Recipe: Spiced Lamb Burgers, with Chargrilled Aubergine and Coriander Yoghurt

Yes indeed folks- another yoghurt recipe! This time in the form of a creamy herb yoghurt, to dollop on top of sizzling spiced lamb burgers! I love those chargrilled antipasti things you get in jars/packets- aubergines, courgettes, peppers- whatever! I figured because of the moussaka link, that chargrilled aubergines would go well with the lamb. What is also nice in this is a tsp of red onion chutney spread on the base if you fancy it.

Spiced Lamb Burgers, with Chargrilled Aubergine and Coriander Yoghurt (serves 4)

Burgers:
500g lamb mince
1 egg
30g breadcrumbs
2 tsp dried mint
1 tbsp garam masala
1 green chilli, deseeded and diced finely
2 banana shallots, diced finely
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Generous amounts of salt and pepper

Yoghurt:

180g Greek yoghurt
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
Salt and pepper to taste

4 toasted sesame buns

4 slices of chargrilled aubergine (from deli/or antipasti jar)
Salad and fries to garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix together all the burger ingredients, shape into 4 large burgers, and put into the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up. Put a griddle pan onto high heat, and fry the lamb burgers for 2 minutes on each side.
2. Transfer these burgers to an oven tray, and put in the oven for 8 minutes, to fully cook through (if cooking these on a barbeque, just transfer them to the lower heat part of the barbeque, and turn them occasionally until cooked in the middle).
3. Meanwhile, mix together the yoghurt, herbs and seasoning. Lay a slice of chargrilled aubergine on the base of the buns, top with the hot lamb burgers, and with a dollop of the herb yoghurt. Serve, with salad and fries if desired!

Recipe: Apple, Celery and Pecan Salad

This is basically a "Waldorf salad", but with pecans instead of walnuts. Because it's scrummy and that's the way I like it! A nice summery salad and a great dish to bring to a barbecue/ party. I served this alongside my spicy marinated chicken drumsticks, a recipe that should follow next after this one in the next couple of days. If you aren't a huge fan of mayonnaise, feel free to use Greek or natural yoghurt, that works pretty well too.

Apple, Celery and Pecan Salad (serves 4 as a side dish)

2 apples diced

2 celery sticks, diced

80g pecans, roughly chopped

100g red grapes, halved

250g light mayonnaise

1. Mix together all the ingredients well, and serve!

Recipe: BBQ Beef Chilli Dawgs!

Love these!!! When American food is done properly, it is just the best! High in fat, not generally very good for you, but the perfect kinda food to fill you up, or line your stomach ready for a big night out on the town! I'd love to have my own american themed restaurant or something- call it "Mel's Diner" and it would have all sorts of yummy dishes like home made burgers, decent juicy steaks, meatloaf, malt shakes and Cherry pies and things- so retro and cool! I tend to eat two, but if you are particularly hungry/greedy go ahead and have three. Use whichever sausages are your favourite, I like to use Linda McCartney veggie sausages for this recipe personally.

BBQ Beef Chilli Cheese “Dawgs”! (serves 4)

50g wild garlic butter (or 50g butter + 2 cloves garlic)
2 banana shallots, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced finely
2 celery sticks, diced finely
4 rashers smoked bacon, diced finely
2 tsp dried rosemary
500g beef mince, preferably organic
500g passata

2 tbsp sundried tomato paste or pesto

2 rounded tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp barbeque sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Few drops toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp dark brown or Demerara sugar
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 vegetable stock cube
Salt and pepper to taste

8 sausages, cooked.

8 white floury rolls.
120g grated cheddar

1. Fry the shallots, carrot, celery, bacon and rosemary in the butter for 5 minutes.  Brown the mince for a further 10 minutes.

2. Add all the other ingredients and cook on a low heat for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Put the sausages in the rolls, and top with the chilli, and grated cheese.

