Every once in a while, one of the flatmates (except Veggie Meghan), craves a burger. And when one of us starts talking about it, we all start craving them, so this is how we deal: Buffalo, Venison, Cranberry burgers.
These are no ordinary burgers. Oh no. These are Puddledub buffalo, venison and cranberry burgers which we bought at the Fife farmers' market a few week ago and have kept in our freezer until now. These burgers are great. The meat is so lean, and unlike a lot of burgers, there is no grease oozing out of them, meaning they are healthier and not as guilt-inducing. They also are rather inexpensive, at only £4.99 for a pack of 4. Go get yourself some at the next farmers' market (Saturday April 2), you will not regret it! (They also have great lamb steaks which we frequently buy).
These burgers deserve to be treated with respect, so we placed them on whole wheat buns, with homemade tomato ketchup, grated cheese, caramelized onions and wilted spinach. Next to that we had homemade rosemary sweet potato chips. Yeah, it’s okay to be jealous.
We’re gonna need to take this in steps.
1. Prep your sweet potato chips. I use one sweet potato for each person eating. Cut them into chip-like shapes (sorry for the obviousness), place them on a baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and throw some rosemary on (fresh if you have it, dried if you don’t). Shake it all about to coat the chips, then put them in a 200degreeC oven for about 45 minutes. Check about halfway through, push them about to make sure they cook evenly.
2. Now for the tomato ketchup. Let’s be honest, this is a little over the top, even for me, but we didn’t have any ketchup or mayo in the house, and I like a bit of sauce on my burger, so this is what happened. I don’t know how to make ketchup, at all, and didn’t bother looking it up, so just racked my brain for the list of ingredients on the back of Heinz bottles, and was pretty sure it was just tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and water, so that is what I did. I took a handful of cherry tomatoes, cut them into eighths, and threw in a hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil and let them cook down for just a few minutes. Then I poured in about 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar and let it cook off for 15 minutes. It smells awful, but it gets better with time. Then I poured in about 2 tablespoons of water, and quite a lot of sugar, about ¼ cup or 50 grams. Any sugar will do. Let it all cook down together, adding water if it looks too dry. The longer it cooks the better it will taste, so keep it on the stove until it’s time to serve. Mine turned out to be a bit more of a chutney than a ketchup, but it was seriously yummy and just what I wanted.
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| I forgot to take photos of the whole process, sorry! |
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| Oh, yeah, I used butter! Olive oil would be healthier though! |
3. While the chips are in the oven and the ketchup on the hob, caramelize your onions. Thinly slice an onion and tip in into a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Cook until they brown, about 10 minutes. I added a handful or two of fresh spinach towards the end to wilt.
4 Finally, the burgers! Use a big frying pan (we used the same one we had cooked the onion and spinach in for extra flavour), heat it up, and place your patties in it, no need for oil. Cook for about 10 minutes on each side for medium well.
5. While the burgers are in the pan, toast your whole wheat buns by slicing them and either putting them in the toaster, or placing in the oven with the chips. Also, grate some cheese so it’s ready to be sprinkled on the hot burger.
6. Take the chips out of the oven, put a bun on each plate, place a cooked burger on each, and let everyone add their own onions, spinach, and cheese. Eat!!!
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