Category: beef

Categories
beef burger food

rat and roach burger

rat and roach burger

No rats nor roaches were harmed in the making of this post.

I was digging through my old photos and found this one. It’s a BBQ recipe I made in May 2005.

When your sister visits from the land of the outdoor grill, New Zealand, you can’t just serve sausages and potato salad. You need to raise the bar. The answer came from a book she’d bought me, Summer On The Grill by Phillip Kraal. This mighty burger leapt from the page at me. It’s named for a Kiwi pub called “The Rat and Roach” and is an enormous burger with all kinds of delicious contents and toppings. The photo doesn’t quite do it justice; I’ve squished it down and is slightly dwarfed by my spatula-hands. It’s the size of a dinner plate and about 10cm high. A slider it ain’t. It reminds me a little of a muffuleta sandwich, with the bonus of being a burger with attitude.

If you’re looking for a showstopper or centrepiece for your BBQ, this is it.

Rat and roach burger (serves 12):

For the patty:

1kg beef mince

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Big handful parsley, chopped

2 tablespoons thyme, chopped

2 tablespoons ketchup

200g grated cheddar

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons fresh black pepper

½ teaspoon curry powder

6 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Everything else:

10 slices smoked cheese

1 onion, diced

2 tomatoes, sliced

Garlic mayo

Lettuce, shredded

2 beetroot, sliced

Ketchup

A really large bun, a loaf really. About 30cm in diameter

  1. Mix all the patty ingredients together in a huge bowl. You may need to add more or less breadcrumbs to help make a firm mix. Shape into a large patty 30cm round and 4cm thick.
  2. Put on to a hot BBQ for about 10 minutes each side. After turning once, lay the cheese slices on the cooked side while the other side cooks.
  3. To prepare the bread, cut in half lengthways. Butter the cut side and place the cut side down to toast.
  4. Sauté the onions and tomatoes lightly (if you have room on the BBQ cook them alongside the beef). Spread the toasted side of the bun with garlic mayo, then place the cooked patty on top.
  5. Arrange the onions, tomato, lettuce and beetroot on top of the cheese. Spread the other piece of bread with ketchup and place on top of the filling. Serve cut into wedges.

Categories
food garlic mustard rosemary steak

barbecued steak with mustard, garlic and rosemary

Every so often the carnivore rises in me, and nothing but a juicy steak will do. I was also dying to BBQ it. Usually I don’t like adorning my steak with anything except salt and pepper, but casting the net out to Twitter Foodurchin alerted me to this tasty little marinade by Valentine Warner. I tweaked it to my own store cupboard, but by golly it was tasty. Rich and dark, loaded with savoury flavours. A must for this Summer’s BBQ repertoire.

Barbecued steak with mustard, garlic and rosemary:

1 head of garlic, finely chopped

A few sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Rind and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

2 sirloin steaks

  1. Coat the bottom of a medium hot pan with olive oil, and fry the garlic and rosemary together. Stir frequently to ensure the garlic doesn’t burn.
  2. Add the soy, mustard, lemon and vinegar to the pan and allow the mixture to bubble away for about five minutes. Turn the marinade out and allow to cool.
  3. Cover the steaks with the marinade and leave for a couple of hours, turning a couple of times.
  4. Get a BBQ red-hot, and cook the steaks on one side untouched for 4 minutes.
  5. Turn the steaks over, baste with marinade and cook until done to your liking. Allow to rest for a couple of minutes and serve with a tomato and onion salad and new potatoes.
Categories
food steak

heston’s tagliata steak and salad

I’ve already devoted about a thousand words’ worth of wittering to how I like my steak. I have a well-practised and enjoyed technique which serves me very well. I’m not likely to modify it much for anything.

And then Heston sodding Blumenthal goes and does it differently, doesn’t he? You know, that guy of whom I think the sun shines out of his bum. Up he pops, cheery as anything and wrecks my steak technique. These Waitrose adverts are very good PR for him; look, he can do normal cooking without a sous-vide in sight.

