Turkey Pirate Ships for the #TurkeyTractorChallenge

Turkey THREE ways – turning a Turkey Meatball into a Pirate Ship.

Mea Culpa – I was in far too much of a hurry when I went shopping to create my Mozzarella Turkey Meatballs.  The result was that, although I bought red tractor turkey and onions and used Hillfarm rapeseed oil, I managed to skip the point at which it said ‘Pirate Theme’.

As a middle aged singleton, I tend not to cook themed dishes.  It doesn’t encourage me to eat my veg – nor does it impress the cat.  So, when I started to write up the recipe and realised that it wouldn’t do,  I intended to just give up.  But, the challenge deadline has been extended and actually I really enjoyed my meatball mix.  So, last night I set to.

I’d noticed a lot of hot-dog pirate ships on pinterest.  Turning a meatball mix into a skinless sausage isn’t actually a hard task – and really the only alteration I made was to cook and dice a rasher of bacon, then increase the spicing a little bit to compensate for no mozzarella.

Served up in a rather posh brioche hot-dog bun, with a little pirate flag and a lot of mustard, it was a dish that I would happily offer to young and old visitors alike.  And, although a single pirate ship needs a little bit of a squint to look convincing I’m sure a fleet would be rather more convincing.

Turkey Hot-Dog Pirate Ships

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Serves	4-6
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	30 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Wheat
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Occasion	Barbecue, Birthday Party, Casual Party

Ingredients

• 450g Red Tractor Turkey Mince
• 1 Medium Red Tractor Onion (Finely chopped)
• 1 tablespoon Hillfarm Rapeseed Oil (Red Tractor)
• 1 piece Red Tractor Streaky Bacon
• 50g Breadcrumbs
• 1 pinch Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli Powder
• 1 teaspoon Tomato Concentrate
• 4-6 Hotdog buns
• Mustard (To taste)
• Ketchup (To taste)

Directions

Step 1	Fry the onion in oil till soft and translucent (about 10 minutes), then remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly. Add the bacon to the pan and cook. Cool then dice as finely as possible
Step 2	Mix together all the ingredients except the hot-dog buns mustard and ketchup
Step 3	Divide the mixture into 4-6 portions and form into 'sausages'
Step 4	Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 'set'
Step 5	Pre heat the oven to 190c
Step 6	Line a baking tray with foil and grease with a little oil
Step 7	Lay out the sausages and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through
Step 8	Make up the 'ships' like hotdogs, garnishing with mustard and ketchup to taste
Step 9	Use cocktail sticks and cut out of the jolly roger to make flags to go on top
Step 10	Serve!

The British Turkey Blogger Recipe Challenge – You’ll find more recipes on the British Turkey Website. This challenge is also helping to raise awareness of The Red Tractor logo, Red Tractor is the UK’s largest food assurance scheme. Its respected food standards are used across the food supply chain to provide clear food labelling about the quality and sourcing of food.  More info can be found at http://www.redtractor.org.uk/