Turkey Patties

Hello my lovelies!

It's been a long time, I know. And yes, I know I was meant to be working on another cookbook, but it just hasn't happened. It's time to accept the fact that I've taken on too much this year, and I just can't fit that in too. Perhaps next year.

Anywho, the lovely folks at Crozier's Turkeys asked me to try out their new Turkey Pattie recipe and see what I thought, so I'm going to share that with you today. Super easy to make, ingredients you can find easily, and a flavour that's just delish! 

Rosemary and Thyme Turkey Patties

Serves 4 - Gluten Free - Dairy Free

500g Croziers Truly Free Range Turkey Mince
1Tbsp Dried Rosemary
1Tbsp Dried Thyme
1Tbsp Garlic Granules
1Tbsp Onion Flakes
6Tbsp Sunflower Seed Meal (see below)
1 Medium Egg
1/2 C Grated Carrot
1/2 C Chopped Spinach
Salt and Pepper

*To make sunflower seed meal, blitz sunflower seeds in your food processor/nutri bullet/coffee grinder

**You can also use frozen spinach.

Mix all ingredients together and form into patties - I got 11 out of the mix, though you could make them bigger and do 8.

Place on a greased oven proof tray and cook at 180C for about 25 minutes, turning once.
Alternatively, add a little splash of oil to a pan and cook on the stovetop.

Serve with cranberry sauce or aioli for dipping.

These had such a lovely earthy flavour from the herbs, and everyone loved them! If you haven't already, check out Crozier's Turkeys here. They are the only truly free range turkey farm in New Zealand. 

Have a great weekend everyone, and happy cooking!

Home made creamed corn

Hello my lovelies!

I have some news! So, as per usual, over the holiday season I overindulged in delicious food, and now my waistline is feeling it! The hubster came home from work one day, saying that they were going to have a 'biggest loser' competition at work, so, me being the supportive wife that I am, I decided to embark on a journey of weight loss with him. It's been two weeks so far, and I've lost 3.2kg which I'm pretty proud of :)

While we were out on our walk this morning, a thought popped into my head. Why not write a new recipe book, based on low cal, high flavour foods? I've tried recipes over the years that have been rather bland, and I can tell you, as a foodie, I need the flavour. So, over the next few weeks/months, I'm going to work on some new recipes with lower calories, but still a great flavour, to put into a cookbook :)

Now, for my recipe (and one that will be in the cookbook),

Homemade Creamed Corn

serves 4

5 fresh corn cobs
1 small onion, diced
1/2 a red capsicum, diced
1 clove crushed garlic
I Tbsp butter

*this recipe does involve a little bit of splatter, so an apron is recommended*

Firstly, peel the outer layers off the corn cobs, and make sure you snap off the knobbly bit at the end so you have a flat surface to work with. Stand the cob on a cutting board, and using a large, sharp knife, slice down each side to remove the corn kernels.

Now for the messy part. Turn your knife around, so that the blunt side is against the corn husk, and slide it down the cob to get the 'corn milk' from inside.

This is what it should look like when you're done

Do this for each corn cob and add to a large bowl.

Finely dice your onion and add to a large frying pan with the butter. Fry for a minute before adding the garlic.

Dice your capsicum and add to the bowl with the corn.

Once onion has softened, pour the bowl of corn into the pan, making sure to scrape out all the milky bits - this is what makes it creamy.

Season with salt and pepper, and add about 1/3C water. Cover and simmer for approx 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  If it starts to stick, add a little more water and give it a stir.

Serve this on toast or as a side dish.

There you have it, my first low cal recipe! I will keep y'all updated on the progress of the book as I go. But for now, enjoy your weekend, and happy cooking!

Turkey!

Hello, my lovelies!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year! I had a busy few days cooking my first crispy roast duck, an 11kg ex breeder turkey (you can get these from Crozier's Turkeys), a risotto, soup and pie made out of the leftover turkey! So today, I'm going to share a few of those recipes with you :)

First off, this was my first attempt at cooking an ex breeder turkey so I wasn't entirely sure of cooking times. I did mine for 10 hours, though I think 8-9 would've been enough.

Here's what I did:

Pull turkey out of fridge ahead of time to bring it back up to room temperature. Preheat oven to full blast while you make the stuffing.

Pork and fruit stuffing

500g pork mince
diced onion
garlic, crushed
breadcrumbs - fresh or dried
cranberries
dried apricots, sliced
egg
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a pan and slowly fry onion and garlic until soft. Dice cranberries and apricots and add to the pan. If using fresh breadcrumbs, add them too to soak up some of that flavour. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix pork with onion and fruit mix, egg and season with salt and pepper.

Separate around a third of the mix for the turkey, and place the rest in a greased ovenproof dish. Add a few slices of orange/mandarin on top and set aside until the turkey is cooked.

Stuff the third in the turkey neck, then wrap the skin back over it.

Turkey

Firstly, remove giblets and give the bird a rinse.

You want to keep the turkey off the bottom of the tray so it's not sitting directly in the juices. To do this, place an onion (chopped in chunks), some carrots and garlic cloves in the tray along with the turkey neck. Sit the turkey on top.

Now, to keep the moisture in, you can either rub butter over the skin, or using the back of a spoon, push a gap between the skin and the meat and push the butter in there. Season the bird with salt and pepper.
Place a chopped mandarin in the cavity along with a sprig of rosemary.
Cover the entire bird in tinfoil and pop in the oven, turning down to 180C for a store bought bird or 160C for an older bird. You want to allow around 45 minutes per kilo, and allow resting time too.

An hour before your bird is ready, remove the foil and if you like, add some bacon strips across the bird before placing back in the oven.

When it is done, set the bird on a dish/tray and cover with tinfoil and a couple of tea towels. This will keep the heat in. I rested mine for 2 hours and it was still piping hot.

While that is resting you can get onto your gravy and cooking those roast veggies!

Turkey risotto (based on Jamie Oliver's risotto recipe)

leek
onion
carrot
leftover turkey meat
half a pack of arborio rice
splash of rose wine
chicken/turkey stock
cream cheese
butter
parmesan
leftover gravy

Heat a pan with oil, or if you saved any of the turkey flavoured butter (from roasting) you can use that for an extra flavour kick. Add diced onion, carrot and leek to the pan and cook until softened.

Meanwhile, heat a pot of chicken stock or use turkey stock if you've managed to cook up your bones already ;) You'll need approx 4-5 cups of stock.

Add rice to the onion and stir through to coat. Splash a bit of rose or white wine in the pan and cook for a minute or two.
Slowly ladle stock into the pan, one ladle at a time. You want to make sure the first lot is soaked up before you add the next one. It takes a bit of time, but it's worth it, trust me. You don't need to constantly stir, but you do need to keep an eye on it, stirring before each ladle is added.

When the rice is fluffy and tender, add one final splash of stock and remove from heat. Stir through around 25g butter, a large dollop of cream cheese and around 1/3C grated parmesan.

To top this off, make a small well in the centre of each dish and pour in some leftover gravy - this really adds a boost and makes the dish!

There you go, a few recipes to try next Christmas, or perhaps at your next mid-winter get together :) I hope you have a great week!  Happy cooking!