Crab cakes are an almost perfect morning food—easy on the palate, and not too heavy in the stomach. The addition of corn kernels and creamed corn adds just a bit of sweetness and texture without overwhelming the delicate flavor of the crab. Although fresh is always better, these cakes can be made out of cans from your pantry if you've got last-minute company. And if you're the type of person who shucks and freezes fresh corn in the summer, this is a worthy use of that precious summer corn. More

It did feel a little bit funny cooking this dish for dinner in January, since crab cakes remind me of summer more than anything else. But maybe that's actually the perfect reason to prepare this classic from the New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook, which opts for an egg and a minimum of breadcrumbs to tie it all together. More

While ingredient lists for crab cakes need not be long, a lot of recipes call for things like homemade mayonnaise, a bevy of aromatics, or spices you don't necessarily have on hand. Would Crate & Barrel's Chesapeake Crab Cake Mix ($3.95) streamline the process without compromising flavor? More

After reading Yotam Ottolenghi's Three Course Dinner in Just Four Tins, which consisted of canned corn, smoked oysters, stewed tomatoes, and pineapple, I couldn't help but try to finagle my own three-course creation using four canned foods and basic pantry items. Typically, I use very few canned goods in my culinary quests, however, should I ever come down with a case of agoraphobia—or perhaps a recession riot leaves my local grocery store empty—I better be prepared to keep up my reputation in the kitchen. For my sanity, let's just assume that I keep the basics at hand, including (but not limited to): a bread or cracker of some sort, garlic, olive oil, butter, salt and pepper. So without further... More