Garden Burgers (V)

V - Suitable for Vegetarians

When Mark first met Dawn, one of her daughters was a vegetarian, it was a phase and now she eats anything and everything, so much so we have to hide food from her!  He used to tease her by referring to her food as “garden waste”.  In fact, despite eating quite of lot of the green stuff (given the choice, quite a lot of anything actually), he still does frequently use that term to describe salad, or anything that could be considered healthy.

It was this term that inspired the title for our home made spicy veggie burgers.  This recipe has been tried and tested at BBQ’s and Mark has been asked for it frequently.  In fact, Keith’s comment on the first post of this blog (Chicken Kormark) actually requested it.

A cautionary note first.  This mixture can get quite sloppy and is not particularly appetising to look at.  But, even for absolutely committed carnivores like us, they are incredibly tasty and full of flavour.

So, with our compliments, enjoy these meat free burger alternatives.  This is a doddle with a food processor but can get heavy on the elbows otherwise as a lot of mashing is required.

Ingredients (makes 8 medium burgers)

2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for frying the burgers)
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
25g coriander leaves
2 x 400g can black eyed beans
100g fresh breadcrumbs
2 small or 1 large egg
1 teaspoon chilli powder or chopped chillies. Increase or decrease to taste.
A good pinch of salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

The prep

1.     Peel and finely slice the onions.

2.     Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves.

3.     Dry fry the cumin seeds on a high heat for 30 seconds or so. (Note – we always do this with our whole spices as it enhances the flavour like you wouldn’t believe.)

4.     Take the coriander leaves off their stems (use a small child for this task if you like!) and then finely chop. 

5.     To make the breadcrumbs, we take the crusts off the bread first.  Weigh the bread and then put in the food processor using the chopping blade.  Without the food processor, you could just tear and crumble it in your hands.

The method

1.     Put the oil into a pan and lob in the onion and garlic; cover and cook for 5-6 minutes.

2.     Add the cumin seeds and cook for another 3 minutes or so.

3.     Put the pan contents plus the coriander and beans in the food processor and whizz until a fairly smooth paste.

4.     Add the breadcrumbs, egg, chilli powder, salt and pepper.  Whizz again until well mixed.

5.     The mixture should now be ready to form the patties.  Top tip – flour your hands and also put a little flour on the work surface.

6.     Because this mixture can be fairly “loose” in its consistency, getting decent burger shapes can be tricky. We find it best to grab a handful of the mixture, form it roughly into a ball and then pass from hand to hand as though holding a hot potato.  After 3 or 4 “passes”, you should have a good burger shape. Flour the burger at the end to stop it sticking to the surface or plate you put it on.

7.     Fry in hot, shallow olive oil until lightly browned on each side.

8.     Serve inside a burger bun with some salad and maybe a slice of cheese.

Growing our own

Years ago, when Dawn came down from Edinburgh, she used to have a herb and vegetable garden.  Being a thrifty Scot, she found ways to save her pennies as a single mum.  It turned out that her tomato plants and yummy beans, plums, cherries and apple trees yielded so much fruit that she never had to buy any.  And with little Madge's penchant for the odd plum or 20, that saved her many a penny.

Mark, on the other hand, does not possess green fingers.  His approach to gardening is simple; if it has petals, it’s a flower and if it doesn’t, it’s a weed (unless it’s over three feet high in which case it’s a tree).  In the past, he has consequently destroyed many, many pounds worth of expensive flora, whilst cultivating some nasty, unwanted plants at the same time.

But ever since experiencing the benefits of a bountiful herb garden when he was a Chef on one of Dawns yoga retreats (www.earthsky.org.uk) in the South of France,  he has lusted after some herbs of his own to grow.  Herbs can transform the simplest of dishes, making magnificient of the bland and boring.  For instance, the meal of the week (according to the students) on the Carcassone retreat was the simplest dish of Penne pasta in an oil and pepper dressing.  And that was entirely down to the fresh oregano, thyme, rosemary and chives that were picked and chopped moments before being sprinkled over the food as seasoning.

Therefore, after much discussion and perusal of gardening books and magazines, we decided to set aside a portion of our garden to veggies and herbs.

One of our friends who does this sort of stuff for a living passed on some hints and tips (cheers Pete!), the main one being “Don’t go too mad”.  So, armed with that advice, we set off to the local garden centre to buy topsoil, some tomato plants and a few packets of seeds… you know, some carrots, chillies, maybe some rocket and lettuce.

