When I got home from Hyde St on Saturday, I found my flatmate turning boring old potatoes into the most marvellous oven fries. They were so good. And we had some aioli in the fridge too. It was just magical!
I really wanted some more of Lucy's marvellous creations, so I decided to have another burger night as an excuse to make them. (Because you can't have burgers without more carbs.)
I love a good burger. Venison burgers are my favourite, but I used that last week. Beef mince is a suitable alternative and most flats have some in their freezer somewhere.
Adding a few not-so-typical burger ingredients gives a nice twist to these patties. The sesame seeds were a last-minute addition just because I thought it would look cool.
The fillings are up to you. We used cheese, lettuce, red cabbage, carrot, caramelised onions, onion marmalade, aioli, barbecue sauce and tomato sauce. It really depends on what you have in your fridge and what you feel like.
Start baking the fries before you get started on the burgers. That way they should both be ready at the same time.
Makes 5
For the patties
500g beef mince
1 egg
1 slice of bread, turned into breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
2 Tbsp oyster sauce (fish sauce will work if you want to make these gluten-free, and use gluten-free bread)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp crushed chilli
1 tsp salt
pepper
Filling
lettuce, tomato, cheese, red cabbage, carrot, onions etc.
Onion marmalade, sweet chilli sauce, aioli, barbecue sauce etc.
5 burger buns
In a large bowl, mix the patty ingredients together. Preheat a large frying pan and add a splash of oil. Drizzle a of more sesame oil onto your hands, then split the mixture up into five portions.
Flatten each portion and shape to fit the buns. Cook the patties on both sides until cooked all the way through.
If you want you can grill the cheese onto the buns.
Assemble your burgers (I'm assuming you know how to do that).
Oven fries with sea salt
Serves 5
7-8 medium-sized roasting potatoes
3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp sea-salt flakes
clean plastic bag
Preheat the oven to 200degC on bake.
Wash the potatoes if they are not prewashed. Keeping the skins on, slice the potatoes into strips so that they have a cross-sectional area of about 1cm x 1cm.
Place all the potato sticks in a clean plastic bag and add the oil. Give the bag a good shake to coat all the chips.
Tip the chips on to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until they start going a nice crispy brown.
Serve with a nice good dollop of aioli! Oh, and the burgers!
Enjoy!
