DIY Burger

I like burgers. The first McDonalds appeared in Helsinki in the mid-80's and I took to burgers immediately. I still remember the first visit there with my English class, and I think I had a Big Mac with chocolate milk shake. These days I don't set my foot in McDonalds unless it's a dire emergency but they served as inspiration to make burgers at home.

Burgers are notorious for being unhealthy food but they can be better than their reputation. One part are the side dishes, french fries and soft drinks that contain very much useless energy - if you are calorie conscious, consider replacing them with salad, oven baked fries and water or juice. I usually have mine without any sides.  Burger itself is not that bad (if you don't have them every day), provided you use good quality meat, vegetables generously and mayonnaise containing dressings sparingly. Ketchup itself is healthy stuff (provided it's low-sugar) because it contains lycopene, which is good for your heart. Lycopene you can get especially from processed tomato.

Making your burger at home puts you in control of what you have in it, plus it's easy, and even fun! You can get high fibre bread rolls for it, use more vegetables, low-sugar ketchup, low-fat mayo and so and so forth. Burger is very modifiable, you can leave stuff out, try adding different things, such as varying types of cheese, meat, vegetable steaks or sauces and dressings. This basic instruction makes for one.

• Beef mince (10% or less fat) 150-200 gr per person
• Bread roll
• Salad (iceberg, lettuce, whatever you like), 1-3 leaves
• Pickled cucumber, 3-5 slices
• Tomato, medium, sliced
• Onion, finely sliced
• Low-sugar ketchup, 2-3 tbsp
• Dressing or mayo, 1-2 tbsp
• Cheddar, 1-2 slices
• Oil for frying, salt, pepper

1. Pat the meat into a burger steak and let it warm up a little in room temperature.

2. Meanwhile slice vegetables and have everything at ready.









3. Fry the steak until it's well done - brown from each side and meat juices begin to seep through.








4. Sprinkle some salt and freshly ground pepper over the steak.









5. Place a slice of cheese over the steak and take off heat, put aside.









6. Halve the bread roll and toast it for a few minutes on mild heat, it needs to become warm, not brown.








7. Place the lower half of the bread roll on a plate and put ketchup and half of the dressing on it.








8. Place the salad on top.









9. Then the pickled cucumber slices and some more dressing.









10. Add tomato slices. Press gently with a spatula. (add another slice of cheese if you like on top)

10. Put the steak on top and then onions on it, add extra tomato slices if there's some left.






11. Add the top half of the bread roll and press lightly. It's ready!

Mediterranean Patties

Before I move on the recipe, I do have to declare the mushroom picking season hereby opened! I found these little beauties on my way to the shop. They are chanterelles and one of my favourite mushrooms (but not number one though). So far this summer, the fresh chanterelles sold in Finland have been from Estonia but soon we can go pick our own. Half the fun is finding and picking them, it's like treasure hunting!


And now onwards with the recipe.

Years back, to my great astonishment I had lovely-tasting mediterranean meatballs at one of the canteens of Oulu University. I say "to my astonishment" as taste of food in that kind of canteens tends to be rather mediocre and even bland. In a way it's undestandable as they have to produce food for masses of students and do it cheap. Though I have to say for Julinia that their deli-line served a bit more special meals for very, very nice price/quality ratio.Yummy! Anyways. that time I was truly surprised by the taste of those mediterranean meatballs. I liked them so much, to the point I wanted to replicate the taste. I have done a few attempts, and here's the most successful so far.

Notes: Don't add salt, capers and olives contain enough already. Use meat that contains at least 10% fat, the skinnier ones tend to dry too much. This recipe makes for 2, use 400gr meat if you have hungry dinner company,  and add a tad more of the other ingredients.

• 300 gr beef mince, or mix of pork and beef mince (20/80) 
• Onion (medium)
• 2 tsp small capers
• 2 tbsp black kalamata olives
• Black pepper
• 0,5 tsp fresh thyme (or to taste)
• Oil or butter for frying

1. Dice onion quite finely and chop capers and olives into tiny bits. I use a heavy knife to chop but it's ok to put them into a blender for a few twists, too.






2. Put onions and capers into a bowl with the meat, thyme and grind some black pepper over. Mix thoroughly.

3. Pat the meat into small patties (3-4 cm). I roll them in a meatball with my hands and then press slightly to flatten.








4. Fry the patties on a well warmed-up pan over good (but not too hot) heat.




 



4. Fry on other side, then when you see red meat juices start to prickle on the surface of the patty, turn them over and fry the other side until you see the juice prickle again (here I let the juice come through well for the sake of the picture, less is enough usually). Remove from heat.






5. Serve with garlic yoghurt (scroll down for recipe) and oven roasted vegetables or a nice salad.