IT'S HOMEMADE BURGER TIME // Beef, Chilli & Sun Dried Tomato Burgers

Last night I decided to make some burgers from a Nigel Slater recipe I discovered in the Observer a few weeks back. They were slightly different to your usual plain beef burger as they were made up of beef, chilli and sun dried tomatoes. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of sun-dried tomatoes, to be honest that actually make me feel a bit queasy when eaten on their own but thankfully they were delicious when combined with the beef. I made about 14 burgers and I think the whole family liked them because by the end of the night there was only one burger left on the plate. If you'd like to try making these burgers for yourself then just click here for the recipe. I have also included some photos of me making this delicious meal if you would rather see the end product without actually having to make them yourself. I have to say that these burgers were super easy to make and only took a maximum of 30 minutes to complete - bonus! :)

*Makes 4* - I doubled the recipe but managed to make 14 burgers out of it. I'm not good at maths but even I know that that doesn't make much sense but it happened . . . somehow! 

1 medium red chilli 

6 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes in oil

Add everything together, mix and add some salt to season - (400g of minced beef)

Roll together and grill or fry, whichever you prefer. We did both to make the process a bit faster as the family were hungry!

Nigel Slater also gives us a recipe for a suitable salad to accompany our tasty burgers. Once you've done all of the above steps (about 7 basil leaves, 1 lime, two avocados) mix them all together to make some deliciously zesty side dish. 

We served our burgers with an array of cheeses - Mozzarella, Mature and Edamer. Instead of buns we opted for some rye bread on the side (that's because we didn't have any bread buns in the house!). Absolutely yummmmmie :) 

Give it a go yourself and tell me how you got on! 

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SALADS CAN BE A REAL PARTY . . .

Recently I have been loving a good salad. Not those kind of salads you see with a few lettuce laves a sliver of tomato and, if you're lucky, a chunk of cucumber on the side. No, I'm talking about salads which include bacon and pears, halloumi and chorizo - you know the fun kind. It might have something to do with the sun we've been having but recently we've been eating salads all day every day. When people hear talk of salads they think it's either because their friends are trying to lose wait or they don't think at all as the monotonous green colour that they imagine is enough to send them in to a sleep or at least in to a day dream about that juicy steak they saw on TV the night before. But guys, salads can be quite the party, if you allow them to be that is.

One of my recent favourites has been a recipe I discovered whilst roaming the Internet for Glastonbury inspired food to celebrate the awesome weekend of music we were treated to and it is the halloumi, chorizo, asparagus and spinach salad. The recipe I used was one from Red Magazine (here). It sounds a bit weird but man it's incredible. The cheese is so unique and I think we as a family have come to an agreement that it actually tastes and feels more like chicken than any sort of cheese. The best thing about this dish is that is basically takes 20mins max to complete from start to finish. (Yet another plus to the good old salad.) Add a little balsamic syrup or vinegar on top (what ever you have in your cupboard) and, bish bash bosh, your finished!

Another one that I kind of made up the other day while trying to think of what we could have for dinner after a day where temperatures soared up to 32 degrees, was a bacon and pear salad. The combination of bacon and pear is something that I only discovered a few years back and even though it might sound a bit strange to eat bacon with a sweet fruit it so totally works. I threw in loads of spinach (I am now addicted to spinach) quite a few pears chopped up in to squares, lots of bacon (just add as much as you wish), tomatoes, cucumber, asparagus, peppers - you can basically throw in whatever veg you have in your fridge. To top it off I made a dressing which consisted of 4tbs of olive oil, 1tsp of Dijon mustard and some salt to season - easy pips - put it in the fridge to cool and then you're ready to go! Another healthy meal you can prepare in less than 15mins! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it, (well, both actually) it was so damn delicious(!) so I have found an example picture of a pear and bacon salad online.

Do you have any favourite salad recipes? Please share them with me, thank you :)