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!

How to get Longer and Thicker Eye lashes?

Everybody has a right to look beautiful and here in this blog i am going to share some secret tips.

HOW TO GET LONGER AND THICKER EYE LASHES NATURALLY?

All ladies love to have long and beautiful looking eye lashes to enhance their beauty. For this, they are ready to buy any kind of product at any cost which is promised to get results.

But, barely any product actually gets the desired results.

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN FULFILL YOUR DREAM OF HAVING FULL, LONGER AND THICKER LASHES JUST BY TRYING NATURAL STUFF, WHICH ACTUALLY GETS THE RESULTS?

Me, myself have tried herbal ways to get the lashes i always wanted :)
YES, this is right .......

CASTOR OIL IS THE SECRET INGREDIENT 




HOW IT WORKS?

Castor Oil applied to the eyelashes at night WILL make your eye lashes grow longer and thicker.

Some people will claim this is ridiculous, but they have neither tried it nor understand why it works.

The reason it works is that nearly nobody's eyelashes have grown to their maximum length and thickness. Castor oil just ensures that they grow all the way. My Outer lashes are now actually nearly a cm outside of my eyes to the left and to the right (Respectively for each eye) which means the whole look of my eyes is soooo much more improved and well from what people tell me.. 'sexy'. TRY IT. THIS WORKS.

HOW TO APPLY?

You need a clean mascara brush to put it on properly. Get a bottle of pure castor oil, this all you need.

Dip the brush into oil, and put it on your EYE LASHES and EYE BROWS just like you put on mascara.

  

Make sure brush is cleaned up properly



Best thing is they get curled naturally as they grow.

NOT FOR GROWING EYE LASHES, IT EVEN WORKS FOR EYE BROWS

You can share your experience and ideas, i would love to hear from you.

Recipe: Barbeque Pork Loin Steaks

Allright, now this does sound very very weird, almost unappetising, when you look at the ingredients- but trust me, the results are GAWJUS! Tomato Ketchup with guinness I hear you say with suprise! I've come up with this recipe with influences from American recipes. You will see a lot of american recipes that cook with ingredients that we wouldnt normally consider cooking with- like for instance, baking a ham in Coca Cola. Again, sounds weird, but the results are delicious (thanks for highlighting that our lovely Nigella!). The sauce bubbles down and caramelises around the pork loin steaks, and ends up as a sweet barbeque flavoured sauce. The meat AND fat on the pork ends up so succulent as well. This is lovely served with mash and steamed broccoli. Hell, if you along the whole american route, why not try making a homemade coleslaw too?

Barbeque Pork Loin (serves 2)

4 pork thin cut loin steaks
120g ketchup
100ml Guinness
40g sugar
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp Worchester sauce
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients (except the pork!) together in a bowl, until well combined.
2. In an ovenproof dish, lay out the pork loin steaks. Pour the sauce evenly over the steaks, and cook in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove and serve!

Recipe: "Get Better in a Bowl!"

I'm poorly again! Poor Mel, it's the easter holidays and i'm all ill again! This is a sick-recipe standby, this always without fail makes me feel better. Several nations dating back hundreds of years have used chicken noodle soup as a form of culinary medicine- the turkish, the jewish, the asian populace, and eastern europeans. There is a little science behind why it makes us feel better as well- there is a chemical found in chicken and turkey called "Tryptophan". It is a type of amino acid, and it actually works as a form of anti-depressant, and is essentially a natural mood elevator. And of course, this is a healthy dish, as it is a good mix of carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, and a warming broth- helping with those colds! In my recipe, the garlic and parsley in it also helps with recovery, as garlic is a well known natural remedy for curing colds and also aids in lowering cholesterol. The fresh parsley has a lot of iron in it as well. It isn't the prettiest dish I admit, but its all that i ever want when i'm poorly.

“Get Better in a Bowl” Chicken Noodle Soup (makes 2 bowls)

75g finely diced white onion
75g finely diced celery
75g peeled and finely diced carrot
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
30g butter
¼ tsp celery salt
¼ tsp dried thyme
100g diced cooked chicken
3 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
700ml chicken stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 stack fine egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sautee the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, celery salt and dried thyme in olive oil and butter, covered, for 5 minutes. Add all the other ingredients except the noodles, bring to the boil, and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add the noodles and cook for 2 more minutes. Season to taste and serve, perhaps with some extra soy sauce on the side.

Review: Giraffe

So, a new branch of this wonderful chain has now arrived in Bath! It is in the shiny new Southgate area, opposite the bus station. I like what they’ve done with the place actually- the décor wasn’t atall like the one I went to in Horsham, which was all quite colourful and plastic-y. It’s nice and dark and atmospheric, and based on two levels, so it’s quite a big place. They had this cool opening 50% off food offer going on, so me and my brother decided to take our mum out for dinner there (as our “mother’s day gift” to her was for us to take her for a meal at some point).

