Category cooking

Rascal Burgers… Down Under home cooking.

The Rascal King Leave a comment

As promised, the burger patties I made up yesterday actually turned out pretty good so Im going to share my recipe with you.

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes.
Cook Time: 10-20 minutes for the whole burger concoction.

Ingredients:

  • 500g of Beef Mince. I use the 20% fat version opposed to the lean mince, simply because the fat makes them more juicy and less likely to fall apart. I usually get a kilo and freeze the other half for spaghetti bolognese or tacos or some shit like that.
  • 1x Packet of Chicken Noodle Soup or about 2/3 a cup of breadcrumbs.
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Egg
  • Parmesan Cheese (about 2 table spoons).
  • A big mixing bowl.
  • Kitchen scales.
  • Something to flatten the burgers down with.
  • You can also add stuff like onion and diced bacon or whatever you want to the mix. I prefer to keep it simple. Wochestershire Sauce never goes astray.

Directions:

  1. Put mince in mixing bowl
  2. Add all the dry ingredients. You can add other spices if you like, I tend not to follow a recipe really I just look in the pantry and do the whole trial an error. I think I put some garlic and herb seasoning in there. Dont be afraid to put too much… there is no such thing. Put what you think you should, then add a little more. Thats the right amount. Liberally season with salt and pepper.
  3. Add the egg and any other wet ingredients you may have, mix it in. You will get your hands dirty, but thats part of the fun. You just want to mix it together. Err on the side of caution because if you play with the meat too much it wont combine properly.. oh yeah, depending on the chicken noodle soup, the noodles will be in the burger. It wont affect the taste!

    Ive heard of people putting tomato sauce in their mix. I think thats dumb. But hey, if you like it, try it and if it works… go for it.

  4. Doing the simple math… for any Americans, a pound is around half a kilo. So if you want to make quarter pound patties, you need to split this mixture into 4 reasonably equal parts. For those of you going for the calculator… its 125g. This is what the scale is for…
  5. I have a piece of Tupperware that I can make the patties with, so I put the container on the scale, zero it out and then add the meat mixture until its around 125g. You wont get it exact, most of mine were around 130-140g. Flatten them out till they are around 2-3cm thick. Repeat this for as many patties as you plan to make.
  6. My suggestion is to put them in the fridge for a couple of hours if you have the time to give everything time to settle, and for everything to cool down and combine properly. I usually stack them on a plate with baking paper in between to stop them sticking. Take care to keep the patties together, so you will need to handle them gently.

Cooking the damn things:

  1. Get a frypan, add some oil. I used canola oil cos its what I had on hand. I also have peanut oil, but this isnt a stir fry.
  2. Heat the oil over a moderate heat. Turn your grill on so it is fired up ready to go (once gain, for the Americans, Im talking about the under the oven grill, not what you consider a BBQ)
  3. Once the oil is heated, you can test this by dropping a piece of onion in there and it starts to cook rather than soak the oil… PLACE your patties in one at a time. Dont drop them in, dont throw them in. This isnt some store bought pre-frozen patty. I would recommend using a spatula to lower them in. Let them cook for a few minutes.
  4. RESIST the temptation to flip them. Essentially you want the egg and instant soup or bread crumbs to combine everything together in the burger. Once you can see that they are cooked about half way through…THEN  FLIP them.
  5. Once they are cooked through, I like to put the cheese on top and put them under the grill until it melts.
  6. Add to your burger bun with everything else and eat it!

Health and Diet stuff:

Once again, not a nutritionist, cant tell you the calories, carbs, sugars blah blah blah… but as with any burger you cook, its about what you put on it as much as whats in it. For these burgers, I had the following:

  • Avocado – spread on the buns.
  • Fried egg – Actually not bad for you. Its essentially protein
  • Bacon – Grilled and fat trimmed off it.
  • Jarlsberg Cheese (melted onto the burger)
  • Beetroot
  • Spinach
  • Sliced onion – uncooked (healthier because its not covered in oil and has a nice crunch to it).
  • Kaiser Roll.

To make this healthier, obvious I could shit can the egg and bacon, add something like pineapple and lettuce. I wont EVER put kale on a burger. I toyed with the idea of silverbeet or shredded carrot. I also forgot the pickles. But yeah, its your burger, do what you like.

As Im typing this I did my post dinner Blood Sugar test (Im non insulin dependant diabetic) and it went from 5.3 to 9.4… so yeah, this is not a food youd eat every night.

However if you’re in the mood for a treat, or you want a simple and easy to make dinner, you can easily make the patties and store them in the freezer or fridge.

 

Burgers… quick, simple and just plain fun

The Rascal King Leave a comment

How to make a Burger that tastes pretty good and might even be a little healthy for you. Good news, this isnt a recipe blog, so you’re not gonna get the back story or my inspiration… Im just gonna tell you how to make food that is actually pretty nice. Dont claim its healthy and you dont have to follow my recipe to the letter… but I will tell you this… its quick, its easy and it tastes pretty good.

The Aussie Millenial Burger

In honour of Australia Day, and it has Smashed Avo on it… if you dont know why thats funny… TLDR… a politician in Australia said that if Millenials want to afford homes, they need to stop spending $20 a day on Smashed Avo on toast.