Competition: BritMums Lean on Turkey Competition- Spiced Turkey Burgers with Avocado Relish

Hey guys. So Britmums and Lean on Turkey have teamed together to host their "Lean on Turkey" recipe competition, the prize of which for 6 very lucky people are £250 and a personal masterclass with no other than Marco Pierre White!! I thought I would enter one of my favourite, summery turkey recipes- which are these very simple turkey burgers! Looking outside the window, it isn't really barbeque weather- but i'm really hoping the weather will perk up again soon! The competition is open until the 11th June, and you must be a food blogger to enter. Heres the link, and hope you enjoy! If the people need to contact me if they have chosen this as a winner, my email is melbooth@msn.com

http://www.britmumsblog.com/2012/05/lean-on-turkey-win-250-plus-masterclass-with-marco-pierre-white/

Turkey Burgers with Avocado Relish (serves 4)

Burgers
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp Curry paste (preferably Korma)
500g turkey breast mince
Salt and pepper

Avocado Relish
1 ripe avocado, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
Squeeze of fresh lemon
½ tsp Worchester sauce
Couple of drops of tabasco
Salt and pepper to taste

4 x Burger Baps
2 tbsp sunflower oil (for cooking)

1. Mix together the burger ingredients in a mixing bowl until well combined (this is the easiest to do with your hands. Form the mince into 4 burgers, put on a plate, and keep in the fridge for 15 minutes (this helps the burgers keep their shape whilst cooking).
2. Mix together all the relish ingredients in a bowl, season to taste, and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put a large frying pan or griddle pan onto a high heat with the sunflower oil, and fry the burgers for 2 minutes each side. Place the cooked burgers on a tray and in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Serve the turkey burgers in floury white baps, topped with the avocado relish, and with salad and fries/wedges if you like.

*if you are cooking on the barbeque, just put the turkey burgers onto the barbie, and turn them ever couple of minutes, until they are no longer pink in the middle and serve.

Recipe: Pulled BBQ Beef, Leerdammer and Jalapeno Toasties

This is a recipe I created for Bel, and for the British Sandwich association. It's really scrumptious and is a great thing to have as a quick dinner or lunch. Also, it serves 8 (as i was kind of developing a recipe that caterers would use), but it can be a great crowd pleaser at home- bringing it to the table at a barbeque or party is great because people can just pick up a slice of one and nom it all down very easily! I have used Leerdammer Mature here, as that is what i was provided with, but feel free to use normal or low fat leerdammer instead if you wish.

Pulled BBQ Beef, Leerdammer and Jalapeno Toasties (makes 8 toasted sandwiches)

The slow cooked BBQ beef
8.8kg brisket joint of beef
300ml orange juice
500ml water
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
6 crushed cloves garlic
(this should end up making 500g beef)
340g BBQ Sauce

(Makes enough beef for 8 toasties)

Per Toastie
105g pulled BBQ beef
15g green or red sliced pickled jalapenos
2 slices Leerdamer Mature
2 slices thick white bread

1. Preheat the oven to 220C. Put all the Beef ingredients (except the BBQ sauce) in a large deep baking tray, wrap in tin foil tightly twice (so no steam can escape) and cook in the oven for 3 hours.
2. Remove from the oven, and remove the pieces of beef from the other ingredients, into a mixing bowl. The liquid can be discarded, or can be used to flavour soups, stews, casseroles or chillis.
3. Shred the cooked beef and mix with the bbq beef until well combined. Allow to cool.
4. Assemble the toasties, and put in a toastie machine for 5 minutes, or until the bread has become golden brown and the cheese has melted. Cut on the diagonal, and serve- on its own, or with salad, coleslaw, fries or wedges.

*The bbq beef, once cooled, can be kept in the fridge for three days.

Recipe: Macaroni Cheese

I expect that every family has their own take on the classic dish that is macaroni cheese. It's simple, tasty, cheap, and very easy to make. Some people add bacon, or roasted tomatoes- some versions even include beef, or red wine! Had a disastrous attempt at making one about a month ago using red wine and smoked bacon- actually ended up tasting revolting- Cheers metro recipes for making me waste a load of nice ingredients! My mum makes a really nice version with mushrooms, and cheese sauce made with wholemeal flour, thats very interesting too. This version has three different cheeses in it, which I think just gives it a great savoury edge (but lets not think about the calorie count, ey!). I served this with some delicious new season asparagus, just steamed with a bit of lemon butter on top.

Macaroni Cheese
250g macaroni
40g butter
40g flour
500ml semi-skimmed milk
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp crushed garlic
100g grated red leister cheese
15g finely grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
100g grated cheddar

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cook the macaroni in boiling water, according to it’s packet instructions. Meanwhile, make the white sauce (like you would normally) with all the other ingredients, except the cheddar cheese.
2. Drain the macaroni and add it to the cheese sauce. Stir to combine well, season to taste, and pour into a large baking dish. Top with the cheddar cheese, bake in the oven for 30 minutes, and then serve!