Two hours later, bank balance considerably lighter and car scarily bottom heavy, we returned with 1 tomato plant, 3 strawberry plants, 2 protective “Easy Nets”, a “VegTrug” complete herbal growing trough, a Willow obelisk, 3 windowsill grow-boxes, 2 pairs of gardening gloves, pair of wellies size 12 (for Mark, not Dawn), packet seeds of Basil, Purple Basil, Coriander, Tarragon, Mint, Parsley, Rocket, Lambs Lettuce, Gem Lettuce, Salad leaves, Spring Onions, Carrots, Tomatoes, Beetroot, Cucumber, French beans, 3 varieties of Chilli (mild, hot and blow-your-head-off), a bag of Horticultural sand, trowel, ties, labels and nearly 700 litres of Multi-soil compost.

With much excitement on Dawns part, the big planting extravaganza began.  It was a typical April Sunday.  Brillant sunshine, rain, hail and then brillant sunshine again.  Not to be deterred, in between showers and hailstorms we ran in and out planting seeds in the vegetable patch, the plants in pots with some tomato and chilli seeds on our windowsill.  The cat isn't too happy that his sunbathing spot has been nicked though!

Happy, filthy and tired we toasted our new venture with a Scotch or two.  And we will of course keep you informed of our thriving or dying crops, along with some delicous recipes direct from our home grown patch. 

Dawn has a bit of a Good Life fantasy going on with her eye set on a few hens and a little pig.  However, with six children already, I think Mark may take some persuading yet.  But Dawn is known for her powers of persuasion... so watch this space!

The next blog post will feature an oft-requested recipe for Garden Burgers, a vegetarian variety that are the stuff of legend down our way.  

Please keep those requests and suggestions coming, either by email or by commenting on the blog thread.

"Starvinungry" Burgers

We love watching all the cookery shows and an absolute must-see for us is “Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares”. After all, if you learn what NOT to do in a kitchen, then what’s left must be the right thing to do… yes?  Anyway, a restaurant in LA called “The Burger Kitchen” was recently featured and their situation was so disastrous it was aired over 2 episodes, which we watched on consecutive evenings.

This whetted our burger appetite, so to speak, and the following day, having been really busy at work, Dawn said that she was absolutely starving hungry and REALLY fancied a big burger. 

Never one to shirk a challenge, it was a question of “what’s in the fridge?” and so I came up with this… an experimental burger recipe that hit the spot and which I served with hand cut sweet potato chips, stir fried baby corns and bean sprouts.  You, of course, can have them with whatever you like. 

Ingredients

For the Patties - makes 5 large ones

500g lean beef or steak mince
50g oats
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 egg
1 clove garlic
1 small red chilli
Dash Worcester sauce
20g plain flour

For the garnish

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
Handful wild rocket
1 small red onion
300ml beef stock or gravy
Olive oil (for frying)
Salt and pepper to taste
Burger buns (I used Tesco’s oatmeal seeded deli rolls)

  

The Prep

1.    Peel and slice the Onion.

2.    Slice the tomato as finely as you can.  A very sharp knife is required for this as otherwise the tomato just squishes.

3.    Finely chop the garlic and chilli.

4.    Make the gravy or beef stock and set aside.

 The Method

1.    Put all the Patty ingredients except the flour into a large bowl and mix until it starts to bind.  Add the flour at this point and keep mixing until it all sticks together.

2.    Take a handful of the mixture and form it into burger shapes with your hands, placing each one on a plate as you finish. 

3.    Take a large frying pan, add some olive oil so that the bottom of the pan is coated and turn onto a medium heat. Add the Patties and fry on one side for 3-4 minutes or well browned.

4.    Turn burgers over and pour in the stock/gravy. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until all the liquid has been soaked up.

5.    Now to build the burger.  Slice the buns and place the base on a plate, adding a slice of tomato and then onion.  When the Patties are ready, place on top of the onion, then sprinkle some rocket on before topping off with another slice of tomato.  Don’t forget the top of the bun!

6.    Add your own relish or ketchup to taste.

7.    Serve and enjoy.

Cookie Heaven

With half term looming, many things were on my mind.  How will I amuse the kids for a whole fortnight and juggle work?  Will they attempt to kill each other without school and homework as a distraction? How much crap am I going to have to buy to feed them! 

So being the domestic goddess that I am (not!), I took advantage of a quiet Saturday afternoon. Mark was at footie ("Come on you BLUES!"), the girls were hanging out somewhere inappropriate with some friends and I was, well, bored.  So out came the recipe books and two hours later we had my version of chocolate brownies, flapjacks and cookies.  It was a thoroughly soothing experience to prepare comfort food for ones family, rather than my usual fare of healthy meals disguised as stuff they will enjoy!  I felt very Nigella with my Cath Kidston apron and Radio 4 on in the background.