Prep Time: Around 10 minutes
Cooking Time: Around 15 minutes all up

What do you need:

  • Chicken Thighs
  • Marinade (I used Smokey BBQ)
  • Avocado (smashed of course…)
    Pro Tip: you want a soft avocado!!! When you pick it up, it should feel a little squishy
  • Onion
  • Spinach leaves
  • Bacon (2 slices for two burgers) (You can use middle or short cut)
  • Beetroot (tinned)
  • Cheese (I used Jarlsberg, but Im fancy like that)
  • Egg (Cage Free! Im serious!)
  • Tomato (or not… I hate it)
  • Brioche Buns (Burgers need Brioche… use a normal bun, but you’re missing out…)
  • Cooking Oil. I use canola. Use whatever…

Instructions:

  1. If you have time, put the chicken thighs in some sort of container with a lid and add the marinade. Shake it like a polaroid picture (Shake it, shake it) and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
  2. I like to prep the rest of the ingredients before I start cooking… so I can pretend Im on a cooking show whilst Im doing it, also because Im shit at time management whilst cooking and its easier to prep it and have it, than not have it and need it.

    Peel the onion. I do this by cutting off the top, then peeling the skin off and then cutting off the bottom where all the skin peeled to. I know it sounds straight forward and DUH, but its a skill… for those tricky bits, I like to use the knife to help with the peeling process. Once peeled, slice thinly. Talking  Bunnings Sausage Sizzle thin… You should have onion slices that you can punch out into onion rings.

    Do the Avocado. Make a cut in the centre of the avocado along the long side until you hit the pit in the middle. Then just drag knife around the pit until you have cut the avocado in half. Twist the two halves to seperate. Grab a spoon and scoop out the avocado from the non-pit side into a ramekin or other container. Then remove the pit and repeat for the other half. Grab a fork and smoosh it up really good. If you have a soft avocado, this will be really easy and will make a kind of lumpy paste. I usually cover this with Glad Wrap (cling film) and put it in the fridge until later.

    The rest. Just make sure you have your spinach leaves, beetroot tin opened and put into that crazy tupperware thing that literally only holds beetroot. If you feel the need like my wife to have tomato… cut the top off, then a couple of slices.

  3. Get a large frying pan and pre-heat over a medium heat.
  4. Get a smaller frying pan and pre-heat some oil for the eggs.
  5. If you have a grill, turn it on and pre-heat it. If not… bacon is going in another frying pan. I like crispy bacon, so I find this is the best way to do it. I usually cook it on a flat try with some baking paper, mainly cos I dont like cleaning out dripping from the oven. I would recommend getting to know your grill pretty well. Most oven/grill combos I know take a little bit to warm up, however if you have some sort of dedicated griller… like a George Forman or something, the cooking time will be a lot less.
  6. Put the marinated chicken thighs into the frying pan. Keep an eye on them. Turn them occasionally and move them around to make sure the marinade doesnt start to burn.
  7. Once the oil is heated, crack an egg (1x for each burger). About 30 seconds after you put the second one in, use a spatula to seperate the eggs if they overlap. Will make your life easier later!
  8. Put the bacon on a flat tray with some baking paper or some alfoil. If you use alfoil, spray with cooking oil because you dont want it to stick to it. Put it under the grill. Keep an eye on it.
  9. Basically watch the chicken and eventually you will need to turn it over. I usually check the underside and middle and if it looks cooked, flip it over.
  10. If the eggs have finished cooking, you can turn them off and just leave them in the pan.
  11. Check on the bacon. If you want, you can pull it out, flip it over and cook the other side. However if you leave it under the grill long enough, it will just go crispy.
  12. Once the bacon is done, put it in the pan with the eggs, get your buns and warm them under the grill. I usually just replace the baking paper from the tray I use for the bacon. Keep an eye on them because I’ve seen something go from soft and fluffy to charcoal in 20 seconds if left unattended. You want them to have a light toasting.
  13. Once thats done, your chicken, eggs and bacon should be sorted. On your toasted buns spread some avocado.
  14. Place your onion ringlets on the avocado.
  15. You know what, just stack everything on top of everything else… there’s your burger. Want sides… you wont need sides. This burger is MASSIVE!!! Id recommend smashing two of them cos they’re so good.

Health and Finance stuff

  • Im not a nutritionist so I couldnt tell you how many calories are in it, but brioche isnt the best bread if you’re on a diet. You could use Kaiser Rolls or wholemeal rolls etc… For me its about taste and brioche tastes the best… however I do have Kaiser rolls for tomorrow night. I made my own patties, and yes, I will post about it if the burgers work!
  • The marinade was store bought so Im pretty sure it was also just sugar and sauce. But it tastes good and its not in a massive quantity. Most of it is cooked off.
  • When I made this,
    • I used 4 Chicken thighs (two for me, two for the wife). Cost me about $6 and was just over half a kilo.
    • Spinach leaves were pre-packaged and about $2.
    • Eggs were about $5 for half a dozen.
    • Bacon was about $12 a kilo for middle rashers, I got half a kilo which is about six slices. I used one slice for two burgers. If I was using short cut, Id need to use 1 per burger.
    • Onions are onions, they’re not expensive.
    • Beetroot was also cheap, I just got the Coles brand tinned one.
    • I bought tomato and they’re about $3 a kilo. The one solitary tomato… about 40c.

Once I get the photo of the burgers. I will add it to this post. But yeah, TLDR… smashed out 4 burgers with a little bit of prep and about 15 minutes cooking time.