Got a request a while back for the crab cakes they serve in the banquet operation at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa.

Chef Daniel LaGarde was kind enough to downsize the recipe for a home cook and send it to me so I could share it.

One key to making a good crab cake is lightness of hand. Don't overblend the seafood mixture. Don't beat it. Just gently fold the ingredients in together. For this reason, it's better to assemble and prep the ingredients beforehand and then put them in a single big bowl all at once, rather than adding one thing at a time and stirring in between additions.

To shape the cake, you can use your hands (wet them a little to prevent sticking) or two large serving spoons (pick up a spoonful, then use the other to round, mound and smooth).

For this, you can use frozen crabmeat, which saves both money and time. But don't use the regular canned kind. The crab should have been previously cooked, picked free of any shell and drained well of moisture. I'd use the Phillips Seafood brand frozen canned crabmeat and the frozen snow crab legs you can find at the big-box stores.

Five ounces of crab, in case you don't have a kitchen scale (but you should get one!) is a little more than half-cup ... so figure you need a generous cup of crab for this recipe.

VILLAGE CRAB CAKE