Welcome back to Just Five, a column where we share recipes for refined and delicious dishes that use just five ingredients, excluding butter, oil, salt and pepper, of course. There’s just one rule of thumb: Always choose the highest quality ingredients, as each will stand out in the recipes we feature. I love the concept of cake – crab, salmon, tuna (or for that matter, chocolate, yellow and marble) – so when I saw a recipe for Landlubber Crab Cakes made with butternut squash and bacon (and no crab), I was intrigued. Of course, I know that bacon makes everything better. But I had also become interested in the concept of frying raw butternut squash; I’ve always just roasted it or cooked it in broth for soup. And boy was I right. The earthy sweetness of the squash with the salty pancetta are a perfect pairing. And the lime mayonnaise? I didn’t anticipate how such a simple pairing could be so good, from the flavor to the color to the beautiful melding of bright and creamy. I have just one request: Please do not use salad dressing with these; use mayonnaise. Trust me on this one, you won’t regret it. These make wonderful appetizers or would be great on a spinach salad. Actually, I expect if you thinned out the lime mayonnaise with some buttermilk and sour cream, you’d have a great dressing for that salad.
Landlubber No-Crab Cakes Serves 4 as an entrée or 8 as an appetizer
Adapted by Dee Ryan from a recipe by Niki Segnit, originally published in The Flavor Thesaurus 4 slices pancetta or bacon
2 cups grated butternut squash (about one medium squash)
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
2 to 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise, plus another ½ cup for sauce, divided
1 lime, juiced and zested
Vegetable or canola oil
Salt to taste
• Cook pancetta or bacon over medium heat until crisp and drain on paper towels.
• Combine grated butternut squash, crumbled pancetta, panko and 2 to 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise in a bowl until all ingredients are well incorporated.
• Form patties using about ¼ cup of the mixture for each so that the patty is no thicker than about half of an inch. Refrigerate the formed patties for 30 minutes to set up.
• Heat about ¼ cup of oil in a skillet, and fry the patties, in batches if necessary, for about 2 minutes per side. Remove and drain on paper towels.
• Mix remaining mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of lime zest, and serve it as a dipping sauce.
This article appears in March 2011.