Cute Little Crab Cakes for an Even Cuter Couple

I've been keeping an old issue of Bon Appetit handy for about a year now. It's the April '09 issue, and I've got about six recipes from it tabbed. The cover is bright yellow and features this beautiful, fresh looking salad that makes you crave spring. Other standouts are recipes for Tagliatelle with Baby Vegetables and Lemon-Parmesan Sauce; Ramp and Buttermilk Biscuits with Cracked Coriander; Mini Crab Cakes; Pasta with Peas; Asparagus, Butter, Lettuce and Prosciutto and Vanilla Bean-Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine does every time I open the copy.

I've been waiting for the right time to bust one of these out. Last weekend brought an engagement party for the adorable Mr. and (soon-to-be) Mrs. Roberts, and Seattle showed up with some incredible weather for the occasion. Sun, blue skies, warm air. Ideal. I'd offered to bring some snacks and decided it was the perfect time to finally give one of these spring-inspired recipes I'd been saving for who knows what a whirl.

Dessert was covered, and the pasta dishes seemed awkward for a cocktail party. The biscuits didn't feel right. And so I went with the crab cakes. They were bite-sized and looked kinda cute in the photos. They also meant I got to buy mini muffin pans. Sold! The boy and I were just saying we needed for them for the Jambalaya cakes he attempted for a Mardis Gras party back in February. That mission and, um, result is another story.

These crab cakes were actually pretty easy. The recipe calls for cream cheese and sour cream to help with the binding. Both also add to the flavor, as do the lemon zest, the orange zest and the chives it includes. And while the cakes probably would have been fine on their own, I made a spicy remoulade for dipping...mainly because I like sauces and excuses to use little ramekins.

I'd dare say both the cakes and the remoulade turned out well. But the better turn out was most definitely the 40+ people who showed up to celebrate the future bride and groom. Champagne was flowing, people were mingling and the happy, fun-loving couple seemed, well, happy. A perfect way to spend an early spring evening.

Up next is those cupcakes. I might try to make them bite-sized so I can get another use out of my new mini-muffin pans.