I know, I know, I know….it’s another recipe with crustaceans. But I trust if you’ve hung around me this long you know what to expect. Not only do I love crustaceans of all kinds, but they’re GOOD for you. They’re loaded with protein, but not in fat. Shrimp do have a a fair amount of cholesterol, but very little of your cholesterol level is actually influenced by food – it’s predominantly genetics. *But if your doc says reduce your cholesterol, try crab instead of shrimp* Naturally then, if you’re trying to reduce, seafood is a good choice and for me that choice is often shrimp or crab…and occasionally lobster.
The best crab cake I’ve ever eaten was at the Baltimore Yacht Club in Maryland. My brother and his family keep their boats there and it’s a place I love to visit. I don’t believe I’ve ever made a crab cake that came even close to that of BYC’s chef’s offering.
But I have never had a shrimp cake in a restaurant. Have you?
I don’t remember even seeing one – ever – on a menu and I’ve eaten at more than my fair share of seafood places. But I see shrimp cake recipes here, there and everywhere. Some emulate crab cakes, but with shrimp in crab’s place and some are built with a sweet potatoes and crab. I decided I’d start with the version that is purest to me – those close to crab cakes.
Turns out that shrimp cakes are a new favorites. Interestingly, they don’t taste as “shrimpy” as you might think. Don’t get me wrong, there is a shrimp flavor, but you also get the flavors of the things you blend with it. In this case, the pepper, hot sauce and lime juice were quite distinguishable and tasty. I think, like crab cakes, there are as many ways to make shrimp cakes as there are stars in the sky. Bread crumbs, crackers, panko, mustard, mayo, horseradish, lemon juice, lime juice, etc, the variations are quite extreme when you start poking around on the interwebs.
So grab your favorite flavors to pair with shrimp and throw these together like you do a crab cake. They were a hit. In fact, the next day I broke one apart to top a salad and it was just as good, if not better as a leftover. I’m a fan of anything that makes gets better overnight! We topped ours with a mix of corn, jalapeno, halved grape tomatoes and a little lime juice, but you can use whatever you have on hand.
- Serves: 5
- Serving size: 2 shrimp cakes
- Calories: 197
- Fat: 5.2g
- Saturated fat: 0.9g
- Unsaturated fat: 3.5g
- Carbohydrates: 14.4g
- Sugar: 1.2g
- Sodium: 236.7mg
- Fiber: 1.0g
- Protein: 21.5g
- Cholesterol: 178mg
- Cooking spray
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- ½ cup chopped red bell pepper
- ¼ cup chopped yellow onion
- ¼ cup sliced green onion, green tops only
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce (I use Frank’s)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- Place the shrimp and the blade of a food processor in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
- While the shrimp and blade are chilling, heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray to medium-high. Add the bell peppers and yellow onion to the pan, cooking for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sautee for another minute or until the garlic is quite aromatic.
- Add the shrimp to a food processor and pulse about 6-8 times until the shrimps chopped, but not pulverized.
- Add shrimp to the cooled mixture of peppers, onions and garlic. Also add the green onion, mayonnaise, lime juice, hot sauce, egg, cilantro, parsley and ⅓ cup of the Panko. Combine well.
- Shape the mixture into 10 cakes, coating each side with the remaining panko, and place on a plate and refrigerate for 1 hour. *The chilling step can be skipped, but the cakes will be more fragile and may more easily fall apart during the cooking process.
- Heat the large skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray again. Add the cakes – 4 to 5 will usually fit – and cook about 4-5 minutes per side or until the shrimp is cooked and the cakes hot throughout.
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