Recipes Discovered

Crab Cakes with Corn Maque Choux and Tomato Jam Recipe

I have a habit of wanting to make everything I see a TV chef make, regardless of the chef. I happen to catch a glimpse of Emeril Lagasse making his “famous” crab cakes that he serves at his new restaurant in Mississippi, and I knew right away I would end up trying to make them myself. Not that trying to make something Emeril makes is a bad thing, just usually a time consuming one. The crab cakes were actually fairly simple, although I found it difficult to keep them from falling apart. Pressing them firmly into the bread crumbs seemed to help, but they still wanted to fall apart in the pan. Maque Choux (pronounced ‘mock shoe’) is a traditional Louisiana dish composed of corn, bell pepper, onions, garlic, celery, and sometimes tomatoes. After the veggies were sauteed, I added milk for a little richness. The tomato jam was simply tomatoes, vinegar, and sugar simmered together until it turned into jam. All together, this made a wonderful dish. The crab cakes were a little bland on there own (maybe more seasoning?), but combined with the corn and tomato jam, they were excellent. I love corn, so I really enjoyed the maque choux, but the highlight of the dish was actually the tomato jam. It added such a flavor punch to the dish, and I would definitely double the recipe for it next time, so there is more than a small dollop. The meal wasn’t difficult to make, but it did take a lot of time. It tasted great though, so I guess that is the trade off that makes it worth it in the end.