Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Recipe: The ultimate homemade burgers

Homemade burgers always get the thumbs up in our home... infact any meal that does not require a knife and fork goes down an absolute treat, there's something about using your hands and getting a bit messy whilst you eat isn't there?! Rob is a total burger-a-holic and has slowly been making his way down the Burgaffair List of Best Burgers in London (check it out, amazing blog!) but there's something comforting about making your own food and knowing exactly what's in it. Especially since I've been trying to be as healthy as possible this past year, I much prefer to know exactly what's in my food - I hate the thought of all the additives, preservatives and stabilizers they put in supermarket food to keep it fresh for longer. I'd rather cook from scratch. We buy most of our meat from Smithfield Market - the best and largest wholesale market in the UK, which I promise I will blog about soon because it's quite simply amazing! You can be sure to buy good quality meat there, at very reasonable prices.

If you've always bought shop-bought burgers because you've been under the impression that homemade burgers are expensive and a nuisance to make, then you couldn't have been more wrong! They're so simple to make and don't take any longer to make than it would do to cook a spag-bol. After attempting various different homemade burger recipes we've created our own... and trust me it's a goodun. They turn out amazing every single time - they're so yummy and juicy. So I'd love to share the recipe with you. Sure, these burgers are not perfectly round or neat looking but I think this adds to their rustic, homemade feel. Are you feeling the love for homemade burgers yet?!




You will need:  
400g minced beef
1 x onion
1 x egg 75g breadcrumbs (we use packet breadcrumbs as it's easiest)
Salt & pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon basil
A drizzle of sunflower oil
And to serve... :

 Mustard (optional)
Some little gem lettuce & tomatoes
Bread rolls
1 x pack of bacon rashers
Sliced cheddar cheese


 Here goes.......!



Put the minced beef into a large bowl.

Dice the onion into small pieces and fry on a low heat in a frying pan with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Add the oregano and the basil.

Add the fried onion to the minced beef, add a pinch of salt and some pepper.

In a seperate bowl crack the egg and mix in the breadcrumbs. This is the messy bit... enjoy! Add the beef & onion to the bowl of egg and breadcrumbs and mix together using your hands until all combined. You basically want the mixture to hold together as much as possible!

Then divide the mince into even sized balls - you can create your burgers any size you like, we usually make two large ones but bare in mind the bigger they are the longer they'll take to cook inside so you could make four small ones instead. Then pat them down into burger shapes.

Turn on your pan to a high heat and drizzle some sunflower oil onto the pan. You want the pan to be pretty hot so that the burgers sizzle as soon as they hit the surface. We have Le Creuset pans which are amazeballs for cooking these on but any griddle pan will do. Cook for about... 10-12 minutes (depending on how rare/well done you like your meat!)



 Et voila!


How you serve these burgers is totally up to you. You could serve with bacon rashers, sliced cheddar cheese, lettuce and sliced tomato in a bread roll for a traditional burger...



...Or if you're wanting to be a little healthier you could go for a 'naked burger' leaving out the bread roll and serving on a bed of lettuce and spinach instead. Less carbs but equally as yummy!




Lydia xxx

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