Artichoke Cakes
when crab is breaking the bank
As I mentioned in my last post, we are going through our first sleep regression and everything feels hard right now. It’s worse than ever…complete nap refusal at home, coming into our room at all hours (how I rue the day we put her into a big girl bed!), and just general crankiness that has us all on edge.
To make matters worse, Ridley told me the other day: “you don’t like to make me good things to eat.” Talk about literally adding insult to injury.
In reality, I’d been thinking about this recipe for a while, and Ridley did, in fact, eat all of it when I served it for dinner. Small wins like this are feeling extra big right now. She then asked me to put it in her snack box the next day (the best kind of compliment) and, of course, did not eat any of it.
We love eating crab in our household, and buy cases of frozen crab legs from H-Mart when they’re on sale. But crab is expensive, so I dreamed up this version of a crab cake, which uses canned artichoke hearts instead. I bought the canned artichokes about 3 weeks ago, and finally made it this week. Honestly, this is probably one of the best “from dreams to reality” recipes I’ve made.
Though I made this version more in the flavor profile of a classic Maryland crab cake, I’ll definitely be making them again with more fresh herbs and citrus (thinking a dill, mint, chive and lemon version!). This time, I served the artichoke cakes (fritters?) with a tomato poached salmon (recipe coming soon), but we also had a little lemon-y mayo to dip the cakes in, because who doesn’t love a dip. Just add some of your leftover lemon juice to your favorite mayo and serve.
2 ea 14 oz cans artichoke hearts
½ c mayo
½ ea lemon, juiced
1 ea egg
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp kosher salt
1 c panko breadcrumbs
Drain the cans of artichoke hearts, and squeeze out any liquid inside of the artichokes. It’s okay if this crushes them a bit. Remove any tougher outer leaves. Roughly chop the artichokes and add to a large mixing bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, lemon juice, egg, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay and salt. Fold into the artichokes gently, then sprinkle the breadcrumbs in and fold in as well.
Place the bowl uncovered in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Once the artichoke mixture has rested, form into patties about ⅓ cup in size (this recipe makes 8) and place on the baking sheet. Put the baking sheet back in the fridge for another 20-30 minutes to set.
Place a large saute pan over medium high heat and then pour in ½ cup of neutral cooking oil. Once the oil is shimmering, fry the artichoke cakes in batches. Cook about 3 minutes each side, until golden, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Let cool slightly then serve with your favorite creamy and tangy dipping sauce.
Serve as you would yourself.
Let cool, and serve in large pieces that are easy for your little one to grasp. If you have a really new eater, you may want to really finely chop the artichokes, instead of roughly chopping, to make sure there are no chokeable pieces.