There's
only so much grilled sausage - especially floury, spice-dodging Finnish sausage
- anyone can handle, so I've come up with a few easy yet very tasty recipes to
add a bit of excitement to summer house meal times. This recipe is amended for
indoor conditions - if you get a chance to test it outdoors, simply substitute
the griddle pan with a blazing hot grill, the embers glowing bright red. And
don't worry about the spices: no one wants to drag along their entire spice
rack when heading outdoors. As long as you have garlic, chilli, coriander, lime
and (optional) ginger you'll be just fine. At home, I prefer to substitute
ginger with the spice mix listed below.
Ingredients
(makes four burgers and a generous pile of wedges):
- 500g turkey or pork mince (lamb works very well, too)
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 1 egg
- Juice of half a lime
- 1 large clove of garlic, very finely chopped or grated
- 1 - 2 fresh chillies, deseeded, very finely chopped (or leave
the seeds in if you prefer your burgers fiery)
- A small bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sumac
- (optional: grated fresh ginger - to taste)
- 4 burger buns or other suitable bread
- 500g potatoes, cut into chunky wedges
How to cook:
Place
all your burger ingredients into a roomy bowl. Make sure you have a tray or a
plate for resting your burgers on. Rub some oil into your hands to avoid
excessive stickiness, place your hands in the middle of the mince and onions
mess, and mix everything together thoroughly. The sensation might not be hugely
pleasant, but it's good to spend at least a few minutes squeezing and blending
everything together to ensure the spices are spread evenly through the burger
dough. Once all the ingredients are mixed properly, you should have a ball of
burger dough. Divide this dough into four evenly sized portions, and shape into
four burgers. Place the burgers on a tray or a plate. Ideally, place the
burgers in a fridge for half an hour so to rest so the flavours develop. This
step is not essential, however. Wash your hands well, with soap!
Whilst
the burgers are resting, cut your potatoes into chunky wedges. Wash thoroughly,
and boil for approximately 5 minutes. Drain and leave to rest until the potato
chunks have dried a bit. Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Once the oven has
heated, pour a few tablespoons of oil - vegetable oil is my favourite for
wedges, but olive or rapeseed oil will work nicely, too - on to a clean
roasting tray. Heat the oil in the oven for a few minutes before pouring the
potatoes to the tray - this will help them not get stuck to the tray during
roasting. Place the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes, turning occasionally
to ensure they are roasted evenly on all sides to create crispy, golden wedges.
Now
for the main event. Heat the griddle pan until it's red hot. Pour in a very small
amount of oil (we're talking of a trickle here), and turn the pan around to
spread the oil evenly on the pan's surface. Place two of the burgers on the
pan, and cook on full blast heat for approximately 10 minutes, turning halfway
through. Place the burgers on a plate, cover with tray to maintain warmth, and
repeat with remaining burgers - you don't want to crowd the pan. Place the
cooked burgers on buns - ideally, grill the insides of the buns for a minute or
so to create a crusty effect, but be careful not to turn them into charcoal -
the pan will be very hot indeed!
Place
a pile of potato wedges on plate, and serve the burgers with salad and your
choice of sauce. My favourite is a simple combination of natural yoghurt, 2 - 3
tsp of Harissa paste (depending on how spicy you like things) and a dash of
lemon or lime juice. If you can't find harissa paste, this can be replaced by a
combination of tsp each of paprika and ground caraway seeds, a small pinch of
grated garlic and 1/2 tsp of chilli flakes. Hot Finnish mustard is also
excellent with these burgers...but maybe not that easy to find here! 
No comments:
Post a Comment