Burgers

A burger should be an easy thing to make but in reality it isn’t. I spend this week worrying about how to make the perfect burger. I must have looked at about five or six different websites trying to find the perfect recipe. I live with two wonderful friends who happen to have a bit of a different taste to food than I do. Knowing what they like and don’t like was something I also had to take into consideration while I was searching.

I don’t particularly like red meat but from time to time I’ll have something with ground beef in it (guess my body needs the protein, right?). I am not someone who tends to order a burger in a restaurant but recently I have found a sandwich shop near my house that makes the best burgers. A simple classic burger but it is seasoned well and cooked to perfection. Pure joy I tell you. Summer is more or less here and I didn’t feel like making anything heavy today so I decided on making a burger. Hold on for a sec, I didn’t just make one burger but ended up making two different kinds and get ready for this, I also made rosemary roasted garlic potatoes and cream corn (I can hear your thoughts – what the hell was she thinking?) but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Most women can multi-task and I happen to be one of them.

I woke up this morning with the start of a sinus headache and by the time I got up from my afternoon nap I was in serious pain. I took something and off to the kitchen I went with my wild bed hair, headache and pj’s (Sunday is the one day where I don’t worry how I look, so please do not judge me). I knew that if I wanted to have everything ready at the same time I needed to be focused and organized.

Step one:

I started on the potatoes because I knew that they would take the longest to cook. I preheated the oven to about 230 and I washed and cut up some potatoes into 1-inch wedges. I took the potatoes and mixed them together with a couple of smashed garlic cloves, some salt and pepper, fresh rosemary sprigs (I think everyone is meant to have a rosemary plant in their kitchen so if you don’t, please do get one the next time you are out) and some olive oil. I then layered the potatoes onto a hot tray and baked them in the oven for approximately 45 minutes but every ten minutes or so I would turn them.

Step two:

While my potatoes were baking I decided to make my first set of burgers. I made some fabulous Spiced Thai Burgers that (a) one of my friends had sent me and (b) that I couldn’t eat because they were too bloody spicy. The basic components of a spiced Thai burger are: ground turkey, peanuts, scallions, garlic, chili, fresh coriander, lime and some salt and pepper. In a food processor I mixed the peanuts, scallions, garlic and chili. I could not find fresh chili but I was able to find some in a jar. I don’t eat chili and they looked so small so instead of only using one I decided to use four or maybe five (sometimes it is good not to change the recipe!!!) and added the mixture into the turkey along with some lime zest and  juice, fresh chopped coriander and some salt and pepper.

Step three:

While the spiced Thai burgers were “marinating” in the fridge, I started making the other burgers. Making these burgers was difficult because I still wasn’t sure how exactly I would be seasoning them. I decided to go with the less is more theory and just ended up seasoning them with some salt & pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. I then put them in the fridge for about ten minutes. You know what they say “the longer you leave the burger, the better it will taste”.

While my burgers were marinating I started making cream corn. I have always loved cream corn and for as long as I can remember I have always eaten it straight from a tin.  One of the joy’s of living in a big country is that you can find anything. Since moving to Europe about two years ago and found out that I couldn't  find nor buy cream corn here, my heart has been broken. One of my dear friends Shannon is always making her own things; her theory is that if you can’t find it then make it yourself. About a month ago she made cream corn and it was tasty. So after thinking about it and talking about it forever, I finally decided that I would try making my very own cream corn. This recipe called for combining corn, heavy cream, salt, sugar, butter in a pot and adding some milk and flour and stirring it until it thickens. I made the cream corn and it tasted good but I still prefer the one from a can. Guess some things are meant to be from a tin.

When I finally had all the cream corn ingredients in a pot, I started frying up some bacon and burgers. At certain moments I had my right hand stirring the corn and my left hand flipping burgers and making sure my bacon wasn’t burning. Multi-tasking is possible but not always easy. Fifteen minutes later everything was ready. By everything I really mean everything; burgers – check, crispy bacon – check, roasted potatoes – check, cream corn – check and the rolls were in the oven – check. I ALSO somehow managed to set the table with a few extra burger goodies.

 

I had a little bit of everything but really only loved the rosemary roasted potatoes and the “regular” burgers. The potatoes were so good. I don’t eat a lot of potatoes but every time I do they seem to taste fabulous. The so called regular burger wasn’t regular but delicious (the secret is to coat the burger with some mustard while it’s cooking), it was juicy and cooked to perfection. Served with some sautéed onions (made those as well), cheese and bacon made it all even better and it makes my mouth water just thinking of it again.

After taking a bite of the Thai burger I decided that I wasn’t going to eat it. It was too spicy for me. The burger was seasoned well (both my roommates preferred this burger) but it was too much for me. Not sure if I would make this burger again but it is a wonderful recipe to pass on to someone who likes spicy food.