Spring has arrived, a flourish of foliage appearing on the trees & new growth in the garden. This is also a time of Spring cleaning & doing all those jobs you wanted to do over the Winter, but it was too soggy & cold. A little bit of sunshine does everyone the power of good too. While we were out recently, we decided to have a little treat for lunch – a small cheeseburger & fries. It was not my finest decision & reminded me of a line in a film – “what’s wrong with this picture?”. The fries were hot but tasteless (no salt) & the burger was sad, cold & rather flat in every respect. You could have bounced the bun down the motorway, it was that stale! On the way home, my Husband suggested we make our own burgers. Although it’s not my forte, I said “hold my spatula!” & that’s how the delicious Dunn Burger happened (named by my wonderful Husband).
It’s been almost 27 years since I last made a proper beef burger. My Son was a baby, we had gone fishing for the weekend (aka sunbathing with benefits) & took along some of my homemade meatballs. Someone suggested we make them into burgers instead & they ended up on the grill next to the trout we had caught. A little surf & turf barbeque ensued & the rest is history.
Fast forward to today & I’ve recreated my delicious burger with a few supporting acts – homemade buns, crispy baked onion rings & my chunky “Aimée chips”. It took me a whole afternoon to make everything, but it was definitely worth it & let’s face it, if you’re going to do something, might as well do it properly. Also, I’m no expert on burgers, this is just the way I do it.
To make it easier for you to recreate this dish, I’ve split everything into three sections: burgers, buns & sides. Not everyone is going to want the buns or side dishes, so this recipe is just for the beef burgers & I’ve put links to the others at the bottom.
Ready to bake it happen? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
What you need (this makes 4 burgers):
500g Minced Beef (10-15% fat content – if you cut the fat, you cut the flavour)
8 rashers Streaky Smoked Bacon
A little Sea Salt & freshly ground Black Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for extra pepperiness)
25g Salted Butter
50g Grated Cheese (I used Medium Cheddar)
Optional Extras:
Mustard
Ketchup or Relish
Pickles (I used pickled Cornichons & sliced them)
Crisp Iceberg Lettuce, washed & patted dry
Large Tomatoes, sliced
What to do:
Get 5 pieces of greaseproof paper ready for your raw burgers, approx 6 inchs square – one for each burger & one spare.
Divide the beef into four equal pieces & gently shape each one into a ball. Be careful not to squeeze them too much, otherwise they will be tough & won’t cook properly.
Put each ball onto a square of greaseproof paper & put the spare piece on top. Press down evenly to flatten out your burger slightly, until about a half an inch thick. Remove the top square of paper & use your hands to shape the burger into a circle, flattening down any uneven areas gently. Repeat with the other three burgers.
Wash & dry your hands again, then sprinkle a little sea salt & pepper over each burger, flipping them over & repeating on the other side.
Stack them up with the greaseproof paper still on them, put them on a plate & wrap in clingfilm. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest, as this will help them hold their shape when you cook them later.
Remove the burgers from the fridge & set them aside while you cook the bacon. Heat a large frying pan or skillet on a medium heat & add the bacon rashers. There’s no need to add oil at this stage, you want them to render their fat into the pan. Do not be afraid of the fat – fat is flavour & this is a treat (you won’t be eating burgers for every meal every day).
Once the bacon has started to get some colour to it, transfer the bacon to a baking tray & cover with foil.
Add half the butter to the frying pan & place your burgers into the pan. Press each one with a spatula, so they make full contact with the hot surface.
Cook for approximately 4-5 minutes each side. Now I like my burgers cooked well-done, so if you like them more on the rare side, cook them for less time. When you flip the burgers, press again for a moment to maintain contact with the pan & if desired, add the rest of the butter.
Once your burgers look gnarly & you’re happy with them, pile up a little cheese on each burger & cover with a large saucepan lid or cake tin for a couple of minutes – this will help to melt the cheese. If you use a cake tin, remember it will get hot, so use tongs to lift it off your burgers.
When the cheese is melted, they’re ready to serve & it’s time to pack those flavour layers into your bun!
Serve these delicious burgers with a side of chunky chips, crispy baked onion rings & a generous green salad. Usually, I make a dish of homemade mayonnaise too, just for dunking the chips & onion rings in.
Fabulously flavoursome, this fine burger is a tower of taste. You might need both hands for this one! Stay hungry! Aimee 😉 x
PS: Here are the links for the buns & sides:
For the buns – You’d Better Bun-lieve It!
