Best Burger Patties ever!

 I am not the best burger pattie maker but I have stumbled upon this recipe from "Tasteaholics" and it is the most tasty, moist burger pattie you will come across.  Perfect for those doing Keto without a bread bun or the best burger you have had if you pop it on a bun.  Burger night was a classic treat in our house with 3 boys growing up and now hubby enjoys it without the competition. 

Ingredients

500g quality mince beef

1 bacon rasher

1 Tablespoon diced pickled jalapenos

1 Tablespoon mayonnaise

1/2 roma tomato

1/4 diced onion

1 Tablespoon siracha sauce

1 Egg

2 Tablespoon butter

Spices

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon chilli flakes

1/4 Teaspoon cayenne

1/2 Teaspoon basil

Method

Knead mince meat for 3 minutes in a bowl, this will make it very sticky and keep it together when the other ingredients are added,

Dice bacon, tomato, onion and jalapenos.

Add to minced beef along with the mayo, siracha, egg and spices.

Split your ball of meat in half twice and flatten in the palm of your hand to make a very flat pattie. Add 1 Tablespoon of cubed butter to the centre of the pattie and then slap on the other no butter pattie. Seal the sided and you end up with 2 large patties.

In a preheated pan, fry your patties and flip after 5 minutes.

I finish off for 15 minutes in a preheated oven to ensure that they are cooked through.

You won't be disappointed.

Mamma Marmalade

Rice with Spinach and Tomato - a simple side dish

Here is the side dish I served with the recently blogged  Glazed Sweet Potato in Aromatic Tomato Sauce.  It is simple but tasty and doesn’t compete with the complex flavours in the sweet potato dish.  I cook a large amount of rice and freeze it in small portions, perfect for recipes like this.
Simple, flexible but tasty. You will find multiple uses for this side, especially as summer approaches.  Enjoy!   Colleen
 

      

Preparation      2 minutes, provided your rice is cooked and cooled.

Cooking            3 minutes
Serves              depends on volume used . Amount listed below makes side for 4 people
 
Ingredients

2 - 3 big palmfuls of Baby spinach leaves
1 ½ cups of Cooked rice. cooled
Splash olive oil
1 -2 diced fresh red tomatoes
Salt (I sometimes use Celery Salt)
Pepper to your taste.
Herbs – parsley, mint or chives – sliced – depends on what you want to serve rice with.
Squeeze lemon juice
Maybe a splash more olive oil

Toasted pine nuts for garnish (optional)
Method
Warm the oil in a large frypan and add the cooked rice to coat and warm.
Add the spinach leaves and allow to wilt.
Remove from heat and place in serving bowl. 
Stir through the diced fresh tomato and herbs.  Squeeze a little lemon juice over and maybe a dash more Extra Virgin Olive Oil if needed.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with toasted pine nuts.
 
Easy.  Delish.   Enjoy!   Colleen

Glazed Sweet Potato with aromatic lime and cardamom Tomato sauce

I was so happy when my postie delivered my much awaited copy of  Yotam Ottolenghi's new cookbook "Flavour" .  The pages are bursting with tempting recipes that champion vegetables in all their glory.  Sweet potato often provides the base of many of my vegetarian go-to recipes and this one is definitely being added to my ‘favourites”.  The highest praise was collecting the ‘licked clean” plates at the end of dinnertime.  All the family commented on the aroma and intensity of flavours.  The fresh lime is essential to the final flavour – I freeze organic limes whole when lovely friends give them to me.  I just allow them to defrost, zest and juice.  Wonderful for recipes like this.   Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Wilbur did!     

Enjoy!    Colleen

          

Preparation    15 minutes

Cooking           40 minutes baking Sweet potatoes, 
                          Sauce – 30 minutes but,  20 min while sweet potato bakes then final 10 mins 
Serves              4 – 6 depending on sides.
Ingredients
1 –1  ½  kg sweet potato.  Scrub if young veg  OR peel if tougher older veg. Cut into thick rounds, approx. 2 1/2cm / 1 inch thick
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon Salt
Few grinds of Black pepper
Sauce
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 – 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green chillies –finely chopped (deseed for less heat)  I used heaped tablespoon of my Tomato Chilli Relish (on blog)  and added ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 brown onion – grated
400 gram tin Diced Tomatoes (Italian are more intense) 
1 heaped tablespoon Tomato paste
1 ½  teaspoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250ml) water
2 limes.  You need the zest and also some juice, plus few wedges to serve.
2 teaspoons Dill, finely chopped.   OR  mix of mint, parsley and/or chives.
 
