A little bit of North London

Ohio goziemus (good morning).

This time round, it seems a lot easier to be here, and one of the reasons is that we're no longer fighting the local food in favour of what is familiar.  Thanks to Lucy and David's wonderful cookery book birthday gift, along with Nicolette's cookery video sent in very welcomed arrival pack, we have been teaching ourselves the art of Japanese cooking.  I now know the benefits of mirin, dashi (homemade!) and sake.  

Even my breakfast consists of rice and 'natto' - fermented soya bean (see pic), which is a lot more delicious than it looks!

Yesterday though, a big fat envelope containing my latest redirected mail, plopped through the door, and with it, Elle Decoration.  English reading material is much appreciated these days, because its so rare, and I've even taken to reading direct mail.  Magazines now get read cover to cover.

This one contained some beautiful pics with flowers styled by the lovely Hayley and an article on Melrose and Morgan, a deli in Primrose Hill where I've spent lots of dosh.  I took it to be a sign, and loving made crab cakes, adapting some of the ingredients from the recipe provided, along with a green salad and proper vinaigrette.  Even using a knife and fork was a pleasure.  

After dinner, we sat on the terrace and listened to Sara Jane's brilliant award winning radio piece and I urge you to do the same before it runs out in 3 days.  Its about people living outside the walls of Pentonville prison and its really thought provoking.  It was a perfect North London evening, with the added benefit of gardenias on the terrace.  Here is the link to the piece:

http://tr.im/nYda

And here is the recipe, with my variations, which I think added to the taste.

MINI CRAB CAKES - you need about 2 per person and this recipe makes about 8

500g mashed potato

350g crab - white and brown preferably but I used tinned to make up the quantitiy

25g butter - mix this in with the mashed potato

zest and juice of a lemon

1 small red chilli, deseeded and chopped up 

1 clove of garlic

1-2 star anise - roasted and then pounded in a pestle and morter

1/2 shallot or little onion - chopped small

1/2 cup of chopped herbs - parsley, dill, tarragon or whatever you have - mine were from my herb garden

pinch of salt and pepper

By mistake I also added the yoke of an egg which was supposed to hold on the breadcrumbs but as I didn't have any, it didn't seem to matter

Basically bung all the ingredients into a bowl and mix with a fork.  Take a dollop into your hands and make 8 or so little cakes - this is weirdly pleasurable.  You need to stick this in the fridge for a few hours, in my case, 4.  When you are ready, put some flour on a plate and coat each side of the fish cakes.  Pour veggie oil into a non stick pan and, with the heat up high, brown the cakes on each side (about 2 mins each side).  Then stick them into a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

Eat whilst reading the sunday papers, or watching TV or something else that will make me wildly jealous!