Recipe: Homemade Pork Burgers with Relish

These burgers were some of the most flavourful and moist burgers I have ever had- the texture is just divine! I've never actually cooked with pork mince but it seemed to work quite well as burgers. The relish is really nice as well- very simple, but it ends up tasting just like the relish you get in burger bars, which is kinda what i wanted tonight! I'm in a bit of a tizz at the moment actually, as our oven has just broke! Don't know who on earth to call- who fixes ovens?? Looks like you might be getting cold/ salad recipes on here for the next couple of months, haha!

Homemade Pork Burgers, with cucumber and tomato relish (makes 4 burgers, so serves 2-4)

1 tbsp olive oil (plus more for when you griddle the burgers)
1 red onion, finely diced
450g lean minced pork
Handful fresh basil, finely chopped
6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
4 burger baps (white and with sesame seeds is my preference)
Salad as garnish (optional)

The relish
½ medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
150g tomatoes, seeded and diced
100g ketchup
1 level tsp Barts hot chilli paste in sunflower oil
Bit of black pepper

1. First of all, fry the red onions in 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until softened, and set aside. Mix the minced pork, basil, sundried tomato, cooked red onions and plenty of seasoning in a mixing bowl (this is best to do with your hands!). Do this until everything is well mixed and is coming together a bit better.
2. Shape the mince into 4 burgers, place gently on a plate, and put in the fridge for 30 minutes (this helps them keep their shape whilst cooking). Now mix all the relish ingredients in a bowl, season to taste, and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven onto 220C, and put a griddle pan onto high heat. Pour a little oil onto the griddle pan, and fry each burger 2 minutes each side (depending on size of pan, you may want to do it 1 or 2 at a time- each time you put a new burger on, add a little more oil to prevent sticking). Place these burgers onto a baking tray, and put in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Serve the burger in the baps with a couple of tablespoons of relish, and some salad on the side.

Recipe: Carrot, Maple and Bacon Soup

Sounds like a reeeeeeally weird combination I guess, but when you think about it things like honey and maple syrup are used with root vegetables all the time. Honey roasted parsnips or carrots are of course, a very popular dish at Christmas. So I thought I would try and see whether maple syrup and carrots compliment eachother, and it worked out really really well! I then thought, this soup is quite sweet, so it needs something salty to set it off- and then I remembered Americans love putting maple syrup on their bacon and pancakes at breakfast, so I thought that would make a good garnish. In some supermarkets you can actually get "maple cured bacon" as well, which is delicious too. I am entering this recipe into Love The Garden's "Christmas Carrot" recipe competition. It is a recipe competition for bloggers that ends 21st December- all you have to do is post up a carrot recipe onto your blog, mention their site, and you are end up with a chance to win a £200 dinner at any restaurant of your choice! Here is the URL, if any of you fancy going in for it! http://www.lovethegarden.com/blog/christmas-carrot-competition

Carrot, Maple and Bacon Soup (makes 2 large bowls, or serves 4 as a starter)

50g butter
1 red onion, diced
1 white onion, diced
½ tsp mixed herbs
500g carrots, peeled and diced
30ml maple syrup (plus extra for drizzling)
700ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
4 thin rashers smoked bacon (or generally 2 rashers per person)

1. Sautee the onions, mixed herbs and carrots in the butter and maple syrup, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have started to caramelise.
2. Add vegetable stock and cook on a high heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to as high as possible, and cook rashers of smoky bacon on s non-stick baking tray until they go nice and crispy (this generally takes 10-15 minutes).
3. Blend the soup, add any extra water/stock if necessary to get to your desired thickness, season to taste and serve hot- garnished with crispy smoked bacon and an extra drizzle of maple syrup!

Recipe: Savoury Peanut Pie

This is one of my mum's classic recipes. It's almost like a nut roast, but it's lovely and moist and surrounded in pastry! Very "vegetarian" I suppose, but this is very much a comfort food for me- served with roasted carrots, peas, mash, and plenty of vegetarian gravy! You can of course make your own shortcrust pastry, and my mum usually does, but if you're stuck for time just use the ready-made rolled stuff.

Savoury Peanut Pie (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
220g dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped (in a food processor if you have one!)
½ tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
Salt and black pepper
Ready rolled Shortcrust pastry
Beaten egg (for egg wash)

1. Fry the onions in the olive oil, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the nuts, tinned tomatoes, Worchester sauce, herbs and a little salt and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an 8 inch pie dish with Shortcrust pastry. Fill the pastry with the peanut mixture, then top with more of the Shortcrust pastry, trimming to form a lid. Cut a couple of little holes in the top, brush with egg, and bake for 35 minutes.
3. Serve, with a nice veggie gravy, potatoes and veg!

