The Dark Match Eats – Extreme Rules 2017 Edition – Baltimore, MD

Welcome to the inaugural post of The Dark Match Eats. For upcoming PPVs, we will post a recipe made by one of The Dark Match contributors and inspired by the city the show is being held in. For tonight’s WWE Extreme Rules, Baltimore, Maryland plays host, and what is more Baltimore than Crab Cakes?

So I set out to make my own crab cakes, and here’s what I came up with:

The Dark Match Crab Cakes (Makes 4 3″ CrabCakes)

• 8 oz Crab Meat (Up to you, can be real or imitation) crumbled
• 1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• 2 tablespoons Plain Greek Yogurt (as a mayo substitute)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1.5 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 Egg
• 1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1/4 cup Cooking Oil (your choice, I had Canola on hand)

Crumble crab meat into a large mixing bowl.  Add bread crumbs, toss together.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg.  Add yogurt, dijon mustard, and worcestershire sauce to egg bowl, mixing well.  Pour mixture over crab/bread crumbs.  Mix well, don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.  Treat it like your mom used to treat that meatloaf that you still think about when you want comfort food.

When mixed, separate mixture into fourths.  Ball up each fourth and pat into a patty as you would a hamburger.  Set on a plate.  Repeat for the other three.  When all four have been patted out, place plate in refrigerator and allow crabcakes to sit for about twenty minutes.  This will give the egg a chance to really bind everything together.  Spring Old Bay Seasoning over top.

When ready, heat oil over medium in fry pan.  Carefully place each patty into the oil when it is hot.  Cook the first side for about three minutes, then slowly flip them over and allow the other side to cook for about three minutes.  If the oil was hotter than it needed to be, you’ll get significant popping when you place the cakes in, so turn it down and flip early.  You can always flip it back, but you can undo burnt crab cakes.

Remove from oil onto a paper plate, allowing it to sit for a moment to remove the excess oil, then plate.  I plated with homemade Sweet Potato Chips (recipe to follow), Ketchup for chips and Cocktail Sauce for Crabcakes.  They were delightful.

And enjoy.

Sweet Potato Chips:

• 2 Sweet Potatoes (sliced 1/8-1/4 inch thick, I used a mandolin)
• 2 tablespoons Cooking Oil
• Pinch of Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Slice potatoes into large bowl, pour in oil and toss, ensuring that chips are coated.  Place on baking pan.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place in Oven.  After 15-ish minutes (I was watching NXT while cooking, I can’t promise its exact by any means), pull out and flip chips.  Put back in oven.  After another 15 minutes, chips should appear crispy.  Note: Cooking times will vary if you cut them thicker, my mandolin is cheap so it sort of gives and a few of the chips end up thick while others are smaller.  They will begin to look crispy well before they begin to burn.

Remove from oven, serve with ketchup.  Yum!

And that’s your first Dark Match Eats post.  Keep following The Dark Match, as we’ve got a load of exciting new content coming your way in the second half of 2017.