Mini Wallaby Burgers with Homemade Chili Jam and Beetroot Relish

 This is my first ever meaty recipe to feature on my blog. I'm feeling pretty excited to share it with you because i think it marks a big movement in my vegetarianism.

For the last 8 and a bit years i have been a non-meat-eater. Quite strict for the majority of that time and at some points, vegan.
In the last year i have been questioning my morals, working out why i choose to eat what i eat and challenging why I've started to eat some meats.

I'd like to say i consciously live a sustainable lifestyle. My main issue with the meat and dairy industry IS the industry itself and the impacts it has on our environment. The scale of meat consumption and the farming practices involved are pretty frightening. Whilst eating meat is not currently sustainable, i believe that if everyone had the same attitude towards meat and dairy as myself and a lot of others do, then meat-eating probably wouldn't be so hideous. For all those vegos out there- please continue. It's always going to be true that when you eat an animal, it has to die first and a plant-based diet is always going to be more sustainable. I don't eat meat often and i'm very picky about it too.

If you are at all interested in reading about meat the Sustainable Table website have some incredible resources to read.

So without, writing a lengthy ethical essay, I'd like to share with you my Mini Wallaby Burgers with the Homemade Chili Jam and Beetroot Relish that we were given as Christmas gifts yesterday.

Wallaby Burger
500g Wallaby Mince
Half White Onion, diced
1 Handful Fresh Parsley, chopped fine
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Egg, beaten

Stir the onion, parsley, salt, pepper and egg in to the mince and leave to rest for at least half an hour.
Roll in to small patties (my mix made 9) and grill on the BBQ or fry lightly in oil for about 3 minutes on each side.

I served my burgers on mini sourdough rolls with shaved Parmesan, homemade chili jam, beetroot relish, fresh salad greens and sprouts.
You can't serve burgers without some sort of potato. We had rosemary and smoked paprika wedges with a garlic aioli. Oh and a beer!

Roasted Beetroot Dip with Chickpea Flour Flat Bread (Socca)

Such a beautiful sunny day today. I'm doing an assignment on weather at the moment where i have to compare the forecast with what actually happens with the weather. Don't think the forecast had this sunshine on the cards. It's lovely!
I've been getting a few things done this week while i've got some time off work. I got the worm farm up and running today finally.
During an afternoon walk in the park today in the sun i was pondering my next recipe-One that was not soup, salad or baked goods and one that could use up the back up of market veggies we have in the fridge.

Beetroot dip and Chickpea flour flat bread came in to mind. I started to potter away in the kitchen, but decided to check quantities for the flat bread when i came across this word 'Socca'. It turns out that chickpea flour flatbread or 'Socca' is actually a thing! I'd never heard of it before. I promptly did some research and from what i've read  the origin of Socca is disputed, but it seems it's a traditional dish from  Nice in France. ALSO it seems that this flat bread is traditionally baked in the oven, then grilled and chopped roughly. So instead of pan frying my flat bread as i usually would. I've tried this whole oven Socca thing!

Ingredients

Roasted Beetroot Dip 

4 beetroots

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup natural yoghurt

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup chopped dill

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Remove the stems from the beetroot and cut in to quarters. In a baking tray drizzle the beetroots and garlic with olive oil and sea salt and roast for about 40 minutes. Or until soft. You may have to remove the garlic before the beetroots are done as it cooks faster and might burn.
Once the beetroots are cooked, blitz them  in a food processor with the garlic and lemon juice. Once combined, stir through the yoghurt and chopped dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chickpea Flour Flat Bread (Socca)
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbs olive oil plus more for the pan
1/2 tsp salt

*i've kept the recipe fairly plain because i'm serving it with the beetroot dip which has quite an intense flavour, but in other circumstances i would add things like cumin seeds or powder, paprika, fresh herbs or garlic.*

Whisk all ingredients together and let the mixture stand for at least half an hour. The longer the better.
Coat a heavy based frying pan with olive oil and place in the oven to warm.
Once the oil and pan are warm, pour in the mixture and place under the grill until the top starts to brown. Depending on the size of your pan, you may want to cook the mixture in 2 batches so you get a thinner, crispier crepe. Mine was quite thick.  Cut in to pieces and serve with whatever you want!

Choc Beetroot Cake

Friday was my mum's birthday. She's a bit of a fan of the colour red. She buys red shoes, red scarves, her chausseur pots and pans are red, the coffee machine is red and the splash back in the kitchen is even red.

For her birthday she received a red design fountain pen and a burgundy leather document folio. A beetroot cake seemed to be a fitting addition to the RED theme.

These are my pictures, but please see the recipe HERE from Green Kitchen Stories, a beautiful blog that i perve at all the time!