first time I ever made crab cakes from scratch, I used this recipe from Ina Garten {who has fabulous recipes}.  It is the only crab cake recipe I have ever used. And, I can say it will probably be the only I will ever use.  It is scrumptious.  Flavored by veggies, without a lot of filler, these are ever so tasty and moist.

A few notes about making these.  I have doubled the crab meat but only slightly increased some of the other ingredients, specifically the bread crumbs.  Thus, the mixture is very moist and can fall apart easily when pan frying.  Just trust me.  Pat the moist ingredient into balls and flatten slightly.  Place in pan with the hot oil and butter, and let them fry for 4 minutes before flipping.  Leave room in your pan to slide a spatula underneath each crab cake and then gently flip it over.  You will be rewarded with delicious crab cakes.

These are excellent bites size for sliders, but they are also delicious made into a normal size crab cake.  Our family enjoys these as sliders, with fondue, or with pasta and a salad.  Well, our family minus my four year old.  He told me he only likes crab salad.  I encouraged him to just try them, but he had an excuse. "I've had crab cakes before at Baskin Robins in ice cream.  I didn't like them," he stated confidently.  I don't remember that, but I am certain if I had crab cakes in ice cream, I would not like them either.

Crab Cake Sliders
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 small orange or red bell pepper, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp hot sauce {such as Tabasco}
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp crab seasoning {such as Old Bay}
1 lb lump crab meat
3/4 c bread crumbs
1/2 c mayonnaise
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 lg egg, lightly beaten
additional 3 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp oil for pan frying
36 mini potato rolls {usually sold in packs of 24}

Melt 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, and bell peppers seasoned with hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, crab seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Place crab, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, egg and cooled cooked veggies in a large bowl. Mix well to combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up slightly and make shaping crab cakes easier. After mixture is chilled, shape into bite size crab cakes.

Heat additional 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in pan. Pan fry crab cakes over medium heat about 4 minutes each side. Move to plate lined with paper towel to remove excess grease.

Assemble sliders by placing a crab cake on a cut roll. Top with tartar or remoulade sauce {my personal preference}. Serve with coleslaw. To have these for a crowd ahead of time, make the crab cakes the day before. Reheat, covered with foil, in a 325F oven for about 15 minutes, then assemble.

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