Homemade Burger Patties

Ola blog readers!  How kind of you to stick around in my silence - for that I am ever grateful.  

Currently I have some free time on my hands, while I job hunt for full time work now that I have finished university forever (YAY) I can start with some more recipes and things I've been getting up to, food wise!

Mum got some bread rolls out for lunch, forgetting we had leftovers to eat up, so I wanted to do something with them for dinner while they were still fresh.  I decided to make hamburgers.  Never mind that last night we had homemade pizza - homemade takeaways are THE BEST, right?!  Can never have it too often if it's homemade, with good quality ingredients!

This is merely a recipe for the meat patties, as opposed to the whole burger, because I figure you are all smart enough to ad-lib there, with salads and sauces and such.  The world is your oyster, try anything!  It's pretty hard to make a bad burger combination.

INGREDIENTS

500g mince meat
1 tsp beef stock powder dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce
1 egg (lightly beaten)
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
salt
parsley

METHOD

A horrible photo, I can't work out how to rotate it

• Essentially just mix it all together in a bowl with your hands to make sure everything gets nice and mixed up
• However, I added the egg, sauces, powders, etc. together first to make a saucey thing then mixed in the mince, so things would be evenly distributed, but just use your noggin, whatever works for you
• Separate out into how many (or few) patties you want.  There are 3 of us in our family, so I made 6, for 2 burgers each.  They were quite thick and big though, so could easily be made into more!
• Grill, BBQ or George Foreman until cooked all the way through!!

 
These came out DELICIOUS but wow so filling!  Next time I shall make perhaps 12 patties, thinner, and then freeze half!!  Great way to make meat go a long way though!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.kiwiwise.co.nz/recipe/beef-burger

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

Another recipe that appears repeatedly on www.pinterest.com is for chicken parmesan (or chicken parmigiana) which is essentially a chicken breast, crumbed, baked (or fried) and covered with a tomato (marinara) sauce, and grated parmesan cheese, then grilled.  This was a dish my mum and I used to order a lot at one of our regular "haunts" when we lived in Malaysia.  Something we never made or ate at home.

Anyway, all the recipes I saw for the chicken breast version looked long and convoluted, with many steps.  However, I'm all for simple, quick and easy, so when I saw a meatloaf version of chicken parmigiana, I was sold on the idea.  All that remained was to find somewhere that sold (or would make me) some minced/ground chicken.  Luckily there's still an old fashioned butchery in a neighbouring town who were more than happy to help me in my quest; heck, they even made the mince fresh especially for me!  :)  No such quality service like that in your supermarket butcher section, that's for sure! 

Meatloaf tends to have a bad reputation in general and I'm not sure why.  It's quite yummy, in all its' forms really.  Served with boiled potatoes and steamed greens, it's a great meal.  Or in winter, with mashed potato and gravy for some good comfort food.  I have even seen a recipe for meatloaf cupcakes?!  SAY WHAAAAAAT.  I'm going to try this one day.  Perfect little savoury bites.  Omigoodness.

INGREDIENTS

500g chicken mince

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 egg

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup pasta sauce (tomato/marinara - homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup cheese (for the top... I just used Edam)

METHOD

•  Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
• Line meatloaf tin with baking paper
• Combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl
• Mix well, but try not to over-handle it (it can get tough)
• Put the mixture in the meatloaf tin
• Top with pasta sauce
• Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes
• Take out and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top
• Bake again until cheese is golden and melted
• Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving

 

This recipe has ended up in my "favourite recipes" book already, and I've only made it once!  While I have to go out of my way to get the chicken mince, and also only use 1/2 a cup of pasta sauce (leaving me with the remainder of the jar to find a use for), I fully don't mind - it's 100% worth it!!  This meatloaf was amazing.  The tomato sauce and cheesy topping works beautifully with the herbs in the meat, and arghhhh I just cannot explain how delicious it was! 

Just go and make it for yourself!!  Om nom nom...!

Recipe Inspiration: http://joelens.blogspot.co.nz/2010/06/chicken-parmesan-meatloaf.html

Quick & Easy Nachos

Mexican food is not common in my diet.  The only time we eat it is if I cook it myself.  Until now, my limit was burritos.  Don't get me wrong, they are delicious, I love them to bits.  But I felt like expanding my Mexican repertoire, and had got Mum to buy a can of Mexican style chilli beans at the grocery store a while ago.  The can has been sitting there, tormenting me, going "You don't know how to cook me!  You don't know what to do with me!  You suck!".  Yes, cans of food have been talking to me.  (Maybe I need to see someone?)

So the other day, I thought "Screw YOU.  I AM going to cook you" and started googling easy nacho recipes.  Funnily enough, a recipe popped up using the exact can of chilli beans I had sitting in the pantry.  It was meant to be.  I asked Mum to grab some chopped tomatoes in a can (because I've used all the ones we had haha oops) on her way home, plus a few of the other ingredients. 

Making the nacho chilli was pretty easy, and there wasn't much prep, so I was pleased.  And to serve, everyone can assemble their own - always fun!

INGREDIENTS

500g lean mince

1tsp oil

420g can mild (or hot) chilli beans

420g can Mexican style chopped tomatoes

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion salt

pinch of dried chilli powder (to taste, be frugal is my advice - that stuff is POTENT!)

1 onion

1 carrot, grated and peeled

Diced capsicum (bell peppers) - I used red, orange and yellow, just add as much as you want.

Serve with:

Cheese flavoured corn chips

Sour cream

Tomato salsa

Grated cheese

METHOD

• Heat some oil in a frypan, and brown the mince, capsicum, grated carrot and onions together.
• Add the tomatoes and chilli beans, and the salts and chilli powder.  Make sure you taste as you go to adjust seasonings to your preference - I found the original recipe that inspired this meal a bit bland, so all the seasonings are my own ideas, trying to flavour it up a bit!
• Simmer for 10 mins, until cooked and you're happy with the seasoning.
• Assemble!  Nacho chips on the bottom, pile on some mince, grated cheese on top (can be grilled if you can be bothered, but the heat from the mince melts the cheese anyway - just as good!), salsa and sour cream!

Quite possibly my favourite part of the meal was the sour cream haha.   I'm a sour cream fiend!  Om nom nom.  Mum and Dad really enjoyed them, but I still wasn't 100% happy with the seasoning in the mince.  However, when all together with the garnishings, it came together nicely and was just like bought nachos (but better, cos I added more veges!  Woot!)

Again, no photo sorry, but I can assure you it looked delicious.  :D

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipes/Quick-Easy-Nachos