July 2018 – MakeCookGrow.com

Very Good Turkey Rissoles

Share this post

This week I made turkey rissoles. I’ve never bought minced turkey before so spent ages looking for a recipe incorporating the Asian flavours we like.

Like most rissoles recipes everything could be mixed in one bowl. I doubled the ingredients and made two lots of the mixture. The recipe used a 450gm packet of minced turkey, the packets I bought were 500gm (1lb)

TURKEY RISSOLES

based on a recipe from allrecipes.com.au

INGREDIENTS

500gm minced turkey
1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tablespoons minced spring onions
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce ( I use low salt)
1 tablespoon oil ( I use EVOO)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley to serve

METHOD

1. In a large bowl mix the turkey mince with breadcrumbs, egg, spring onion, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Shape into 9 rissoles, or to your preferred size.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook on each side for 5 minutes, although I found they took longer. Garnish with parsley.

I used the pan scrapings to make a gravy, added some seasoning and when I re-heated it, a generous splash of white wine.

The double mixture made 18 meatballs which resulted in two meals for my family of three.

It’s been cold and wet here for a few days so I made a tray of roasted potato, kumara (sweet potato), carrot and red onion sprinkled with fresh rosemary.

The aroma coming the oven while the vegetables and especially the rosemary were roasting was very tempting. Next time I’ll add more rosemary as it was lovely with everything.

I divided the cooked patties in half and heated one lot and put the other half in the fridge. While the patties were heating I steamed some broccoli and reheated the gravy adding some seasoning and served the roasted potato, kumara, red onion and carrot and steamed broccoli in the bowls and then added the patties and poured on the gravy.

This was a delicious dinner, especially on a cold and wet night.

A kilo (2lb) of turkey mince makes two meals for three people. I made 18 meatballs, more than suggested in the recipe, but I used more turkey mince, too, as I bought two 500gm (1lb) packages. I doubled up on all of the other ingredients and the mixture was a good consistency.

The second meal was the remaining patties heated and served in sandwich press toasted rolls spread with sriracha mayonnaise, some cos lettuce leaves and snow peas out of the garden, all accompanied by a little bowl of Asian dipping sauce. It was very good and I’ll be making it again.

UPDATE. No minced turkey available this week so I bought minced chicken and the rissoles are really tasty. Again I made a double mixture (1kg or 2lbs minced meat) and will serve the ones in a basil tomato sauce (left) with pasta and snap peas out of the garden and the second lot (right) I made a gravy from pan scrapings, cornflour, some chicken stock and water then poured it over the rissoles and I will serve these with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Tomorrow is Milk Chocolate Day. Milk Chocolate is a mix of cocoa solids and either dried milk or condensed milk. Chocolate has mood enhancing benefits due to a stimulant, theobromine and a compound called anandamide. Good reasons to enjoy some chocolate today!

Share this post

Here and Now

Share this post

Today I am joining the Here and Now link up with Sarah from Say! Little Hen. I really enjoy her blog and have discovered some other blogs I really like reading, too, through the link up.

LOVING// The newly pruned roses are already showing regrowth, so spring is coming! The arum lilies are lush and blooming, too. I know they’re classified as weeds in Australia but I love the shape and contrast of striking green and pure white. I have done some water colour paintings of them over the years.

EATING// I make a loaf of sourdough bread every few days. I like the rustic, imperfect shape and it tastes so good.

DRINKING// Although I’m careful about how many coffees I have each day, I start every day with a double espresso.

FEELING// Surprised at how quickly my retirement date has arrived. I officially retire tomorrow after 41 years as a teacher with the Department of Education. A difficult decision but now I’m filled with plans for traveling, craft and gardening and so many other things.

THINKING// How interesting it is to be home at this time of the year and see how the sun reaches into the house and warms the tiled floor.

DREAMING// Spring in the garden. We’re re-doing a garden bed which has always struggled. So, new soil and then I can plant out the cream clivias I have grown from seeds.

Did you know today is Emoji Day? Emojis have become fully fledged animated faces and symbols. These textual expressions evolved from early Japanese phones which then captivated the world market. Emoji is E, Japanese for a picture and MOJI, for a character. Once only on phones, emojis are now found on every device. Have fun with emojis today!

Share this post

Three Books and Two Films

Share this post

READING

From the library “The Choke” by Sophie Laguna, is a story about relationships in rural Australian told by an abandoned toddler, Justine, being raised by her grandfather, an old man tormented by memories of his time on the Burma Railway. This harrowing story is well written but the underlying sexual violence, the obvious neglect of the child and the alcohol fueled violence within the family result in a very disturbing book.

Ignorant, neglected and with undiagnosed dyslexia, when Justine becomes pregnant at 13, she’s sent off to another town to have the baby. The grandfather believes he has made arrangements for the baby to be adopted, but Justine has other plans, and supported by an aunt she rarely sees, she keeps him.

