I think the name says it all with this dessert. It’s one of those baked desserts that are easy to make, use ingredients you have in the cupboard, fill the family up and are enjoyed by everyone – especially topped with cream or ice cream.

The ingredients in these Russian Balls sound quite yummy, but I am a bit perplexed by the name. The recipe says to cut them into squares before you roll them in coconut or mixed chopped nuts, surely that would make them Russian Squares!! Mind you I don’t think it matters in the least, balls or squares, they’ll taste great either way.

I’ve been making this recipe for years. It comes from a booklet put out by the Australian Meat Board in the 70s. The Meat Board printed several of these booklets, which were full of great meat recipes. I don’t think they do them these days, although you can find individual recipes on the counter at the butchers sometimes. This recipe uses round or rump steak. The long cooking time tenderizes it and the result is a very tasty piece of steak with a great sauce.

This recipe is from a little 1970s cookbook entitled Simple Mince Steak Recipes, which Mum and Dad’s bowling club put out as a fundraiser. Obviously the 1970s bowlers had no idea what a pizza actually was, as this would seem to be meat and cheese pie and nothing remotely like a pizza. That’s not to say that it wouldn’t taste good……

I recently made some gluten free mini meat loaves to take to the track for the Melbourne F1 GP. They had rice and curry in them and tasted quite good, but were a little dry. I wish I’d found this recipe though, as I think they’ll have a lot more flavour and can easily be GF if I use GF cereal. Maybe next year………
