Corn and Crab Cakes

I've always fancied eating little crabcakes with sweet chilli dipping sauce, preferably at a table looking out to sea. That however is the stuff of dreams. Before I ever got around to eating those little crabcakes with sweet chilli dipping sauce by the edge of the sea, the crabcakes were off limits until I could work out how to adapt them to being gluten free and I can no longer tolerate chilli!

Big problem! A leap into the unknown of will it work or wont it work! It did and here are are my big crabcakes with no sweet chilli dipping sauce. The crabcakes however are mildly spiced, so hopefully that will make up for the lack of sweet chilli dipping sauce!



To make 6 crabcakes

454 g fresh crabmeat
1 white onion, finely diced
3 tbsp whole sweetcorn
1 medium egg
1 tsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp gluten free Worstershire sauce
1 tsp wholegrain gluten free mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
100 g cornbread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying

put all the ingredients except the vegatable oil in a large bowl and combine well. Shape into six circular patties and place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper

Place in the fridge and chill for at least an hour - this will help the crabcakes hold thier shape

In a large fry-pan on medium heat, add enough oil to cover the base. When the oil is hot enough add the crab cakes and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side

Serve with salad :)

Corn Bread from Momma Cherri

I'm planning on making a deep-south style meat-loaf fairly soon, but before I can make the meat-loaf I need some breadcrumbs. The plan was to make a cornbread and crumble it all up for breadcrumbs to use in stuffing's, burgers and my up and coming meat-loaf. There were no plans to post this recipe for cornbread, but it has turned out so nice ... here it is, featured on my blog!



The original recipe is from the British Queen of Soul food Momma Cherri, who grew up in Philadelphia before moving to the UK. I have adapted it to make it gluten free, but no further adaptions took place ... oops I changed the cooking method ever so slightly too

I'm really looking forward to the meat-loaf now!

225 g butter
225 g medium yellow cornmeal
100 g Doves gluten free bread flour (this includes xanthium gum)
125 g gluten free flour mix (this includes xanthium gum)
125 g castor sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2 large eggs, beaten
475 ml semi-skimmed milk

I made this cornbread in a loose bottomed spring-form cake tin, which I'm sure isn't quite traditional!!! It does however give me a bit more of control over breads, that I am not familiar with baking!

Crank the oven up to 180 degrees, use the butter wrapper to grease the cake tin as a precautionary measure to prevent the cornbread from sticking

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, meanwhile slowly melt the butter in a small saucepan

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add the eggs, butter and milk, stirring well with a wooden spoon. This will produce a fairly fluid batter, don't worry, proceed to baking ....

Bake in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch.

This corn bread has the look and texture of a madiera cake ... loads of breadcrumbs :) unfortunately a lot of it got eaten before I could freeze the breadcrumbs, but I have enough for the meat-loa!

A Day Late: Coleslaw!

Oooops! A belated 'Happy Independence Day' to those that celebrating it eeeerrrr yesterday! I got my dates mixed up and thought today was the fourth, so gathered my ingredients today instead of yesterday!

However!

Coleslaw is on the menu today!

I have a long history of making my own coleslaw. Going back nearly thirty years. I think my mother or father taught me how how to make it, so this is more than likely a handed down family tradition. I've at some time or other produced everything from a classic slaw of cabbage. carrots and mayo to elaborate versions containing poppyseeds, cheese or variations with salad ingredients



I have to sadly admit though, that I have never used a recipe as it is one of those things that is all based on the look and texture of the ingredients. This coleslaw is no exception.

It consists of about a third of a medium sized white cabbage, finely sliced and sprinkled with salt to soften the cabbage, left for a while, then the resultant liquid drained. To the softened cabbage I have added three peeled and grated carrots and half a red onion very finely diced. The ingredients are then tossed together. Mix into these ingredients spooonfuls of half fat mayonaise untill the right consistency is achieved. Leave in a bowl for around an hour to allow the flavours to mingle

There you have it .... No Recipe Coleslaw!

Enjoy :)