old-fashioned potted crab

After eating so many junks whilst watching the über important England match, I decided to jog around the beach for an hour. And also knowing what I'm about to have for dinner later.

I had old-fashioned potted crab, another recipe from Jamie's book. I never had anything potted before, and you know what, I liked it!

Jamie said once upon a time potting meat or fish was pretty common in Britain. I guess it was one way to preserve food and the results were regarded as highly as the French regard their pâtés.

It took me less than 10 minutes to prepare the potted crab and it is a nice recipe to serve at dinner parties or for cooking in advance.

This is how it's prepared: I smashed some fennel seeds, a pinch of dried chili, lemon zest with pestle and mortar. Put in a bowl and mix with some softened butter and brown crabmeat. The butter supposed to act as a preservative here as I've been told when I research about the history of potting meat on the internet. Anyway, back to the recipe, grate a little bit of nutmeg and stir in the white crabmeat. Season with salt and pepper and a tip from Jamie: chefs are always trained to slightly over-season food that is going to be served cold, like pâté or terrine, otherwise in a few hours or the next day, it can be a bit bland.

I then scooped the mixture to a mini le creuset pot and flattened it down with a spoon. Make sure that it doesn't quite reach the top of the pot. I melted some butter and spooned this over the crab mixture - this will be the 'lid' for the potted crab. Sprinkle with a little bit of dill before putting it in the fridge to set.

You can really taste the fennel, but it's not too overwhelming and I particularly enjoy the spicy hint from the dried chili.

I managed to demolish 2/3 of the pot

Day 296, 22 recipes to go... wow, time flies...