Our Saint Nicholas meal

 Saint Nicholas was Bishop of Myra which is in part of modern day Turkey. But  Myra was at the time of Nicholas, Greek so our meal we decided would have a Greek flavour!

Greek Rissoles

Ingredients

·      800g lamb mince

·      2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves(we used dry as we didn't have any fresh and adjusted the quantity)

·      4 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind(this added a lovely smell to the kitchen before the cooking meatball odor took over)

·      4 tablespoons sliced black olives, chopped

·      200g Greek feta, cut into 24 cubes

·      steamed rice, shredded baby cos lettuce leaves and tzatziki dip, to serve

Method

·      Combine mince, oregano, lemon rind, olives, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Using clean hands, shape mixture into 24 balls. Using the palm of your hand, flatten balls. Wrap around feta cubes and shape into 1.5cm-thick rissoles. Place on a plate.

·      Cook rissoles, in a large frying pan sprayed with oil, over medium-high heat, for 3 to 4 minutes each side or until cooked through.

·      Combine rice and lettuce. Serve rissoles with rice mixture and tzatziki.

Tzatziki

·      260g (1 cup) Greek  yogurt

·      1 Lebanese cucumber, halved, seeded, finely chopped

·      1 tbs fresh lemon juice

We really enjoyed the  Tzatziki with the rissoles. It made the meal more refeshing and was cleansing to the palate. This amount served our family of 6 with enough left over for lunch the next day.

And afterward there was time to add some wonderful pictures to our coins to be put in shoes while all the house slept early in the morning when dd reminded me!