Ground turkey sliders

I am calling these sliders, because if I had had some small buns, that is how I would have served them, but I didn't so I served them more like a kefta.

This was a quick dinner on a week night, on a beautiful sunny warm day, which we seem to have an abundance of this summer.  I made enough for 4, and as there was 3 for dinner I had enough for lunch one day at work, oh happy day.

1 lb of ground turkey
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
handful of mint
handful of parsley
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Combine the onion, garlic and herbs in a mini chopper, or chop by hand until they are finely chopped.

Mix this with the ground turkey and bread crumbs.

Season well with salt and pepper and form in to small patties, I made 8 and two per person seemed to be a good serving.

Chicken with white wine, olive and caper sauce

A couple of weeks ago when I went to Ruby lake resort I had tuna with a wonderful olive caper sauce on it. I thought at the time that this would be a good sauce for chicken breasts, which need a little kick to pump up their flavour.  After sailing on Sunday afternoon, I made this for 5 sitting out  on our deck, but in fact it would not be a stretch to make this for just one as well.

For 4 people

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 cup of pitted green olives
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup of capers
1/2 cup of white wine.
handful of parsley

Bash the chicken breasts with a rolling pin to even out the thickness.  This really helps them to cook evenly, if you leave them with a thicker end I find that the thinner end dries out before the thicker end is cooked through.  Add the olive oil in a large frying pan, then add the chicken breasts.

While the chicken is cooking add everything except the white wine into a mini chopper.

If you don't have one (you really should think about getting one) then chop everything together on a large board or use a mezza luna.

Slow cooked roast beef for a crowd

This is a good method for cooking a cheaper cut of beef if you are feeding a crowd.  Unless you are being reimbursed some of the costs of the meal roast prime rib is not the way to go if you have a lot of people to provide a roast beef meal for.  Also traditional roasting of a good cut of beef can be a bit finicky as you have to get the timing exactly right or you can serve raw meat or over cooked dry meat.

This is simple fool proof and importantly very tasty. You do not want to use a very tough cut, a sirloin tip works fine, just make sure that there is some marbling of fat, but not too much.

I am afraid it is hard to give exact measurements here, so I will give proportions, as it really depends on the size of the beef roast and how many you want to feed.  But it will work for a family of 4 or a party of 40.

Spice rub

1/3 salt
1/3 paprika
1/3 fresh ground black pepper

Rub the spice rub all over the beef.

Then double wrap in foil and place in a roasting tin.

Ground turkey hash a one pot meal

I love one pot meals, because I do not love washing up and I especially love dishes like this, that can be made ahead and provide a quick easy dinner after work, or even lunch at work.

Serves 4

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1lb ground turkey (or beef)
1 yellow onion chopped
1 clove of garlic sliced
4 ribs of celery
1 small butternut squash peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes chopped
1 bay leaf
handful of chopped parsley
1 jalapeno pepper chopped finely
1 cup of frozen peas or edema beans
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the olive oil and turkey to a large saute pan and cook stirring often until the turkey is almost cooked through and then add the onion and garlic.

Continue to cook, until the onion is softened, then add the remaining ingredients except the peas or beans.

A day of sailing and spit roast chicken

The July long weekend was spectacular this year almost too hot and sunny the entire weekend, so we jumped at an opportunity to go sailing with some friend on the Sunshine Coast. On Saturday when we were in a race the winds died to almost nothing and though a pleasant day, not a great sailing day.  On Sunday however we found some strong winds, that provided some amazing sailing.

Before we went out sailing however I made a marinade for a whole chicken in anticipation of a spit roast chicken for dinner. I used the same technique that I have been using for chicken lately of combining some tomatoes, onions, herbs and spices in a small food processor to make something that is somewhere between a rub and a marinade. This time I wanted to bring some of those Caribbean jerk flavours in to the mix

handful of cilantro
dozen grape tomatoes
1 red hot pepper
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red onion
1 teaspoon of allspice
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of salt
good grind of black pepper
1 tablespoon of honey

combine all the ingredients in a mini food processer.

Chop to a pulp

Spread this evenly over the whole chicken (or chicken pieces)

Place in the fridge and go sailing and swimming.

Ruby lake resort

Over 20 years ago, my husband and then two small sons were going for a week on Texada Island along with my parents and were looking for a place to stop along the way.  We saw a sign for Ruby Lake Resort and so we stopped in.  It turns out that it had recently been bought by a family from Italy and they were serving authentic trattoria style Italian food right here on the Sunshine Coast. It was such an amazing surprise, and it was the first time my very picky eldest son tried eating something other than bread or pasta no sauce (penne with gorgonzola sauce).

We have been coming here ever since and the chef even catered my 50th birthday at my friends cabin in Pender Harbour. And from that gorgonzola sauce my son has moved on to be quite a discerning diner.  After an afternoon of swimming in Ruby lake we decided to treat ours selves with an early dinner there before taking the ferry home.

Ruby Lake

It was an extremely hot day and the shaded patio looked very inviting.

They grow their own herbs, gather wild mushrooms and generally try to serve local fresh and in season.  In fact while we were ordering the "free range chicken" wandered by.

To start we ordered The ocean wise seafood platter wild prawns, local clams, mussels, and scallops steamed in white wine-Pomodoro sauce, garlic, and Italian herbs which was served with bread for sopping up the delicious juices.

This was absolutely delicious and a very good way to start a meal.