Thanksgiving in a Bun - Turkey and Cranberry Burger

I watched all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes come and go on pinterest and then Instagram as people in the Northern Hemisphere started their holiday period. Obviously, it's not a holiday we have down under, and it's Spring/Summer here, not Autumn/Winter, so the flavours and style of food aren't necessarily seasonal at the moment. But it doesn't stop me drooling! Luckily the Perth climate means a lot of things do grow year round, like butternut pumpkins. 

So, in the spirit of the holiday we don't have, I created these burgers which is like a whole Thanksgiving dinner in a bun. The patties have turkey and cranberry and I've paired it with a roast pumpkin slice. The patties are also gluten free, using the nutty flavour of chick pea flour sees to that.

Easy to make, easy to eat, and great in warmer weather. As with most of our meals, I didn't have any buns when I made these, so I served in bread rather than buns. But buns would be better. Use buns. 

Turkey and Cranberry Burgers

1 red onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
generous twisting of pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chick pea flour
1/2 butternut pumpkin, sliced in to rings


to serve
red cabbage
pickle
fetta
mayonnaise
bread or buns

Shred the cabbage and pickle and mix together. Cover with a few tablespoons of the pickle juice and set aside to soften the cabbage a little.

In a frypan on medium heat, heat a little oil and add the red onion, salt and pepper. Sweat the onion until it's translucent. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a further 5 minutes. The onions should be golden at this point. Add the dried cranberries and 2 tbsp water, stir it all together and cook until the liquid has cooked off. Set aside in a bowl to cool.

Mix the turkey mince into the onion mix. Add the chick pea flour, starting with half a cup and adding more as required to create the correct consistency.  Form the mixture into patties and set aside in the fridge to cool and 'set' for half an hour.

Brush the butternut pumpkin rings with oil and cook for 10 minutes on each side in the same pan, or until soft. Set aside, and cover to keep warm.

Add a little oil to the frypan and, without crowding the pan, cook the burgers. 5-10 minutes on the first side, then flip when golden. Cook for a further 8 minutes or so until cooked through.

Assemble the burgers, adding your favourite sauce if desired and enjoy.

Quick Post - Roast Strawberry, Corn and Ancho Chili Salsa

 

I know it’s not summer yet, but strawberries have started popping up more and more at markets and grocers and supermarkets around me. I had avoided temptation to buy the out-of-season and therefore expensive fruit…until I came across a punnet for .99c. I could resist no longer. Strawberries are delicious. Knowing that they weren’t in their peak season and therefore not going to be the sweetest they could be, I thought I would roast them to intensify the flavours. This salsa is sweet and juicy and warm. Perfect for tacos in these nights that still have a chill. I’ve used ancho chili powder because I wanted the smokey flavour, but didn’t want it to be “hot”, and ancho is a very mild chili. Feel free to use what you have. The corn adds a pop of texture and creaminess to the smoke.

I served these in tacos using shredded leftover roast pork fried with a tin of lentils. So apart from the roasting time of 15 minutes, this is the perfect midweek (taco) dish because it takes no more than 10 minutes prep time. Leftover roast chicken (or one from the supermarket or takeaway) would also go really well with this salsa and still be a quick meal. Add your own accompaniments if desired, such as cheese or shredded cabbage!

And check out my shopping spots if you can't find ancho chili powder

Roasted Strawberry and Corn Salsa

250g punnet strawberries, hulled and halved

2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ancho chili powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp honey
pepper
½ cup corn kernels (if frozen, thaw by rinsing under water and draining well)
2 tbsp finely shredded basil

Preheat the oven to 170C

Mix the olive oil, chili powder, salt, honey, pepper in a bowl until evenly distributed. Stir in the strawberries and corn kernels, coating them well. Tip out onto a lined baking tray.

Put the dish in the oven and roast for 15 minutes until strawberries start to soften and go a bit jammy. Scatter basil leaves on top.

Serve!

Chip Addiction - Lime and Black Pepper Chip Crusted Bream

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Red Rock Deli Lime and Black Pepper Chips. We pretty much stopped buying them because we’d open them, Lance would turn his head for 10 seconds and I’d have eaten the whole packet. Then he’d be all sad that he didn’t get to have a snack. I seriously have no willpower when it comes to them. BUT, they are too delicious to give up completely. After a Molloy Island fishing trip, we managed to keep about a cup’s worth of them to do my second favourite trick (you know, after making them all disappear instantly)…crumbing fish with them. So. Good. Obviously lime and pepper are natural friends with fish. Smash a few up, coat the fish and oven bake them (to make them a little healthier) and you have a delicious and super easy dinner. And the best part? You have to eat the rest of the packet!

For a bit of extra oomph, I’ve added some coconut shreds. And for some contrast, I’ve got a slightly sweet dressed salad using a blood orange marmalade that Coles currently have in their ‘limited edition’ collection. You can sub a different marmalade in here if you can’t find it.