For the side dishes – Sides by Side!
always a busy month for us, celebrating birthdays in the first few days & our anniversary later in the month (there’s much cake to be baked & eaten!). Breakfasts, lazy lunches, pasta & Prosecco have all been enjoyed on the patio, while the plants have been abundant with their produce & easily picked for dinner.
coffee & a few kisses, before wandering back to work. This brief interlude would put a pep in my step & make the afternoon brighter – we have now have resumed our mid-day meet-ups. Even though we are all in much closer proximity at the moment, it doesn’t mean we should become territorial about sharing space with our loved ones.
couple of this & a couple of that. We’ve all bought a tin of this, a packet of that, hoping to use it in some elaborate & exquisite dish, but shoving it to the back of the cupboard. Bits of leftover dried pasta, a random tin of beans & that twisted up tube of tomato puree with a tiny bit left. All seemed a bit pointless when you popped them in there, but now they are like gold dust! You might notice I’ve used spinach instead of Cavolo Nero or cabbage. This is simply because I like spinach on my pizza & there’s always a bit leftover, just enough to chuck in a soup or whizz into a delicious pesto, as you will know if you’ve been following my blog. Over the years, I’ve adjusted the recipe to accommodate whatever ingredients were available, but it always has the same result – soupy satisfaction!
Add the onion, carrot & celery to the pan, mixing well with the bacon & oil. Give everything a good stir & fry for about 4-5 minutes, until slightly softened & the onion become glossy.
Add the tomato puree, tip the chopped spinach into the pan & get stirring, mixing everything together.
Using a clean spoon, have a taste of your soup & adjust the seasoning to your personal taste (get a clean spoon before tasting again). It’s worth noting that any stock (homemade or shop-bought), along with bacon, contain salt, so you shouldn’t need to add much. When you’re happy with the flavour, turn off the heat & tuck in!
Although an everyday soup, it can also be turned into a souptacular starter. Got a bit of day old bread that needs using up? Make your own croutons! Cut into cubes (as chunky or dainty as you like), drizzle with a little olive oil & bake on a tray in the oven at 220*C for about 10-15 minutes (give them a shake halfway through cooking). Once bronzed & crisp, tip them onto a sheet of greaseproof paper on a cooling rack, before transferring to a serving plate for people to help themselves. Pile a few in the centre of your soup, swirl with a little olive oil & a dusting of grated Parmesan. That’s it!
meal to prepare, satisfying those cravings for fried fast food without actually being fried. Leftovers can be frozen for future lazy suppers, lunchtime wraps with salad or even sliced & tossed in pasta with a little homemade tomato sauce & a few roasted peppers. To pané means to coat in a little flour, egg & breadcrumbs (in my last blog, I did this with arancini to make crispy risotto balls). The only tip I will give is you need to keep one hand for the dry ingredients & one for the wet, otherwise you’ll end up with panéed fingers!
2 large Chicken Breasts (you can get 8-10 pieces from this)
Drizzle the remainder of the oil generously over the chicken portions & place the tin in the centre of the oven for about 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking, give it a good shake to loosen them from the tin & flip them over. Because it’s thin, the chicken will cook faster & the crumb coating will stop it drying out.
sharp knife to check they are piping hot before eating), or simply layer them cold in a sandwich, wrap or salad for lunch the next day. Try adding a teaspoon of pesto 
blur into one another & before you know it, you’ve got a glass of fizz in one hand, a saucepan in the other & a houseful of hungry guests. Juggling your many hats is not an easy task – there’s the Work you, the Home you, the you who everyone turns to when things go backside up & then there’s the you who feeds everyone. Having a little time in reserve for yourself is rare & when you do get a bit of spare time, everyone wants a share of it. Sometimes, you have to be a bit selfish because if you don’t look after yourself, you won’t be able to look after anyone else. This time of year can be a real drain on you too, both physically & mentally, so we all need a bit of help every now & then (& a lot of coffee!).
couple of (or ten) extra portions of everything & freeze them for future meals – there’s very little effort in peeling a few extra potatoes or chopping another couple of carrots (especially if you delegate). It’s like having your own fast food outlet in your freezer & all you’ve got to do is decide what you want for dinner! Trust me, after a long day at work & being tightly packed on a train for an hour, plus having at least a 20 minute drive home, you really don’t want to be faffing around with food when you get there. Be kind to yourself & with a little planning, you can be organised like a cooking ninja (just think of me as your Foodie Godmother).