I have no choice but to try it his way. My method is largely to oil the meat, not the pan, and to leave on one side until done before flipping. He of course inverts that, practically deep-frying the steak and turning every 15 seconds. The result? Not noticeably different to my method, though I have used a shedload more oil. I’m not sure what the theory is behind this but I’m sure he has his reasons.

Technique pedantry aside, the recipe itself is lovely. Really celebrates the meat and the dressing is really zingy and punchy. A perfect serving of summer steak.

The original Waitrose recipe is here.

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Heston's tagliata steak and salad

A more summery take on a steak

Ingredients

  • 800 g rump steak
  • Lots and lots of olive oil
  • 2 lemon peel shavings
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 garlic cloves bashed
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary
  • Mixed salad leaves
  • Parmesan to serve

Instructions

  • Get a large frying pan on ninja-hot. Fill it with oil to a depth of 2mm.
  • Salt the steak on both sides and fry (carefully!). Turn every 15 seconds for 2 and a half minutes. Leave to rest on a rack over a plate.
  • Take the pan off the heat and discard the oil, but don't wipe it out. Pour 120ml olive oil into the pan, and add the garlic, zest and rosemary. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes.
  • Add the lemon juice and sieve into a jug, adding the drained steak juices. Slice the steak into finger-shaped pieces, season well and ladle over half the dressing.
  • Toss the salad with the remaining dressing and arrange on a plate with the steak slices, some parmesan and a few flakes of sea salt.

Notes

A pork chop or lamb chop would also be really nice here.
Categories
beef food mozzarella parmesan polenta

polenta sliders

Merchant Gourmet have recently been kind enough to send me some of their instant polenta. It’s got a rapid cooking time so you don’t have to spend 45 minutes beating a volcanic pot of yellow. The freebie came with a caveat however; come up with an interesting recipe for them.

I originally thought of crumbing halloumi cubes and frying them, but it didn’t seem inventive enough. I then went through a lasagne-style tower with polenta substituting for the pasta, but struggled to think of a timely way to retain the shape while melting the mozzarella. I then hit on keeping the mince but forming it into patties and making über-cute sliders instead; mini-burgers that are currently all the rage.

To make a nice neat slider the size of it all comes down to your mozzarella. Whatever width slices you can carve out of your cheese, make your mince and polenta rounds roughly the same size.

The great thing about this recipe is you can adapt the mince part to your taste and whatever you have in the cupboard. I’ve gone for an Italian-style flavouring to reinforce the heritage of polenta. A slice of tomato works well in there too, providing sweet juiciness. Give them a try!

Polenta sliders (makes 8 sliders):

50g quick-cook polenta

200ml beef stock plus a couple of extra tablespoons

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

400g beef mince

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs

1 garlic clove, grated

1 tablespoon olive oil

150g ball mozzarella, cut into 8 thick slices

Green salad, to serve

  1. Preheat the grill to high.
  2. To make the polenta, bring 200ml beef stock to the boil and slowly pour in the polenta, whisking all the time. Turn the heat down low and continue to stir for another 2 minutes. Spread on to a baking sheet to a thickness of about 5mm. Sprinkle with parmesan and pop under the grill. Keep an eye on it while you make the burgers – you are looking for it to form a crisp crust.
  3. Combine the beef, puree, oregano, breadcrumbs and garlic in a bowl and season well. Form into golf-ball sized chunks and flatten to form patties (you may find it easy to do this with damp hands, it prevents the meat from sticking).
  4. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and fry the burgers for 3 minutes on each side (this will cook them medium-rare, cook slightly longer if you prefer). As they finish spoon over a little leftover beef stock to keep them moist.
  5. Your polenta should be out of the grill now; put this to one side. Top the burgers with a slice of mozzarella and pop them under the grill so the mozzarella just starts to melt (this should only take a minute).
  6. Cut out rounds of polenta to roughly the same size as your meat (I used a circular pastry cutter). Put a slice of polenta on the plate, meat & cheese on that, and top with a final slice of polenta. Serve with a green salad.
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