Best Burger… Aussie Style

Aussies have a strange adoration of beet, which we call beetroot. We all grew up with pieces of pickled beetroot in our salad rolls and sandwiches. And burgers. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I had the un-pickled variety of beetroot. B’s salad looked deeee-licious.

I don’t mind a hamburger. A good hamburger. This recipe is for a patty that I think is great. Yes, I am selfishly using this blog as my personal recipe file.

It is up to you what you want to add to your burger, but if you want to fly the Aussie flag, by rights you should add some pickled beetroot.

The patty is made with…

Minced beef, red onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary, sage, Worcestershire sauce, and a little butter.

I chopped up the onion, and cooked it in a fry pan in butter. I like it cooked on a low heat until it is starting to brown. While it is cooking I minced up the garlic, and chopped some parsley, sage and rosemary.

I also made sure the minced meat was not too wet. This meat I bought at the farmers’ market (I love that place) and it was quite wet. So I used some paper towel to remove some of the liquid.

I put all of the ingredients in to a bowl together, including some Worcestershire sauce and black pepper, then mixed them well with my hands. I formed patties, and then the hardest part, after smelling the cooking onions, was putting them in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

I cook the patties in the same pan as the onions, and my method for melting the cheese is to add it to the burger as the second side cooks.

I like lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard, cheese, a little tomato sauce (ketchup), and of course…… beetroot, piled up on a toasted bun with my burger patty.

This patty is versatile though. I also like tomato, lettuce and Roquefort cheese. Try that on a day you want to fly a french flag. And perhaps wear stripes.

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Best Burger Patty

ingredients

1 red onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
500g (a pound) of minced beef
A few grinds of black pepper

Melt the butter in a fry pan and cook the onion until beginning to brown. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Form in to patties and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cook over a medium low heat. I use the same pan that I cook the onions, as it has some nice caramelisation already starting.

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To a toasted bun, add your favourite fillings, along with this flavoursome hamburger patty.

Oeufs en Meurette

B’s poached eggs inspired me.

I love love love poached eggs, to the point where I even braved the scary sounding “Oeufs en meurette” which translates as “Eggs in red wine sauce” when I was in France many moons ago. Oh, they were incredible, unexpected, and something I would never have thought I would attempt to make.

But that’s what this blog challenge is for me, taking inspiration from B, and trying new things. I am living in Trinidad, so often ingredients are not available week to week, or even at all… but this recipe was almost all in my fridge and cupboards.

I was nervous about attempting B’s poaching method, as I usually poach eggs in a shallow pan, but I bought fresh eggs, crossed my fingers, and it was surprisingly easy. I used red wine vinegar in my poaching water, as a tip of the hat to the theme.

The lineup… bacon, shallots, button mushrooms, cocktail onions, butter, chicken stock, red wine, pepper, salt, bay leaf, thyme, sugar and flour.

Cut and then sauté the bacon in a pan.

Remove the bacon to a plate when nicely browned, and using the same pan cook the mushrooms in the remaining bacon fat .

Remove the mushrooms when cooked, and add the cocktail onions to the pan. I still had plenty of grease in the pan, but you could add a little butter if you need to.

Cook the onions until transparent, and ready to eat. Then set them aside along with the bacon and mushrooms.

To make the sauce, combine the red wine, stock, salt, pepper, thyme, bayleaf and sugar and roughly chopped shallots, in a saucepan.

And boil briskly until the liquid is halved.

While your sauce cooks down, poach your eggs using B’s Method and keep warm in ramekins in a warm oven.

Make a roux in a clean pan by melting the butter over a low heat and stirring in the flour. Cook for a few minutes over low heat.

When the wine is reduced add the liquid slowly to the roux, and stir out any lumps that may (or in my case *will*) form.

Strain the rest of the remaining wine mix in to the pan with the roux and mix well. You will have less roux, I overdid it and removed half.

Add a wee knob of butter to the sauce to gloss it up a little, mixing it off the heat.

In a plate with a little depth or a bowl, spoon in some of the sauce, sprinkle in some of the bacon, mushroom and onion, add two poached eggs. Add more sauce, bacon, mushroom and onion, and then garnish with parsley or chives.

Oh mama…

Serve with some lightly toasted bread, warmed chunks of baguette would be dreamy.

My trusty taste tester didn’t wait to sit down.

The verdict… oui, oui, OUI!

Tag B, you’re it!

Alice

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OEUFS EN MUERETTE (EGGS IN RED WINE SAUCE)
Serves two

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups red wine, burgundy or pinot noir if possible.
100g (3oz) shallots
100g (3oz) bacon
140g (4oz) button mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
100g (3oz) cocktail onions
1 tsp salt
a healthy grind of pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
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Serve with crusty bread and a sprinkle of parsley or chives.
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Chop the bacon and sauté, when cooked scoop the bacon out onto a plate keeping any fat in the pan. Add the chopped mushrooms to the pan and cook gently in the existing fat. When cooked, set aside. Saute the peeled cocktail onions once again in the same pan, adding a touch of butter if more fat is needed. When cooked to transparent, set aside.

Start the red wine sauce by putting the red wine, stock, roughly chopped shallots, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and sugar in to a saucepan and boiling briskly. Continue boiling until the liquid halves in volume.

Meanwhile, poach the eggs in water with red wine vinegar following the technique described here, and keep warm in individual ramekins in a low heat oven.

When the red wine reduction is ready, make a roux by melting a tablespoon of butter in a fresh pan, and mixing in the flour well. Cook gently before adding in a few spoonfuls of the reduction to slowly thin the floury mix. Then strain the rest of the reduction straight in to the pan with the roux and mix well, removing any lumps that may form. Finish the sauce with the remaining butter, stirring well, removed from the heat.

Place some sauce in the base of a bowl, and layer up the eggs, mushrooms, bacon and onions. Garnish with some fresh herbs.