The lad & I are pretty big rugby fans but sometimes, the Saturday marathons are a bit too much to spend in a crowded pub so we opt to watch the matches in my place, cook a nice dinner and head into town to savour the craic later on in the night. Last Saturday was no different so we decided to cook up some burgers and chips to enjoy with a beer or two during the rugby.
Not any ordinary burgers & chips, we went for pork & pudding burgers with red onion jam & goats cheese served with home-made wedges and a side of market salad. Perfect. Himself whipped up the burgers and I did the rest, including cooking the burgers – he’s only getting partial credit for this one. The recipe made 4 burgers so I’d one for my dinner after work yesterday with leftover mash from Sunday and fabulous purple kale which I stir-fried with some garlic & bacon. Who said cooking for one is boring?
The goats cheese we used was a hard goats cheese from the Dutch guy in the market. It’s great on a pizza with black pudding (if you like BP you should try out this combo but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea) or on a cracker with some spicy chutney. The red onion jam recipe is the one used previously with bangers & mash and the wedges are from a previous recipe served with mussels but this time, we used Spanx ketchup instead of aioli.
On a completely different note, for anyone who doesn’t buy The Observer, they have a fantastic food supplement on, I think, the last Sunday of the month. This month’s edition can be read on-line if you’re interested but we’re buying it religiously these days. The recipes are great but I’m most interested in the articles; this week has a feature on Delia Smith who’s returning to the screens with a series to accompany her new book on finding cheats in the kitchen. To be honest, I’m not one for buying pre-prepared vegetables (she recommends sliced onions in olive oil as well as smash among many others) so I probably won’t be splashing out but OFM did ask some top chefs for some tips & tricks which was pretty interesting. Atul Kochhar advises to make up large quantities of garlic & ginger paste to freeze in ice-cubes which can be removed to freezer bags when frozen and Michel Roux of Le Gavroche has a very easy version of mac & cheese that uses Laughing Cow triangles & goes down well with kids. It’s well worth getting; now, back to the recipe…
Pork & Pudding Cheeseburgers
with red onion jam, salad & wedges
Serves 2
What You Need
500g of pork mince (this will yield 4 burgers so freeze 2 for another day)
1 handful of breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 onion chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt & Pepper
50g black pudding (we got Athy BP from Ray Conlon’s)
25g hard goats cheese thinly sliced
Some salad – get some good organic leaves and make up a salad of whatever’s in the fridge / fruitbowl to make up your 5-a-day. Dress with some balsamic & olive oil.
What You Do
- Mix the first 7 ingredients in a bowl with a fork and shape into patties when fully combined.
- Allow the burgers to sit in the fridge for about 30 mins before cooking.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200C and heat some olive oil in a pan. Gently brown the burger on both sides for about 3 minutes each side and transfer to the oven for 15mins. After 10mins have elapsed, place the goats cheese on the burgers & return to the oven for the final 5 minutes.
- Plate up with the wedges, jam, salad & a cold beer.
- Kick back & enjoy the game!
the princess loves her baby pasta with laughing cow and grated parmesan on top, she's had since she was about 7 months old!! Nice alternative to the regular mince burgers, that red onion jam sounds delish:)
Posted by: lorraine@italianfoodies | February 26, 2008 at 01:29 PM
My friend has a baby around that age also so i'll pass on the tip. She's always looking for tips for babies dinners.
Posted by: Sarah | February 26, 2008 at 01:41 PM
This is a cool recipe Sarah... I love the idea of adding in the pudding. My Dad would love these! Ditto on the jam. Yum!
Lorraine - I just made Mac and Cheese with Laughing Cow, per a recommendation in The Observer on Sunday. Awesome! ;-)
Posted by: Deborah | February 26, 2008 at 07:20 PM
Looks divine, I make beef burgers with red onino jam in them from the newest Nigella book and they're gorgeous and finished my last asian chicken burger tonight so will give these a lash at the weekend - YUM!
Posted by: Rachel@fairycakeheaven | February 26, 2008 at 08:27 PM
Asian chicken burger sounds fab... Looking forward to reading the recipe!!!
Posted by: Sarah | February 27, 2008 at 08:41 AM
looks delicious!
Posted by: f | March 01, 2008 at 04:48 PM
I love burgers..they are my favorite also aside from pasta..
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