Build a better burger!
Posted: 02 April '10 by Niall
Homemade beef-burgers with onion relish
There are times when only a juicy, meaty beef burger will do..
This is a slightly more upmarket take on the basic burger though, with a zingy onion relish and wholegrain mustard mayonnaise.
I saw Oliver Dunne’s recipe on RTE’s “The Afternoon Show” and, apart from a few minor additions, thought that it was pretty close to perfection.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 8Image 9
Ingredients
The burgers
- 500g Lean mince
- 2 slices of granary bread (made into breadcrumbs)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1/2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 splash Worcestershire sauce
- Few drops of Tabasco
- Salt and pepper to taste
- A glug of olive oil
- 1 tsp of thyme leaves
The Onion Relish
- 2 red onions, finely cut into long slices
- 50g butter
- 1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
The Wholegrain Mustard
- A few spoonfuls of mayonnaise
- 1 tsp of wholegrain mustard
To serve
- 4 soft Burger baps
- 1 ripe beef tomato
- 4 slices of Monterey Jack cheddar cheese
- 1 red onion, finely sliced into rings
- 1 head Baby gem lettuce
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C
- To make the burger quickly fry the chopped red onion and the garlic in some olive oil for 1-2mins until translucent.
- Add to the rest of the burger ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Shape into even size patties and allow to set in the fridge for about an hour.
- Add a small amount of olive oil to a frying pan and brown your burgers on both sides for 3-4 minutes.
- Place the partially cooked burgers on an oven tray and place in the oven as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Sweat the sliced onions on a low heat until they become soft and translucent.
- Add the sugar and balsamic and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated and you’re left with a thick, sticky relish.
- Place your mayonnaise in a bowl and add the wholegrain mustard, mixing thoroughly.
- Place a slice of Monterey Jack cheese on top of each burger and return to the heat of the oven.
- Toast the burger buns and remove the fully cooked burgers from the oven.
- Finally, assemble your burger!
Enjoy!
Other information
If it helps speed things up, you can make the patties the day before and leave them in the fridge overnight, ready to be cooked when you come home from work.
Categories: Beef > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes
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Pappardelle with Chestnut Mushrooms
Posted: 25 March '10 by Niall
Pappardelle with chestnut mushrooms
Here’s another quick and tasty recipe that’s a mid-week favourite of ours: Pappardelle with chestnut mushrooms.
Admittedly, it doesn’t sound that exciting – but you’ll be surprised just how tasty and filling the dish it. While you can substitute other types of pasta (tagliatelle would also be good), I really wouldn’t try using white/button mushrooms in place of the chestnut mushrooms – they just don’t have the earthy flavour that the recipe needs to make it worthwhile.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4
Serves 2-4
Ingredients
- 200g of chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
- 500g of fresh Pappardelle
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 50g of butter
- A good glug of olive oil
- Parmesan (to grate over the finished dish)
Method
- Heat a saucepan of water to boiling point and add the fresh Pappardelle.
- In a separate saucepan melt the butter over a low heat, adding the olive oil to prevent burning.
- When the butter has melted add the garlic and allow to soften.
- When the pasta has cooked, drain and return to the same saucepan.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and mix through the pasta.
- Add the garlic butter and mix through the pasta.
- Allow to stand for 5 minutes, so the mushrooms “cook” in the residual heat.
- Serve the pasta with a good grating of parmesan and season to taste.
Enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Pasta > Recipes > Vegetables
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Pasta al forno with tomatoes and mozzarella
Posted: 29 January '10 by Niall
Pasta al forno
Pasta al forno means “pasta from the oven” and is a popular dish in Italy.
The method for making Pasta al forno is fairly simple and similar to those for lasange but you’ll see that it is much easier to make and needs far less cooking time.
This recipe for making this Pasta al Form con Pomodorino e Mozzarella is taken from “Jamie Oliver’s Italy” – although his was made with “orecchiette” pasta (“little ears”), we found this type fairly difficult to come by at last minutes’ notice, so we made ours with “conchiglie”, which resemble small sea-shells.
There’s a real rustic feel to this dish and it’s surprising hearty. I think it’s important to get the best mozzarella that you can lay your hands on – the “Taste the Difference” mozza that we tried was worth the extra cost and was a tasty, chewy treat amongst the tomato and pasta.
We served ours with a small rocket salad and home-made garlic bread made with ciabatta – delicious!
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 500g of conchiglie pasta
- 8 fresh, large pomodorino tomatoes
- Some tomato puree
- 3 balls of mozzarella, sliced
- A wedge of parmesan, grated
- A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper for taste
You also need a large bowl and a kettle full of hot water.
Method
- Cook the conchiglie in a large saucepan of salted water and drain thoroughly when done.
- Place a large saucepan over a low heat, add some olive oil, and add the garlic and onions, sweating them until they are soft and translucent.
- Half-fill the large bowl with the boiling water and add the tomatoes for a couple of minutes.
- Remove the tomatoes one at a time and run a finger firmly down the flesh – you should notice that the skin peels away easily. Remove all of the skin and set the tomatoes aside.
- When all of the tomatoes have been peeled squeeze them into the onion and garlic mixture, adding the soft flesh but disgarding the woody core.
- Reduce the tomato mixture and fully soften the tomato pieces.
- Squeeze some tomato puree into the tomato mixture and stir thoroughly.
- Add salt, pepper and fresh basil and remove from the heat.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Empty the sauce into the drained pasta and mix thoroughly.
- Place some of the pasta into a casserole dish to form a layer of pasta that reaches half-way up the sides.