Method
Preheat oven to 240 ˚C and prepare 2 oven trays with alfoil and baking paper
In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, maple syrup, cardamom, cumin, salt and pepper.
Add the sweet potato rounds and massage with the oil mixture to cover all the rounds.
Tip the sweet potato onto the oven trays and cover tightly with foil.
Bake for 25 minutes covered,  then remove foil cover and cook for a further 10 minutes.
The rounds need to be cooked through and the base of the rounds browned and sticky.
Set aside.
 
Whilst the sweet potato is baking, make the sauce:
Use a large sauté pan that has a lid  - think of size needed for when you later add the sweet potato-   gently fry the oil, garlic, chilli, and 1/8 teaspoon salt for 8 – 10 minutes.  Stir regularly but don’t let the garlic brown.
Add the onion and fry until soft.  5-10 minutes.
Pour in the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, cardamom, cumin, lime zest, 1 teaspoon salt and cook for a 5 minutes, stirring regularly.  Add 1 cup water and gently simmer for further 5 minutes.
 
Place the cooked sweet potato rounds – browned side up - into the tomato sauce in the pan.
Push, pile up extras if they don’t all fit perfectly. 
Reduce heat to low, cover with lid and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
If it looks too watery, remove lid for final 5 minutes.
 
Serve scattered with the herbs and lime wedges on the side.
 
I served it with my Spinach and fresh tomato Rice.  (recipe will be on the blog next time)
 
Yum!    Enjoy!  Colleen

Green Mac n Cheese

 What do these 4 people have in common, my pregnant daughter in law, my elderly mother, my granddaughter and my bff?

They were all lucky recipients of a care package from Mamma Marmalade.  My favourite way to show support is to make a healthy and delicious meal.  This one comes from the Coles (Supermarket) food catalogue but for a change it was nutritious and actually involved cooking, rather than assembling pre packaged ingredients.

Ingredients

2 cups washed baby spinach leaves

1 cup flat leaf parsley, just the leaves not the stalks

1 litre of milk

400g macaroni or small pasta of choice

400g broccoli florets

60g diced butter

1 finely diced brown onion

1/3 cup plain flour

1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard

1 3/4 cups grated cheese, (cheddar and parmesan)

Method

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius

In a food processor, combine, parsley, spinach and 1 cup of milk. Whiz until finely chopped.

Cook pasta according to packet instructions, add broccoli florets in the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Drain and refresh under a little cold water.

In a saucepan, melt butter, add diced onion for about 5 minutes until softened.

Stir in flour and stir constantly so as to not get any lumps and to "cook" the raw flour taste out. 

Once bubbling, add sufficient of remaining milk to make a creamy sauce, whisking continuously until the sauce thickens.

Stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups of the grated cheese.

Once cheese has melted, remove from the heat.

Add the spinach mixture to the cheese sauce, mix to combine then add macaroni and broccoli. 

Season with salt and pepper, not too much salt as there is a lot of cheese.

Tip into a baking dish or several small oven proof dishes. 

You can top with cooked diced bacon (for the meat lovers) and grated cheese.

Can be wrapped and frozen at this stage or popped in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until brown and cooked through.

Mamma Marmalade

 

Greg's Tomato Chilli Relish

My friend Greg generously shared a bottle of his famous Tomato Chilli Relish and the recipe.  The final taste really depends on ripe flavoursome tomatoes so be sure to go to your local farmer's market or regional greengrocer to locate very ripe tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes.

I like to prepare the tomatoes and onions the day before, leave overnight and make the relish the next day.  The relish is so delicious with different dishes - a spoonful on the side of your plate really lifts scrambled eggs, a zucchini slice, a slice of cheese or a garden salad as well as sandwiches.  The list is endless and such a useful little jar to have in the fridge.  You can easily adjust the chilli heat to suit yourself.  Enjoy!  Colleen.     Thank you Greg!

Tomato Chilli Relish. Feed Your Inner Cook

Ingredient

1.5 kg ripe tomatoes, peeled then chopped, diced.  (see below for tips)

4 brown onions, peeled and chopped, diced.

1/2 cup  loosely scooped Salt Flakes

next day

2 cups Malt vinegar ( NB.  you use 1 cup then 1 cup later on)

2 cups Brown Sugar - firmly packed

1 teaspoon tomato paste (use if your tomatoes lack oomph flavour)

1 tablespoon fresh ginger - chopped.  ( I use heaped tablespoon)

2 fresh chillies - finely chopped.  (I use 3 large long chillies - milder)  Scrape out seeds if you want it milder. Gauge the heat by just touching slice to your tongue. Then you can adjust.

