One of the many things I’d been looking forward to before getting on the plane was the chance, at long last, to eat myself into a cheaper-than-in-Ontario lobster coma.
I had never really eaten lobster and had been acutely aware of it for years. I’d been told legends of lobster eating on a family vacation to Montauk when I was 3, but other than that, it was just the occasional lobster spoon stealthfully eaten at a catering gig. I needed to eat lobster, but didn’t want to pay anything close to what I would have to locally. I had become so desperate that on my bad days I even entertained Red Lobster.
On my second night in the Maritimes, Katie’s and Jay’s families hosted a lobster fest. I sort of (and sort of don’t) wish I had a keep-sake from that bucket-list evening: I have not a single photo and couldn’t in good conscience keep the bib (they were given to everyone, not just me). I’ll just have to survive with my memories of lobster tails and claws as far as the eye could see.
Back in Toronto, I found myself in a predicament: I wasn’t going to buy lobster for this homage. I also ruled out chowder because I could not bring myself to pour a litre of whipping cream into a pot of soup. Although apparently ordering it in a restaurant is fine as is drinking lattes made with 18 percent cream.
After limited and painless deliberation, I settled on fish cakes. I didn’t eat fish cakes in Nova Scotia but making them did, curiously, bring me back to those idyllic four days.
At the eleventh hour, I decided to make tartar sauce. I still haven’t looked up the recipe, so take this with a grain of salt, but a little voice in my head kept telling me to mix mayonnaise, horseradish and relish. Since I didn’t have relish I chopped up bread & butter pickles instead. Quite honestly, I can’t decide which I enjoyed more, the tartar sauce or the fish cakes. The little voice was trustworthy.
FISH CAKES
Ingredients
• 2 fillets cod (or any other type of fish, typical or not)
• 3-4 potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 2 green onions, minced
• 2 garlic scapes, minced
• Salt and pepper
• Flour
• Vegetable oil
Directions
• Boil potatoes
• While the potatoes are boiling, season the fish and fry until cooked
• In a bowl or food processor, mash together the fish, potatoes, eggs, green onion and garlic scapes and season with salt and pepper
• Make the mash into patties and coat with flour
• Fry the patties until brown.
TARTAR SAUCE
Ingredients
• Mayonnaise, a blob/dollop
• Horseradish, a smaller blob/dollop
• Bread & butter pickles (finely chopped) or yum-yums or relish
Directions
• Mix ingredients in a bowl
