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Which recipe will win this seafood showdown? It's all up to you. Vote "crab cakes" or "cioppino" in the comments below.

Baltimore Crab Cakes with Spicy Rémoulade

This spicy crab cake recipe one of the regional highlights from our "All-American Hot and Spicy Favorites" recreational cooking class.

Yield: Serves 4

Crab Cakes

Ingredients

• ½ pound jumbo lump crab meat, picked over (leave in large chunks)
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped red pepper
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne
• Tabasco, several dashes (to taste)
• 2 to 4 tablespoons bread crumbs, to bind
• Panko breadcrumbs for coating crab cakes
• Canola oil for sautéing
• Lemon wedges for garnish

Instructions

1. Combine crab meat, red pepper, shallots and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and egg; season with cayenne and Tabasco.
3. Gently stir into crab mixture and mix to combine.
4. Stir in 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs and if necessary to make the crab cakes hold together, add in another 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs.
5. Form into 4 crab cakes and coat with panko. Refrigerate until ready to fry.
6. Preheat oven to 350º F
7. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add enough canola oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add in crab cakes and cook over medium-high heat until the crab cakes are lightly golden about 2 minutes. Flip crab cakes over and continue cooking another 2 minutes on the other side, or until lightly golden.
8. Transfer to a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake the crab cakes 10 minutes to cook through.

Spicy Remoulade

Yield: about 1 pint

Ingredients

• 1½ cups mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped cornichons
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped chervil
• 1 tablespoon chopped tarragon
• 1 tablespoon, Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 to 4 dashes Tabasco

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, capers, cornichons, chives, chervil, tarragon, mustard, anchovy paste, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Cover the sauce with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use (overnight, if necessary).

San Francisco Cioppino

We can thank Italian immigrants for putting “cioppino” on the culinary American map. Chef Renee Marton has generously shared this recipe from her "Fishing for Soups" cooking class.

Yield: 8 servings Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 anchovies
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 cups celery, medium diced
• 2 cups carrots, medium diced
• 2 medium onions, medium dice
• 2 cups red wine
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1.5 quarts homemade fish or shrimp stock
• 1 28 oz can diced fresh tomatoes, pureed until chunky, sauce-like consistency
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper, ground
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 16 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
• 16 littleneck clams, cleaned
• 1 lb 16/20 shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1.5-2 lbs white, firm-fleshed fish: cod, halibut, monkfish, cut into 2-inch cubes.

Just before serving

• 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• a sprinkle of grated nutmeg
• Two baguettes, sliced and baked with dried herbs, salt, and olive oil until toasted.

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil over medium flame. Add onions, carrots, celery, and anchovies. Cook until soft but not brown.
2. Add garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme. Lower heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add nutmeg, bay leaves, and cayenne pepper. Cook for 1 minute.
3. Add red wine. Wait 4 minutes, then add fish stock, red wine vinegar and half the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and reduce by 40%. Add rest of tomatoes if the broth doesn’t seem thick enough or needs to be a bit sweeter, and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
4. Add clams and simmer for 7 minutes. Reduce heat to just under a simmer and add mussels, fish, and shrimp. Cook another 5-6 minutes. The shells should be open and the shrimp and fish pieces opague, but not curled or smaller than when you put them in the pot. Remove any of the mussels or clams that did not open.
5. Just before serving, add parsley, lemon zest, and nutmeg. Stir everything together.

Serve in wide soup bowls, with toasted baguette slices. While it is not necessary, Renee likes to serve this cioppino with a drizzle of cilantro/pine nut pesto.