2 tablespoons Plain Flour

2 teaspsoons Curry Powder.  Greg uses 1 tablespoon.  I found it overpowered my tomatoes.

1 1/2 tablespoons Seeded Mustard.  Greg uses 1 tablespoon.  I love mustard.

Method

Peel tomatoes.  How to:

Remove the top core then cut a generous cross through the skin on tomato at the base. 

Have a pot of water boiling and also a bowl of iced water ready.

Add 2 -3 tomatoes at a time to the boiling water for approx 20 - 30 seconds.  You will see the cross cut skin start to shrink away.

Remove and plunge into the iced water for a minute. A large strainer spoon is helpful.

Use a paring knife and peel away the skin starting at the cross.

If skin is too tight, pop back into the boiling water for 10 seconds and repeat ice etc.

Continue with the remaining tomatoes until all tomatoes are peeled.  

Chop into small pieces and set aside.

Place the chopped tomatoes and chopped onions into a large (glass/pyrex) bowl and sprinkle over the salt.  Leave overnight at room temperature. Cover loosely with a tea-towel.

Next Day.

Drain off liquid from tomato onion. Discard liquid.

Place the drained tomatoes and onions into a large saucepan with 1 cup Malt vinegar.

Bring to boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the sugar, tomato paste, ginger and chilli.  Continue to simmer for a further 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

Use a medium bowl and mix the flour, curry powder and mustard together. Then slowly add with remaining 1 cup of Malt vinegar. I add the vinegar a bit at a time stirring well to avoid lumps.

Then stir thoroughly into the tomato mixture.  Cook for 5 minutes until begins to thicken.

Spoon the hot relish into hot sterilized jars.  (see below for tips)  You will need tongs wound with rubber bands, clean tea towel or similar to help hold the jars.  Also a wide-neck funnel, cleaned in boiling water, to avoid spills when filling.

Keeps for 3 months in properly sterilized jars in a cool dark place or refrigerator.  

How to sterilize glass jars. 

Sterilize more than you think you'll need.  (1 do about 7 small medium) If I accidentally have excess relish, I spoon into a very clean airtight container and use this first within a few days.

It is important to sterilize jars to prevent mould forming. Jars can be sterilized in a number of ways. Choose glass jars with an airtight lid and ensure they are free from cracks or chips. 

Wash your hands well with soap and water and ensure all surfaces are very clean.

Wash in hot soapy water and rinse, then sterilize using one of the following methods:

Oven: Preheat the oven to 120C fan forced. Place jars (opening is upright, like a U) and lids (separately, the open part facing up, like a U) on an oven tray and heat in the oven for 20 minutes. Keep jars well apart.  Remove and fill immediately with jam or other preserves. Don't place the preserving rubber seals in oven.

Stovetop: Place jars and lids in a deep saucepan on their sides. Cover with cold water. Bring water to boil, reduce heat to medium and boil for 15 minutes. Line a baking tray with paper towel. Remove the jars using metal tongs and allow to air dry or dry with a clean paper towel
Dishwasher: Place jars, lids (and rubber seals if using preserving type bottles) in the dishwasher on the hottest cycle. Remove and place onto a clean towel-lined tray; the heat will dry them naturally  

HOW TO : Fill jars while still hot.

As soon as the preserves are spooned or poured into the sterilized jars or bottles, they must be correctly sealed to prevent deterioration.  Use a wide neck funnel (cleaned in boiling water) to help fill jars.

Fill the hot relish into the hot dry jars to about 1/2 inch from top. Seal the jars while still hot. 

Just be careful to keep everything that touches the contents sterilized. 

Some cooks advise to turn the jar upside down for 20 minutes and then back again. 

Allow jars to cool to room temperature then store in cool, dark shelf or refrigerator.

Other Tips:

Metal lids are not suitable unless they have a protective plastic insert or liner to prevent corrosion.  You can re-use the jar and lid if you can feel the plastic circle fully intact inside the lid and there is no rust or corrosion.

Some older preserving outfits have glass lids; these can be sterilized in the same way as the jars.

Do not use aluminium foil, cellophane or paper covers for preserves; acid in the preserves will corrode foil, while paper and cellophane are not airtight enough for long-term keeping.

Enjoy!  Colleen