LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Add warmth to the holidays with Southwest crab or shrimp cakes


Southwest Crab and Shrimp Cakes Photo Susie Iventosch

This is the time of year when I start to think about new crab recipes. For some reason, January and crab go together in my mind and crab cakes came up in conversation at a recent holiday luncheon. Oddly enough, this conversation was prompted by the delivery of a lovely slice of tiramisu.

Lynn Ballou, who writes Lynn's Top Five, a column offering financial planning advice, told me she'd love to travel the globe in search of the perfect tiramisu and crab cakes. In fact, when she and her colleague, Marilyn Plum, first met they attended many business luncheons together and very quickly discovered that Marilyn always gravitated toward the crab cakes on the menu, while Lynn was tempted by the tiramisu.

"Our favorite place to have both was the wonderful restaurant in Walnut Creek - Speidini's, which is no longer there, but a favorite for both of us," Lynn recounted.

Now that Marilyn is semi-retired, she's traveling the globe and Lynn says that instead of sending pictures of herself and her husband in some famous, far-away destination, she sends photos of the most amazing crab cakes or tiramisu they've enjoyed along the journey.

I really love this idea and would love to join in the adventure, but in the meantime, I traveled to my kitchen put together a recipe that works both for shrimp and crab cakes. I had never made shrimp cakes before, and they were awesome. We served them with blue cheese-yogurt dressing spiced up with hot sauce. Just add a salad, and you have a beautiful dinner ready to go.

If you have a favorite crab cake or tiramisu recipe, or have had an amazing one in a local restaurant or in your travels that you'd like to share, please email it to me so we can expand our quest!

Cooking Term of the Week

Timbale

Timbale is a drum-shaped mold that is slightly tapered toward the bottom. Usually the food that is made in this mold is a custard-based recipe that is turned out of the mold before serving. Both the dish itself and the recipe made in the dish are referred to as a timbale. A timbale can also be a high-sided pie crust that holds meat or fruit.