Make Your Own Burgers

During lockdown, I mostly cooked, because that’s what I love to do! However I have to admit to having a couple of excellent take away burgers from my local pub. Very delicious. But recently I have  made burgers at home, with lots of trimmings. The recipe is great because the burgers are oven baked, easy to make and relatively healthy.

The recipe is freely adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Botham Burgers from “The Return of the Naked Chef”.  The recipe makes four medium sized burgers.

For the burger:

Ingredients

500g minced beef, preferably organic

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 free-range egg

1 handful of fresh breadcrumbs

1/2 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 slices of cheddar cheese

The other 1/2 onion, cut into rings

For the bits and pieces that go with the burgers:

4 soft bread rolls

Handful of baby gherkins

Cherry tomatoes

Sun dried tomatoes

Any green leaves you fancy – rocket is always good

Avocado slices

2 teaspoons American mustard

2 teaspoons tomato ketchup or 2 teaspoons tomato chutney

Method

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C fan-forced.

Scrunch all the ingredients together. Use the breadcrumbs as required to bind the mixture. Divide into 4, then lightly mould and pack each burger together into burger shapes. Place the burgers on a baking tray along with the onion rings. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. The burgers should still be pink in the middle – cook for a few minutes longer if you want them more well done.

Just before they are done, place a slice of cheese on top of each burger and place back in the oven for a minute to just melt the cheese.

To serve:

Cut rolls in half and place on a plate. Place a burger with its slice of melted cheese on top of half of a bread roll. Squeeze some mustard and tomato ketchup on top, or spoon some tomato chutney onto the bread roll before you add the burger. Now add any of the bits and pieces as you fancy, using my suggestions or making up your own. I definitely recommend scattering the charred onion rings on top of the burger, really tasty!

I did a couple of different combinations on different nights.

A really delicious and easy meal and equally as good as take away!