Seafood Breakfast for Dinner: Potato Parsnip Pancakes with Shaved Crab, Poached Eggs and Breakfast Cocktail Sauce

Living so close to Pike Place Market truly does spoil us. Brunch, being one of my favorite meals to cook and eat, has recently become a fun tradition to try new recipes and variations on the good old favorites. We decided to do a seafood brunch Sunday morning so down to the market I went only to returned with fresh AMAZING crab from the Pike Place Fish Market. Not only do they stock a wonderful inventory of fresh, quality fish but they are notorious for throwing the fish great distances, much to the amazement of the crowd. It was a quite a feat to even make it the few blocks home before digging into “sample” the crab meat which I KNEW would be amazing. Even with my high expectations I was blown away. The freshness and quality of the crab was evident in how rich, buttery and just wonderful it tasted.

As I started preparing the brunch, grating the parsnip and potato and setting aside to drain, mentally setting the table and project managing the meal, starting the cocktail sauce… pause here. I opened a jar of our much loved Pike Place Fish Market cocktail sauce, mashed up a little avocado because I love them with both eggs and crab and started the grinder for some fresh coffee grounds to mix in. DON’T turn up your nose yet! It’s quite delicious and thanks to a trip to Seatown for Mother’s Day happy hour, Tom Douglas has me hooked on cocktail cause with coffee grounds.

I mixed and I blended, mashed and molded. Calling my trust taste tester over, I scooped up a bit for each of us and we had the same response when we tasted…it’s missing something. After much deliberation it was decided that a “kick” was missing. Imagine how dejected I was that I would need to make ANOTHER trip to the market and postpone making brunch until my taste tester made a most wonderful suggestion: let’s have the left over fajitas for lunch and have breakfast for dinner! What a brilliant idea! In our afternoon chores we picked up some fresh horseradish root and then it was game time! Breakfast for dinner, yes please!

Seafood Breakfast: Potato Parsnip Pancakes with Shaved Crab, Poached Eggs and Breakfast Cocktail Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2 lb crab meat, already cooked
eggs (one for the pancakes and one to top each pancake)

For the Breakfast Cocktail Sauce
1 Jar Pike Place Fish Market Cocktail Sauce
2 tbsp Fresh bold roast coffee, ground at a medium grind
Fresh Lemon, squeezed into the sauce to taste
Fresh horseradish root, exterior layer removed, soft white flesh grated and chopped

For the Potato Parsnip Pancakes
3 medium mini gold potatoes, grated
1 medium sized parsnip, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
fresh cracked salt & pepper to taste

1. Grate the potato and parsnip in a colander and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Let stand for about 20 minutes. I also take one more step and lay out the grated vegges on a paper towel and pat dry.
2. In the mean time, make the breakfast cocktail by combining all ingredients to taste. Cover and let stand in the fridge.
3. Place grated vegges in a bowl.
4. Heat some oil in a skillet over medium/high heat
5. At this time, heat a sauce pan with water to poach the eggs
6. Lightly beat one egg and add it to the veggies, seasoning with fresh cracked pepper to taste.
7. Add a scoop of the mixture to the hot skillet, forming into a patty once in the pan and cook until brown on one side (about 8 minutes) then  flip and cook the until brown on the other side.
8. Place pancakes on paper towel to drain excess oil and serve.
9. Poach eggs in boiling water for 90 seconds to 2 minutes depending on how you runny you like your yolk. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place in a small ramekin to drain for a few seconds.
10.  Plate  up the potato parsnip pancakes and top with the breakfast cocktail sauce. Top with shaved crab, squeeze a bit of fresh lemon and place your poached egg on the top. Garnish with a bit more cracked pepper and dried parsley.
11. Enjoy!!!