Crab Cakes and Caesar Salad

Ingredients

Caesar Salad:

• 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1/2 cup
• 4 flat anchovy fillets, drained
• 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 head baby romaine lettuce
• 1 coddled egg
• 4 long focaccia croutons, crushed, recipe follows

Crab Cakes:

• 4 spring onions
• 2 teaspoons chopped chives
• 14 ounces crab meat
• Salt and pepper
• 4 ounces mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 8 ounces fresh white bread crumbs
• Olive oil
• 8 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 bunch chives, cleaned
• 2 ounces black olives, pitted
• 2 teaspoons grain mustard
• 4 ounces fish cream sauce, recipe follows
• 8 slices cooked lobster tail meat
• Focaccia croutons, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crush the garlic in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the anchovies into the bowl and mash until a paste forms. Add the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. Mix well and add the cheese. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Add the romaine lettuce and toss lightly. Break the coddled egg into the bowl and toss thoroughly to mix the ingredients well. Add the croutons and toss again. Chill until ready to serve.

To make the crab cakes, finely chop the spring onion and chives. Mix with the hand, add picked crab meat, season, and add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Scale out 4-ounce portions of the crab mixture and mould into a patty form and coat in fresh white bread crumbs. Refrigerate crab cakes for at least 2 hours to set.

Using a large pan, fry the crab cakes in a little olive oil until golden brown and then place in the oven or under grill for 5 minutes.

To plate, dress crab cakes on a bed of chopped tomatoes, chives, and black olives. Combine the mustard with the fish cream sauce and surround the plate. Finish with a layer of Caesar salad and top with slices of the cooked lobster and focaccia croutons.

Fish Cream Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 ounces fish stock
• 4 ounces heavy cream

In a saucepan, saute the shallots in the butter until aroma is apparent. Add the fish stock and allow to reduce by half. Add the heavy cream and allow to reduce until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Focaccia croutons:

• 1 medium Focaccia loaf, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Place the thinly sliced focaccia on a baking sheet. Drizzle each piece with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and place the oven for 1 hour to dry out. Crumble and set aside until ready to use.