No average cheeseburger

Not much time for cooking today so we ended up with what is our standard cheeseburger. Most of the ingredients are as you would expect them to be with the exception of raw carrots. This is how it's put together:

Layers working upwards from bottom:

4 Hamburger breads
Ketchup / chili sauce
4 burgers
2 finely grated raw carrots
Cheese

Now they should look something like this:

Now it's time to put it under the grill for 10 - 15 mins (or until the cheese is done to your liking).

Once it's out of the oven, add lettuce, top piece of hamburger bread and that's it.

Sliced through:


The carrots might seem like a strange addition, but they add sweetness and increasing the amount of vegetables in anything is always a good idea. But, please note - they must be finely grated otherwise it's best to leave them out.

Enjoy

Appearances can be deceiving

is the thought that struck me as I was preparing todays dinner, spicy meatballs with cream sauce, rice and a side salad. Basically, frying the meatballs nicely golden they look pretty much as you'd expect, but once they're covered by the cream they lose their golden and highly appetising appearance. When it comes to taste though there are few things that can beat them.


















(click pic for large size)

2 packages (800 g) minced beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 dl milk
2 tablespoons starch (potato or corn etc)
1 heaped teaspoon baharat
1 egg
Oil/margarine for frying
3 - 4 dl cooking cream (or whichever type you prefer)

You can do this by hand if you want - I prefer the Major's help. Mix beef and salt well, then add milk, starch, baharat and egg. Mix well.

Next you need to get a frying pan ready and also a heavy bottomed casserole. Frying pan should be on max heat, dont forget to add the oil/margarine to it and add the cream to the casserole and keep the casserole on low heat.

Once the frying pan is hot, get a tablespoon and drop spoonfuls of the meat mix into the pan. Meatballs should not be cooked through, they should only be fried until they are nicely golden on both sides. As soon as they are golden on the outside, transfer them to the waiting casserole (to which you should already have added the cream). When all meatballs are in the casserole cover with tightfitting lid and leave for 10 mins to cook through (still on low heat).

Serve with rice and any salad. Shown on pic is plain basmati, salad is just tomatoes, cucumbers and koriander (cilantro), dressed with limejuice, oil, salt and black pepper.

Enjoy

Potatoes and lamb

I love potatoes in just about every shape and form except boiled - starting point for this dish was a couple of potatoes, some sweetpeas and lamb, this was the result:

















(click on pic for full size)

2 large Potatoes, sliced to approx 1 cm or little less
Oil + butter (or margarine)
1 Red onion, sliced as orange wedges
1 small package sweet peas each one cut in two or three pieces
1 sweet red pepper, thickly sliced
4 different types of lettuce (radicchio rosso sliced, mache leaves separated and lollo rosso and frisee torn)
Salt
Pepper
Nanami Togarashi

Lamb, 3 - 400 g, thinly sliced
2 - 3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 - 3 tablespoons sesame seed oil (dark brown, roasted)
2 - 3 tablespoons neutral oil (corn, sunflower etc)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
More cooking oil for frying
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

First, prepare the meat which should be marinated for at least a couple of hours before cooking. Mix soy sauce and oils well, add bicarbonate of soda and mix well again and immediately add thinly sliced lamb. Mix everything well and leave for a couple of hours. The bic. might sound strange but it tenderizes the meat more efficiently than anything you might buy at your local supermarket (and it's cheaper and works equally well for all types of meat and poultry).

While the meat is marinading, prepare/slice vegetables and wash lettuce.

Saute potatoes in oil/butter mix until they start getting tender, take care that they do not brown. Add about a cup of water (which will keep them from browning/sticking as well). At this point I usually add salt to taste, freshly gound black pepper and the Nanami Togarashi. Once potatoes are done, add red onions. Continue sauteing whilst stirring carefully until onions start turning transparent, then add sweet red peppers and sweetpeas. A couple of minutes and this part is done - pull the potato/vegetable mix aside.

Now, add a little oil to a heavy frying pan, fry the lamb (over high heat) until it nicely golden/browned. Turn down the heat, add a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds, mix well and fry for a couple more minutes. Pull aside.

Take the already cleaned lettuce and mix with the now slightly cooled potato/vegetable mix, distribute on two plates, put equal amounts of the lamb on top and enjoy!