potatoes, crisp roasted parsnips & a golden-crusted, velvety cauliflower cheese, it really hits the spot! Leftovers are deliciously lovely – slice thinly for nibbling with cheese & crackers, layer with salad in sandwiches & a feisty mustard mayo, or chuck chunks into a creamy, cheese-enveloped pasta bake. I’ve fried it for breakfast, created some fabulous frittatas & it’s even graced a few of my homemade pizzas too!
taste. The gorgeously gooey glaze gives it a deep rose tinted finish & the scent will definitely make you feel Christmassy! As it’s the time of year for making mulled wine too, I must confess that I have on occasion added the spices from my homemade version the night before (you can see some of the wine-coloured, slightly sozzled oranges in the photos below), with a few fresh spices thrown in – waste not, want not! This could possibly be the shimmering jewel on your table for Boxing Day & beyond. Ready to get your Glammon? Hands washed, aprons on & here we go!
(including that paper circle around the edge), as you want all the lovely spices to impart their fragrant flavours into the meat.
Bring to the boil gently, then turn down the heat until it’s just a bubbling simmer. It’s a bit like giving the gammon a spicy bubble bath & you don’t want any spillages.
Put all the glaze ingredients into a mixing bowl & mash together. Make sure everything is mixed well into a gooey, gloopy syrup. Pour all over the gammon, making sure you coat it all over the top & sides thoroughly.
rest for half an hour (I like to cover mine loosely with foil or greaseproof paper – just make a dome shape over the dish, so it doesn’t touch your glazed gammon).
You won’t need to call your guests to the table – once your gammon is ready to dish up, there will be a queue of shiny little faces at the kitchen door waiting to taste it. If you do have any leftovers, try some of the suggestions I’ve made above (especially the pizza one – here’s the link to my pizza dough recipe to give you a bit of help: 
So there’s my gorgeously gooey & ever so slightly glamorous gammon. When you’re fed up of turkey or just fancy something spicy & special, get your Glam-mon! Stay hungry! Aimee 😉 x
Sundays are perfect for relaxed cooking & sometimes you just want an easy, lazy dinner that you can chuck in the oven & forget about (until dinner time that is!). Nobody wants to be racing around the kitchen, trying to prepare a fabulous feast for the family in record time. The best meals are those that just fit together, like the pieces of an edible food puzzle. We tend to eat our Sunday meal at dinner time, giving us a chance to catch up with family & friends during the day, enjoy a crisp Autumn walk in the sunshine together, or simply curl up on the sofa together & watch old films. Eating later in the day means you can just kick off your shoes, pour yourself a glass of wine & relax for the evening, especially in the chillier months.
of sumptuous sides. It’s great when you have the time, but not everyone wants to start preparing lunch first thing in the morning (especially when you should be making a pot of fresh coffee & a mini mountain of fluffy pancakes). This is where a spatchcocked chicken comes in handy. To reduce the cooking time of a piece of meat, it is sometimes butterflied or spatchcocked. This bodes well for those long days at work or when you’ve been out galavanting & haven’t the energy to cook a full-on roast dinner, but have guests arriving in a couple of hours or just want to eat before midnight! Obviously, there is some element of preparation & even a little delegation, but spatchcocked chicken is an elegant yet effortless dish that your family & guests will love.
Turn the chicken breast-side up again & lay in the roasting tin, splaying out the body & legs. Give the top of the bird a firm press down, just to contact the chicken with the tin.
get the most juice from them, give the lemons a firm roll on the board first.
But it doesn’t end there, you can still make a few more meals with the leftovers. Any extra slices of cooked chicken (& don’t forget the bacon bits!) can be used for packed lunches, crammed into pots with pasta, roasted peppers & salad, or stuffed in freshly baked baguettes, filled to the brim with rocket, fresh basil leaves & a splodge of mayo or pimped up Greek Yoghurt (just add a pinch of black pepper & dollop of pesto to a cup of the yoghurt). Plus you can save the carcass to make stock too! Great 
for rustling up a rich risotto, making a spicy soup or even for gravy. See my “Bird in the Hand” blog link I shared above for instructions & just chuck it back in the oven to work it’s magic, while you all tuck in to dinner (multi-tasking at it’s finest of course).