Lime and Black Pepper Chip Crusted Bream

3 tbsp olive oil
Juice one lime
¼ tsp cracked pepper
1 cup lime and black pepper chips, measure then crush
2 tbsp coconut shreds (unsweetened)
2 fillets firm fleshed white fish (I used black bream)

Blood Orange Dressed Salad
2 tbsp blood orange marmalade
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
Mixed leaves (spinach, beet leaves, rocket)
Handful grape tomatoes, halved
½ Lebanese cucumber, diced
50g sheep fetta, crumbled
½ pickle, finely diced
Sprinkle of toasted pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds

Cut the fillets into two ‘strips’. Mix the oil, lime juice and pepper together, coat the fish in it and allow to marinade while you do the rest. Approx 10 minutes. Heat the oven to 175C. Place a cooling rack onto baking tray and spray lightly with oil.

Microwave the blood orange marmalade with the water for 30 seconds, stir to combine. The idea is to thin out the marmalade. Set aside to cool.

In a mortar and pestle, or a bowl with the back of a spoon, crush the chips into breadcrumb sized pieces, with a few bigger bits. Stir through the coconut shreds. Take each piece of fish out of the oil mixture and let any excess liquid drip off. Press firmly into the chip mixture to coat on both sides. Carefully place onto the rack. Repeat until it’s all coated, then pop it in the oven to bake until golden and cooked through. Approximately 10 minutes.

Add the lime juice, olive oil and mustard seeds to the marmalade then whisk to combine. Assemble all of the salad ingredients except the cheese and nuts/seeds. Dress the salad, then gently fold through the cheese. Plate, then scatter the nuts and seeds over the top. Plate up the fish and eat immediately

 

 

The Lost Ice Cream - Vegan Pina Colada Ice Cream

I was going through my various food photos and I discovered I'd missed a post! So, completely coincidentally, I am now posting two vegan recipes in a row. Given that it is still definitely summer in Perth, it's not too late for another ice cream recipe. This is a coconut ice cream, with pineapple added to make it pina colada. That's now two pina colada desserts, one for winter, one for summer!

This freezes quite hard if you leave it in the freezer for too long. If it's gone hard, simply pop it in the fridge for about an hour before serving. I have heard that arrowroot powder is good for preventing overhardening, but I haven't tried it myself. Maybe next time. Likewise, adding the rum to the ice cream mixture would help - but i quite like it drizzled over the top. Feels that little bit more naughty and decadent!

Vegan Pina Colada Ice Cream

440g tin pineapple pieces in juice, separated into fruit/juice

½ tsp vanilla paste
2x 400ml tins coconut cream
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
To serve
toasted coconut
dark rum

 

Puree half the pineapple pieces in a food processor. Put pineapple juice, puree and dark brown sugar and vanilla into a medium saucepan and heat to medium, bubble it away on a simmer until it reduces by half and becomes syrupy. Add the coconut cream and whisk to combine. Whisk and heat on a gentle simmer for 10 minutes to infuse. Pour into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap pressed to the surface to stop a skin forming and refrigerate until completely cold. Overnight is good.

 

Churn according to your ice cream makers instructions. Transfer to a sealed container and freeze to harden a further 2 hours or so before serving. Serve with leftover pineapple pieces, a shot of dark rum and some toasted coconut!

Skamp's Krabby Patties

Watching cartoons is a guilty pleasure of mine. Despite being 31. I love old kids cartoons. I love Disney movies. I love adult cartoons like Archer. I love Spongebob Squarepants. Here’s a photo of me meeting Spongebob and Patrick Starr back in 2011.

 

 

And me with Lego Spongebob in 2009.

 

So when we went for our annual crabbing trip and we caught our full quota this year and I was thinking of the different ways of cooking with the crab, I decided one dish would be Krabbie Patties (which I’m pretty sure are actually beef in the cartoon). This is just a slightly different take on the prawn burgers I made as part of my Tapas Sliders Night (seriously, need to do another one of those!) and as such, if you don’t have crab meat you can substitute it with much-easier-to-find prawn. One day, I will get around to posting that recipe. It’s delicious. And those I usually serve with a mango salsa. So this I served with a mango guacamole.

I served these with bread to make sandwiches/burgers (I didn’t have buns at home but a nice soft bun would’ve been better), and then the next night we had tacos with the leftovers. It made 6 patties.

 

Skamp’s Krabby Patties

2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup cornmeal
½ tsp smokey paprika
1 large clove garlic
1 ½ cups crab meat
2 eggs
2 tsp wholeseed mustard
1 sprig parsley
Salt and pepper (about 6-8 grinds of each)

Mango Guacamole

Avocado
Mango
Jalapeno
Salt & pepper
Juice from one lime

For the patties, put the eggs, mustard, garlic, paprika, parsley and salt and pepper into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cornmeal and panko and stir through. Gently fold through the crab meat, so you don’t break the pieces up too much. If the consistency is too wet, add a little more panko. Wet your hands, then form patties about palm size. Put on a plate and leave to ‘set’ for about 15 minutes. Enough time to make the guacamole.

Peel and de-seed the avocado, add to a heavy bowl with salt and pepper and lime, then mash with a fork to make as smooth or chunky as you like. Diced the mango and slice the jalapeno (remove the seeds/membranes if you don’t want it too hot) and stir through. Set aside.

Heat a frypan to medium high heat and add a thin layer of rice bran oil or other neutral oil with a  high smoke point. Allow the oil to heat, then carefully slide a few of the patties into the hot oil (don’t overcrowd the pan). Cook until golden, about 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and cover to keep warm while you do the next patties.

 
Serve with buns/bread of your choice, salady ingredients and the mango guacamole.