So we got a few cokes and sat down. Waitresses fairly chatty and friendly. I really like the menu as well- it isn’t MASSIVE, but it seems to have something for everyone. Not too bad for vegetarians either. For starters, I had the “hummus, baba ganoush, and mixed olive sharing platter” to share with mum. This was soooo gorgeous! Was very impressed with the baba ganoush as well, often restaurants get it wrong and it ends up tasting far too smoky, but it had quite a traditional flavour. The breads that were served with it, toasted bits of focaccia and pita bread, were hot and super tasty as well. This was the best bit of the meal definitely; I really recommend their sharing platters. Michael had the chicken potstickers with soy chilli dip. I had these last time I went to Giraffe, and ehhhh, they’re not that amazing to be honest. Fairly average I would say.

For mains I had the “Rodeo Chicken Burger”, which was very tasty. It is basically a tasty piece of grilled chicken, with cheese, fried mushrooms, barbeque sauce, and an onion ring, served with skin-on chips. I was slightly annoyed that I had asked for it without mayonnaise and not only did it still have mayonnaise on it, it seemed to have LOADS. I wonder if the kitchen though “no” was “extra”, lol! I ate it anyway, but I thought that was a bit crap, cause eating too much egg products can make me a little ill. And the chips could have been a little hotter- they were kinda lukewarm. But, despite all of this, it was a verrrry tasty burger! Their onion rings are fab as well, I recommend ordering a side dish of them. Mum had the “Falafel Deluxe” Burger, which looked very nice, as did Michael’s Parmesan Chicken Schnitzel with mash and salad. I think the portions are the perfect size as well actually, not too small or big.

So after all this, we got the bill, and of course due to the 50% off the food thing it was very reasonable. The normal bill without discounts would have been £52.70, which for 3 starters, mains and a drink each, is around average I would say. Our bill came to £29.70, result! Mind you, one last comment on the bill. We waited for a fairly long time for this bill, and when it got there I noticed the 10% service had already been added to the bill. I found out that this is a company policy- they do it with all meals. But I happen to think that this policy is a little bad really, as I consider service/ a tip as an optional device. It shouldn’t be forced on you atall, I’m not saying I’m a stingy non-tipper here- but if the service has been inadequate, then I honestly DON’T TIP. Doesn’t happen often, but when it does I think I should have to right to not tip them.

So, I would give the service at a 8/10, and the food 8/10, giving it (obviously!) an average score of 8! They gave me a 2 for 1 main meal voucher, so will definitely be bringing Nick there some time in the next couple of weeks.

Do me a favour, leave your plastic wrapping at the supermarket!

Don't fret, this old softie hasn't suddenly turned into an an all-guns-ablazing activist overnight but I have come across some good news that will help householders across the country quietly join the move towards a more active zero waste lifestyle.

Reported in this week's LetsRecycle bulletin is the news that the UK's key supermarkets (Asda; The Co-operative Group; WM Morrison; J Sainsbury’s; Tesco; and Waitrose) are officially accepting thin plastic film packaging through their existing in-store bag recycling facilities.

This won't be a new idea to some as several supermarkets have been doing this already, but it is welcome news that this recycling facility is now officially being rolled out at more than 4500 stores across the UK, providing customers with a place to leave packaging such as cereal bags, toilet roll packaging and multi-can wrappers.

What really struck me about the value of collecting back these materials was that according to LetsRecycle, this type of plastic makes up 43% of all plastic household packaging, weighing in at 645,000 tonnes each year.   Plastic bottles make up only 32%, or 480,000 tonnes, by comparison.  Wowsers!  It just goes to show how much there is knocking around this planet of hours and that's a lot of plastic that would otherwise go to waste if it is simply dumped in the rubbish bin.

Of course, much of this packaging can be reduced at source or reused at home (e.g. bread bags being repurposed as sandwich wrappers, and loo roll bags doubling up as bin bags), but much of it can now go back to the supermarket to be reprocessed.  To find out more information about this scheme and the on-pack recycling label that underpins it, visit Caelia Quinault's article at LetsRecycle.com Supermarkets take back plastic film in-store.   Oh....and tell your friends.  Well there's no point in keeping news like this to ourselves is there.

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Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Stack, with Tomato Sauce and Feta Cheese

This is a really yummy vegetarian dish, and i think it looks very sophisticated. If I had to do a posh veggie starter for someone on Come Dine with Me, I would make this dish! With the tomato sauce, you can use your own homemade sauce or if you're in a bit of a rush you can use a pre-made one- the sacla ones are good. This time I made a basic tomato sauce with passata, dried basil, thyme, oregano, salt, sugar and pepper-easy peasy! A quick starter, that can easily be made into a main course when you serve it with crusty italian white bread and a rocket salad.

Roasted vegetable stack, with tomato sauce and feta cheese (serves 2)

8 round slices of aubergine (not too thin!)
1 large courgette, halved and then sliced into strips
1 yellow pepper, seeded and quartered
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

200ml tomato+ herb sauce (whether homemade or ready-made)
120g feta cheese
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. On two greaseproof lined baking trays, place all the prepared vegetables, drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
2. A few minutes before the vegetables are ready, heat up the tomato sauce in a saucepan, until piping hot.
3. Remove the vegetables out of the oven, and begin to layer up onto two plates. Layer them up how you would like, but I like to put the pepper quarters and courgette slices in between the aubergine slices (making sure I end up with an aubergine slice on top, as it improves the presentation).
4. Pour over the tomato sauce, crumble over the feta cheese, sprinkle over some fresh parsley, and serve!