- Take some of your mozzarella and lay them on top of the pasta to form another layer.
- Place the rest of the pasta on top of this again.
- Complete the dish by laying the remaining mozzarella on top of the pasta, grating a good amount of parmesan on top of this again, and drizzling the top with good olive oil.
- Place the casserole dish in the oven and cook until the top has formed a golden crust.
- Once you’ve spooned out the portions grate a little more parmesan over the top (can you ever have enough?) and drizzle with olive oil.
Enjoy!
Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes
2 Comments
Seared scallops with black pudding and cauliflower puree
Posted: 27 January '10 by Niall
Scallops with black pudding and cauliflower puree
This was a dish that we first tasted in Clenaghan’s in Aghalee and we loved it that much that it’s become a favourite treat in our house.
The delicate flesh and sweet flavour of the scallops goes surprisingly well with the rich, spicy rounds of black pudding, and the cauliflower puree provides a subtle base and creaminess for the whole dish.
The secret to perfecting this recipe are the quality of the ingredients: fresh scallops and Clonakilty black pudding are a must. We usually buy our scallops from the Northern Ireland Fishermen’s Federation stall and the Clonakilty black pudding was bought from the Greenmount Farm Shop – both of which are in the City Food and Garden Market in St. George’s Market on Saturday mornings.
I usually slice the scallops along the middle to make two. There’s no reason to do this other than they make for an easier mouthful, and it looks like you’ve double the scallops on your plate!
I’ve also added some curry spice to my cauliflower puree to emphasise the sweet flavour of the vegetable and bring another dimension to the recipe. Cauliflower makes a fantastic canvas for other flavours too. So let your creativity run riot and add whatever you like to the puree – grated nutmeg and even mustard work well.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7
Serves 2
Ingredients
Ingredients: Seared scallops with black pudding
- Half a Clonakilty black pudding, cut into rounds that are about the same size as the scallops
- 6 scallops
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Splash of olive oil
Ingredients: For the cauliflower purée
- 1/2 a small cauliflower
- 100ml (6 tbsp.) cream
- 150g (10 tbsp.) butter
- A good pinch of curry spice
Method
Method: For the seared scallops with black pudding
- Take a sharp knife and slice where the orange scallop roe (also called “coral”) meets the scallop. There is also a small membrane which runs around the scallop and should come easily free once the roe has been removed.
- Brush your frying pan with olive oil and fry the black pudding on a medium heat until both sides have become crisp. Transfer the black pudding to a plate lined with kitchen paper and keep warm.
- Rub the scallops with a little olive oil and season them with salt and black pepper.
- Increase the heat of the frying pan until the oil smokes slightly.
- Place the scallops in the frying pan and cook – one minute on each side should do. Each side of the scallop should have a nice golden crust.
- Pat the scallops dry on kitchen paper.
Method: Cauliflower puree
- Boil the cauliflower in the milk until the cauliflower has become soft.
- Put the cream and cauliflower into a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve.
- Cook the butter until golden brown and add to the puree, along with the curry spice.
- Season to taste with salt.
To serve
- Place a piece of black pudding in the centre of each serving plate with a scallop on top.
- Pipe or spoon a little of the purée in between.
Enjoy.
Other information
Clonakilty black pudding comes from County Cork. Produced by Edward Twomey from an old Harrington family recipe, and just crumbles in your mouth with the most delicious, more-ish flavour.
You can visit the Clonakilty black pudding website here.
You can also read more about St. George’s Market, Belfast here.
Categories: Featured Post > Recipes > Seafood > Starter Course
1 Comment
Comforting beef casserole with mashed potatoes
Posted: 22 January '10 by Ciara
I am really excited about this new recipe. I tried it for the first time this evening and we all loved it. It is packed with flavour and was the perfect thing to eat on a cold snowy evening. Sophie has been quite run down recently, so i am a bit paranoid that she should be getting as much goodness into her as possible, and i was delighted that she loved this.
Please note that I cut my vegetables quite small and also the carrots were grated quite finely too as Sophie doesn’t really like a lot of lumps in her food, so feel free to cut up your veggies to your own liking.
The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Feasts” programme.
Serves 5
You can see more photos here.
Ingredients
Ingredients: Beef Casserole
- 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 carrots sliced or grated
- 2 celery stalks sliced thinly or 1 inch thick
- 3 cloves of garlic grated
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2lbs of beef fillet stewing meat
- 1/4 cup flour
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 cup red wine or beef stock (i obviously used beef stock for Sophie)
- 1 large can whole plum tomatoes (i also blend these for Cor, who hates lumps of tomatoes in his food)
- peel of half an orange
Ingredients: Mashed Potatoes
- 6 maris piper potatoes
- 4 knobs of butter
- 30ml full fat milk
Method
Method: Beef Casserole
- Heat oil and over a medium heat fry onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves and thyme for 5-10 minutes until onion turns translucent. Remove veggies to a bowl leaving as much oil in the pot as you can.
- Meanwhile, place flour and salt and pepper in a plastic bag along with meat. Shake until meat is coated. Place into the pot which you have just removed veggies from and cook until pieces are well browned.
- When this is done add the wine or beef stock then add veggies, tomatoes and orange peel.
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce to a low and cook for 3 hours. Remove bay leaves, thyme sprigs and orange peel and serve with mashed potatoes.
Method: Mashed potatoes
- Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes
- Drain and mash
- Meanwhile heat butter and milk together
- Add slowly to potatoes continuously mashing
Enjoy!
Categories: Beef > English Food > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes
