Crab Cakes Benedict with Lemon Basil Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

Crab Cakes: Drain crabmeat in a sieve and pick through to remove any cartilage. In a large bowl, gently mix together the crab, bread crumbs, egg, red pepper, mayonnaise, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into 8 patties, adding the milk if needed to help the mixture hold together.

Place a small amount of flour in a shallow dish and season with salt and pepper. Dredge patties in flour. Spray a large non-stick skillet with vegetable spray and heat over medium heat. Cook patties until golden, about 5 minutes per side.

Lemon Basil Hollandaise Sauce: Pour water and lemon juice over the bread crumbs; let stand for about 5 minutes until crumbs absorb all the liquid and become mushy.

In a blender or food processor, mix the soaked bread crumbs until it turns into a paste. With the motor running, drizzle in warm melted butter as thin a stream as possible and process until mixture thickens slightly. Taste and add salt if necessary. Add basil leaves and pulse a few times until the basil is chopped and incorporated.

Serve poached eggs on top of the crab cakes, lightly drizzled with hollandaise sauce.

Makes 8 servings.

Tip: In this lightened version of hollandaise, soaked bread is used as an emulsifier in place of the traditional egg yolks and large quantity of butter, for a savings of more than 50 grams of fat (mostly saturated) and 450 calories!