But, to my horror, daughter no 2 declared that the cookies "Have too much flavour!"  So, "Can I go buy some maryland cookies?"  After my initial shock, I took this as a compliment and of course it left more for us! 

These are so simple I made another two batches yesterday as I had a spare 15 minutes and fancied something sweet.  The recipe is based on the one in Good Housekeeping's "The Baking Book".

Ingredients: 
4 oz unsalted butter, room temp is best easier to mix
5 oz caster sugar
1 medium egg
5 oz plain flour sifted (I used to ignore that part in recipes.  DON'T, as it really makes a difference.)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz peanut butter (3 largish tablespoons works well rather than actually measuring.)
6 oz raisins.

The Prep

1) Heat the oven to 190 or 170 for a fan oven, gas mark 5.

2) Grease two largish baking sheets.

The Method

1) Put all ingredients expect raisins in bowl and blend until thoroughly mixed and sticky. This takes a good few minutes, all of sudden it just comes together.

2) Stir in the raisins. Then roll the mixture into little balls.

3) Place between the palms of your hands and flatten a little to give it more of a cookie shape.

4) Put each one on the baking tray, but space them out well as they spread.

5) Pop in oven for 15 minutes until they turn golden brown around the edges.

6) When you take them out, leave for a good 10 minutes before transferring to a wire tray to cool.

7) Now leave as long as you can… bear in mind the longer you leave them the better. If they are soft they just break and then you have to eat them immediately!

Ideas:
Instead of peanut butter, use almond butter, nutella or cocoa powder. I also sometimes add nuts, chocolate chips and Goji berries. But not all at the same time obviously.

Make a double batch by doubling the quantities but leave out the flavouring, i.e. peanut butter, then put half the mixture in another bowl and make two different varieties.

Serve on a beautiful plate with a glass of milk or cup of ginger tea for a decadent treat.

Chicken Kormark

A mild curry, suitable for children.  Add chillies to taste for a hotter version.

Ingredients (serves 6)

1 ½ teaspoon Garlic and Ginger paste

1 teaspoon Coriander seed

1 ½ teaspoons Cumin seeds

3cm Cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon Turmeric

1 teaspoon Mango Powder

1 teaspoon Paprika

½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon Asafoetida powder

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoonful Coconut oil

1 x 440ml can Coconut milk

1 large red pepper

6 x skinned chicken breasts

1 x large red onion

6 x medium mushrooms

2 tablespoons water

The Prep

1 - To make the garlic and ginger paste, take a 6 cm piece of ginger and a whole head of garlic cloves, peeled, and put into a blender or mixer with 1 tablespoon of the water. We would use the Bamix mill for this task.  Blend until you have a smooth paste.  Alternatively, you could make the paste in a mortar and pestle, or pre-prepared Garlic and Ginger paste is available from Asian supermarkets.

2 – Dice the onion, slice the mushrooms and chop the red pepper into ½ cm pieces.  Set aside in 3 separate piles.

3 – Chop the chicken breasts into 2-3 cm chunks.

4 – Dry fry the whole spices (Coriander and Cumin seeds, plus Cinnamon stick) over a high heat for a minute, grind and set aside.  I would use a Mortar and Pestle although you could buy pre-ground spices as an alternative. I find frying first and then grinding releases more flavour.

5 – To make the curry paste, put the chopped red pepper, ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon plus turmeric, Mango powder, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, remaining water and garlic & ginger paste in a blender (again, I would use the Bamix mill or the Mortar and Pestle) until the consistency is smooth and runny.  It should be red/pink in colour.

The Method

Spoon the Coconut oil into a large pan or Wok over medium heat.  Coconut oil is solid but will melt quickly, releasing a sweet aroma.  Chuck in the onion and sauté until lightly browned at edges (about 2 minutes), then add the chicken pieces.  Fry for a minute or so.

Pour in the red/pink paste and stir well, coating all of the chicken.  Then add the coconut milk and the mushrooms. If you put the mushrooms in any earlier then they may well shrivel up. Stir well.  After a few seconds, the colour shapeshifts to a light and then medium yellow/brown.  Bring to the boil.  The sauce will be quite watery.

To enhance the flavours, now add the salt and Garam Masala.  Finally lob in the Asafoetida powder, which helps to prevent that nasty bloated feeling you sometimes get after a take-away.  Stir and mix frequently.  Turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sauce reduces and has a creamier texture.  The colour should now be a rich mid-brown.  Serve with whatever accompaniment you like.

We made this last night in less than an hour from start to finish and served it with jacket potatoes.  The kids all loved it and wanted seconds. No chance – all gone. Dishwasher hardly required.