Recipe: Smoky Baked Beans

Oh well, I suppose as a student you had to expect me to bring out the heinz baked beans eventually!!! These delicious smoky beans with bacon are fab on top of a jacket potato, or on the side of a couple of grilled pork chops. Of course, this dish is also fabulous on toast- dare I say it! Well, if numbers of Michelin starred chefs relax at home with beans on toast (and they do!) then it's good enough for me.

Smoky Baked Beans with Bacon (side dish for two)

1 tsp olive oil
1 rasher smoked back bacon, diced
½ white onion, diced
1 x (410g) tin Heinz Baked Beans
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cumin
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp Worchester sauce
Salt and pepper
Yoghurt and chopped chives to garnish.

1. Fry the bacon and onion in the olive oil, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the baked beans, paprika, cumin, chilli powder, sugar and Worchester sauce, and cook for 3 minutes, uncovered.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with natural yoghurt and fresh chives- serve!

Recipe: Meatloaf

Ah, good old Meatloaf- and no I don't mean the bat outta hell kind! I've never had a go at making this, but it seems to be rather an american dinner staple, so i thought i'd have a go. This is a recipe I have just slightly adapted from Good Food magazine. The changes I made were that I turned it into 1 big meatloaf (as their recipe was for "spicy mini meatloafs"), so had to adjust the amounts and timings a bit, I did not add any tabasco, and i added a couple extra cherry tomatoes. It was really delicious, me and my brother loved it! And it was not dry atall, which is a reputation that meatloaf has seemed to have gained in the past few decades.

Meatloaf (serves 3)

500g minced beef
50g white breadcrumbs
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
1 egg
1 tsp ground cumin
Small handful coriander, chopped (plus a little extra for garnish)
50g sweet chilli sauce
½ tsp salt
Black pepper
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
Vegetable oil (for greasing)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix all the ingredients together (except the cherry tomatoes and vegetable oil) in a mixing bowl until well combined (but do not over-mix, otherwise the meatloaf will become tough).
2. Line a non-stick loaf tin with a little oil and greaseproof paper, and arrange the halved cherry tomatoes face down. Then add the meatloaf mix into the loaf tin, making sure it is nice and even and flat at the top.
3. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Remove, and turn the oven up to 220C. Turn out the meatloaf onto an ovenproof plate/dish- be careful when you do this, as there will probably be plenty of juices that will come out with it.
4. Remove the greaseproof paper, drain away the juices (if you are making a gravy for the meatloaf, add these juices to it) and put in the oven for a further 5 minutes, just to brown a bit. Garnish with a little extra coriander, and serve!

Recipe:Homemade Beef Burgers, with Tomato Relish

I've never made my own burgers, but my head chef Boo's burgers at work have been selling like hotcakes over the last few weeks, so I thought i'd have a go at making my own! These are really yummy, made even better when they are griddled. Griddling is definitely the secret to a good burger- you want to get that lovely "charred" taste to it. The tomato relish is delicious as well, and can of course be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a couple of days. The burgers as well can be frozen easily, so if you're planning a barbeque any time soon, these would be a sure winner! In my burger here, I have put relish, salad, and also spread with a little bit of wholegrain mustard + yoghurt (nicer than mayo i think- and healthier). I also reckon a rasher of crispy smoked bacon chucked in there wouldnt go amiss! (although not as good for my diet-conscious mind at the moment!)

Homemade Beef Burgers, with tomato relish (makes 6 burgers)

Burgers
500g lean minced beef
½ red onion, very finely diced
35g hoisin sauce
3 slices white bread, turned into breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
Salt and pepper

Relish
1 tbsp oil
½ red onion, diced finely
1 celery stick, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dukka (a mix of toasted ground cumin, coriander and sesame seeds)
¼ tsp crushed chilli flakes
250g diced ripe tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
10g capers, finely chopped

1. For the relish, sauté the onion, celery, garlic, dukka and chilli flakes in the oil, covered for 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients except the capers, and cook covered for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the chopped capers, and set aside.
2. Mix together all the burger ingredients with plenty of seasoning. Heat a griddle pan on a medium-high heat. Mould the meat into 6 burgers, all weighing 95-100g (trying to get them nice and flat!).
3. In batches, griddle the burgers for 2 minutes on one side, 2 minutes on the other side, and then flip over once more and cook for a further minute, pressing down. Serve the burgers in nice baps, with the tomato relish and salad!