It’s been a busy Saturday, but I crammed in a visit to the local markets this morning. I’ve always loved how the vibrant colours of the fruit and veg stalls give such wonderful life and exuberance to what’s basically a large, overcrowded shed.
A fresh palette
I was buying up fresh ingredients to get started with some of the recipes in Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Three Things on a Plate. Both books are recent gifts filled with quick meals for time-poor-new-mum me, and now that my kitchen is in some vague manner of order, I thought it might be time to dive in.
I started tonight with Jamie’s British Burgers. The only parts of the recipe that I followed properly were the burger patties (made from scratch) and the baps (warmed in the oven – hey, that counts as baking!). I was tired so I just went with lettuce, tomato, cheese and onions for the burger fillers, instead of the more elaborate ingredient list Jamie presented – they also required use of the food processor, and baby boy had just gone to sleep so…the shortcut won.
Come fry with me…
Oh people. Much excitement. I christened my new frying pan. It replaced the cheap and nasty one I’ve used for the past decade, and now I understand why it’s worth remortgaging your house for a decent one. It cooks like a dream, and hardly needed washing, just a wipe over in hot soapy water. It also did a great job with the patties. The house smelled like a summer barbeque due to the beef and beer combo, but that’s ok (we’re nine days into autumn and I hadn’t noticed until I typed this sentence).
In the end, the burgers were ridiculously simple to make and fabulous tasting. The patties were moist and full of flavour. My Beloved said that he will never eat McDonalds again if I continue to make these burgers. I’m not entirely sure that’s a compliment, seeing as an orthopaedic shoe insert is generally more tasty than a Big Mac, but he practically licked the plate so I’ll take that as a thumbs up.
My husband says we’re never having MacDonalds again.
