The Sawmill Inn Restaurant & Pub Crab Cakes

Valerie P., Waukesha, requested the recipe for crab cakes served at The Sawmill Inn Restaurant & Pub, Richfield.

She wrote: “They have the best food ever. But my favorite thing to eat there is their crab cakes. Please get the recipe.”

George W. Boggs, owner and head groundskeeper, sent the recipe and wrote: “My wife, Holly, and I put these crab cakes together after trying a number of different recipes. We merged some of the best parts of three that we enjoyed the most. (Although she always tells me I added too much corn.)

“We make a lot of crab cakes here in our kitchen and we offer them on our appetizer menu, in a wonderful and popular breakfast called Millie’s Crab Benedict (we serve breakfast all day around here) and as a dinner entrée with some homemade soup or salad.”

The Sawmill Inn Restaurant & Pub Crab Cakes

Recipe tested by Joanne Kempinger Demski

Makes about 12

• ¼ cup plus 1 ½ teaspoons butter
• ½ tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 cup diced red bell pepper
• 6 green onions (white and some green), minced
• ¾ cups frozen corn
• 2 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
• 1 ½ eggs
• 1 ½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
• ½ tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 ½ tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
• 1 ½ pounds good-quality crabmeat, drained
• Butter to sauté crab cakes

In a medium sauté pan, melt butter. When hot, add garlic, red pepper and green onions and cook, stirring regularly, about 2 minutes. Do not let mixture brown. When done, set aside and let cool completely.

Combine all remaining ingredients except crab and mix well. Add to cooled onion/pepper mixture. Fold in crabmeat. Do not overmix. There should be some lumps of crabmeat in these patties.

Form into patties using a ½-cup measure. Press mixture together tightly so cakes hold together while they cook.

In a large sauté pan, heat about 2 tablespoons butter. Add about half the crab cakes and cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes per side or until golden on both sides and heated through.

Add more butter as needed while cooking and to finish remaining crab cakes.

Serve immediately with chipotle mayo dipping sauce.

To request a recipe, write “You Asked for It,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Box 371, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0371 or email jdemski@journalsentinel.com. Requests must include complete restaurant name, address and phone number (only businesses still in operation will be considered), as well as your name, address and phone number. (Names and addresses will be withheld upon request.) Column compiled by Joanne Kempinger Demski.