I know this was supposed to be a happy ending but all I could imagine was a 14 year old with no experience of mothering, poorly educated, no income and living with her childless aunt and partner with no idea about raising a happy, healthy child. All a bit sad, really.

The author, Alexandra Joel, wrote this biography “Rosetta: A Scandalous True Story” about her great grandmother who deserted her child, Joel’s grandmother, as a five year old having already divorced the father. The great grandmother then ran away with her Australian Chinese beau, first to Sydney from Melbourne and then to the UK, where the pair practiced “Japanese” medicine, hypnosis and gave massages. Their clients and friends included aristocrats and royalty and their business flourished.

When WW1 broke out they returned to Sydney and continued to increase their wealth. Rosetta never attempted to contact her child and left her fortune to her third husband, a man forty years younger than herself.

A brilliant story about escaping a stifling environment and re-inventing yourself, but also another example of how being abandoned can impact on children. It was a fabulous snapshot of Australia from the beginning of the century until more recent times.

My favourite book this week is “Picardy” by Marian Somes. This memoir charts the family’s first garden of native Australian plants, through to a mixture of Australian and European plantings and finally, greatly influenced by trips to France, a large, fully blown, very French garden in Victoria’s Gippsland region. ( You can click on the bookcover or title to view and buy the book)

The Somes’s have build a rammed earth home intended to look like a French farmhouse, a dovecote and a barn which look lovely but it’s the garden they have created on their 26 acres which steals the scene. They have a cutting garden, annuals and perennials, a vineyard and olive grove, a trufferie and orchard, vegetable gardens and general planting to create a visual feast.

Somes is an accomplished cook and some recipes are included, but the most stunning part of this book is the gorgeous photos. A lovely read which left me itching for more land!

WATCHING

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society film was as good as the book and lovely. The lead, Juliet (Lily James), apparently previously worked with four of the other actors on Downton Abbey. It’s a moving film about post-war friendships, love and books. A successful London based author travels to Guernsey after corresponding with a member of the book club. A beautifully told but sad story with a happy ending and an amazing travelogue for Guernsey!

Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Peggy Plowright, Dame Eileen Atkins and Dame Judi Dench gather occasionally to reminisce. All stars of the English stage and films, the ladies talk is interspersed with flashbacks of them in various roles. Full of wit and wisdom, these iconic women share their memories of when they were bright young things through to their roles now days. The filming seems to take place in one afternoon and was very entertaining, although a little stiff at times.

Tomorrow is Shark Awareness Day

Researchers claim that about 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year. Thought to have evolved over 420 million years ago, sharks are older than dinosaurs. Their population is increasing every year.

I live in Australia, where in 2017, more than 66 shark attacks were recorded, with 20 being fatal. The State and Federal governments struggle to find an equitable solution to this problem so that humans can safely share the oceans with the sharks.

Please leave a comment

Share this post

How To Make A Concrete Ball

Share this post

I made the concrete ball in the front of the photo intending to cover it with mosaics but I like the colour so much I’m going to leave it in its natural state.

It’s not totally smooth but I like the uneven texture.

I’ve made these balls before using a stiff rubber ball as the mold but this time I used a plastic light shade I found on the verge intended for the council verge pick up. Every few months we put unwanted things on the verge for collection but before they’re collected lots of people take things they can reuse ( recycle,upcycle). A great way to reuse things rather than send them to land fill.

The light fitting is perfect for the job as it has a “neck” a little stand for the finished ball. I washed, dried and then stood the light fitting in a plastic plant pot.

You need:

1. a mold which can be anything round like a hard ball or a light fitting. If you use a ball, cut a round opening in the top for pouring the concrete in.

2. a “stand” for your mold. I use plastic plant pots.

3. quick set concrete and a jug of water

4. a bucket and stirring stick

5. rubber gloves

Mixed some concrete in an old commercial food bucket using a bamboo garden stake as a stirrer. I make it runny enough to pour but not too wet.

Poured and packed the concrete into the mold wearing rubber gloves for protection, bumping it on the bricks every now and then to prevent too many air bubbles.

Removed the light fitting from the stand after it had dried for two days and left it two more days as we’d had very wet weather but it was completely dry anyway.

Wrapped the dried out concrete ball still in the light fitting in a thick polythene bag. If you’ve used a rubber ball you’ll need a trimmer to cut it in half to peel it off.

Put on protective goggles and tapped the brittle plastic with a hammer to break it.

Used a screw driver the lift and crack off the plastic shards.

It’s finished and I’m really pleased with the colour, smoothness and size.

July 3rd was International Plastic Bag Free Day. In Western Australia the main supermarkets have stopped supplying free single use plastic bags. Shoppers need to take their own fabric, straw, woven polypropylene, thick plastic bags or boxes for their shopping or buy multiple use bags at the checkout.

The intention of the day is to raise awareness of the brief use made of plastic shopping bags for carrying our purchases but magnifies the problem when they enter our environment, especially waterways.

Share this post