Donovan Lopez wanted to be one of three things when he was a kid: a professional cricket player, an accountant, or a chef. “Nothing else”, he says twice, emphasising that any other career was out of the question. He brings that kind of tenacity to everything that he does — always reaching for a precise outcome. 

“I chose to share this recipe because it’s been here for a while”, Lopez says as he flips through a notebook of reference recipes and recipes in development. The crab cake at Lone Star has transitioned from a mix of crab, fresh ginger and herbs to a new host of ingredients Lopez calls “more clever”. Each quality ingredient serves a specific purpose dedicated to flavour, texture, or colour. With pickled ginger, red and yellow peppers (not green, Lopez says, because the colour isn’t bright enough), and fresh cilantro, the crab cake currently on the Lone Star lunch menu is more pleasing to the eye. When you cut through the centre you can pick out each ingredient first with your eyes, and taste each in the medley of the cake’s soft, flaky interior.

Crab Fish Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Serves 4 (12 crab fish cakes)

Crab Fish Cakes

1 lb white crab
40g red onion
50g red bell pepper
50g yellow bell pepper
50g fresh cilantro
40g pickled ginger
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
Zest and juice of one lemon
2 eggs
½ cup flour
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1 red bell pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove
⅓ cup mayonnaise

Crab Fish Cakes

1. Set deep fryer to 350°F.

2. In a small bowl, sift through the crab meat for shells with your hands. Set aside.

3. Dice onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and finely chop coriander and pickled ginger. Set aside.

4. In a medium pan, sauté diced red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and red onion until onion is translucent. Set aside to cool.

5. In a large bowl, combine cooled red onion, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, pickled ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Mix into a paste.

6. Add chopped coriander to the crab meat. Gently mix with your hands. 

7. Add the paste to the crab meat. Gently mix with your hands until fully incorporated and let mixture set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

8. Shape 30g of set mixture into a sphere to form a crab cake. Repeat for the remaining mixture.

9. In a small bowl, whisk eggs. Then, pour flour and panko breadcrumbs on separate plates.

10. Coat each crab cake in flour and dip the coated crab cake in egg wash. Then, coat with panko breadcrumbs.

11. Drop the crab cakes into the heated deep-fryer and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Cut a red bell pepper in half and place it on a baking sheet. Brush the red bell pepper with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes or until the red bell pepper is soft. Set aside to cool.

3. Peel the skin off the cooled red bell pepper and remove the seeds and membrane.

4. Add roasted red bell pepper and a garlic clove to a food processor or blender and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Combine red bell pepper mixture and mayo.

1. The crab cakes at Lone Star are garnished with Granny Smith apples and curried crab. Garnish with your favourite crunchy ingredient to add more texture to each bite.

2. Lopez prefers spheres over patties for crab cakes because they can be plated on any dish for a beautiful presentation. You can mould your crab cakes into whatever shape you want.

3. The roasted red pepper sauce isn’t the only pairing for these crab cakes. Lopez also recommends tartare sauce, hot sauce, sriracha, chilli sauce, or garlic sauce.