Quarter Pound Mediterranean Burgers with Mango salsa

We've had some glorious summer-like weather over the past few days, so I've been taking advantage of this and have been cooking outside as much as possible - until the bbq gas ran out on me in the week,  just as I'd popped some chicken breasts on!

Thankfully I'd managed to cook these juicy burgers a couple of days previously. Everyone loved them and they can be prepared easily in advance and stored in the fridge until needed.

Quarter Pound Mediterranean Burgers with Mango salsa - makes 10 burgers

1 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, peeled & chopped
drizzle of olive oil (I used chilli oil)
handful green olives in garlic & herbs*
750g pork mince
1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• add the peppers & onion to an ovenproof dish
• drizzle the olive oil over & stir to coat
• cover with foil and roast in a preheated 200C oven for around 45 minutes, until softened, leave to cool
• finely chop the peppers, onion and olives together until it's the consistency of a lumpy paste
• mix this paste into the pork mince & add the paprika
• mix together until well combined
• divide mixture into 10 and form into burgers
• place in the fridge to firm up and cook under a grill or on a bbq

Mango Salsa

1 mango, chopped
handful of sweetcorn
juice of half a lemon
fresh coriander, chopped

• mix everything together

   

* For the burgers I used garlic & basil olives from The Real Olive Company, which I also used on a cheese, bacon, tomato & olive tart

Cheese, bacon, tomato & olive tart, with Garlic & Basil olives from The Real Olive Company

Posted by The Crazy Kitchen on Friday, 12 June 2015

Simple Summer Salsa

Sometimes at the weekend, when we have hungry house guests passing through, and I've not even thought about what we're having for dinner, I bring the tortilla chips out. As you can't eat tortilla chips without something to dip them in, I like to rustle up a fresh tomato salsa and an avocado salsa.

Tomato Salsa

6 ripe red vine tomatoes, chopped

2tsp caster sugar

1/2 red onion, chopped

tbsp chopped red chilli

tbsp chopped coriander

• Mix everything together

Avocado & Mango Salsa

1 avocado, chopped

1 mango, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

juice of 1 lemon

tsp caster sugar

tsp chopped red chilli

tsp chopped coriander

• Mix everything together

This particular time I also put together some individual bowls of cheesy nachos with mixed grated cheese with sliced jalapenos on the top.

The making of the salsa's was made much easier with the use of Daregal chopped and frozen herbs. The herbs are grown and harvested in France and Spain, and then washed, chopped and frozen for consumer convenience. They are perfect for using in Salsa as I've done here, as well dressings, marinades, soups and sauces.

I was provided with samples free of charge

BBQ Coconut, Lime & Coriander Chicken

This recipe is for a really simple chicken dish that can be cooked on the bbq or in the oven. I find that cooking it on the bbq makes it so much tastier though, and the marinade ensures that it doesn't dry out. You can just as easily replace the chicken breast with boneless chicken thighs and thread them onto skewers, or salmon fillets. Leaving the chicken to marinate overnight gives it a better flavour, but it's not essential if you don't have the time - just leave it as long as you can.

It's a lovely light dish for summer al fresco dining, and makes a refreshing change to bbq sauce.

Chicken breast doesn't take long to cook on the bbq, but make sure that it's cooked all the way through before serving.

Serve with a mango salsa, lime wedges, fresh coriander and steamed rice.

Bbq Coconut, Lime & Coriander Chicken by Helen Jessup on Scribd

Serve with a mango salsa, lime wedges, fresh coriander & steamed rice

This is my entry into the Foodies100/Vita Coco #ReachfortheBeach competition

Pumpkin Bean Burgers

I have a massive selection of cookery books but I'm always happy to receive more, they make a great bedtime read, especially if they are full of nice photos to accompany the recipes.

Lorraine Pascale's 'A Lighter Way to Bake' is one of those books, with a photo to accompany each recipe, plus a lot more.

After all the Great British Bake Off baking that I've been doing it's a welcome relief to have some lighter recipes to try out. Don't get me wrong, they are not diet recipes but may include a little less butter and a little less sugar, as well as alternative methods of cooking and serving to cut a few calories.

Some of the recipes that caught my eye are Walnut, Honey & White Chocolate Cakes, Coconut & Lime Loaf, Skinny Cafe Late Butterfly Cakes, Brown Sugar Espresso Chocolate Dipped Meringue Kisses, Peaches & Cream Eclairs with White Chocolate & Raspberries and Cake with Blueberries & White Chocolate Icing, plus a lot, lot more.

Each recipe has nutritional information with it alongside that of a comparable recipe. I chose to make Butternut Squash Bean Burgers with Apple, Mango & Chilli Salsa which are 188 calories per burger vs 494 calories in a comparison recipe. As there are an abundance of pumpkins around cheaply at the moment I used pumpkin instead of butternut squash in my burgers.

Pumpkin Bean Burgers - makes 6

200g prepared Pumpkin, peeled & cut into 1cm pieces

spray oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 red chilli, finely chopped

small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

400g tin of kidney beans, drained

400g tin of cannellini beans, drained

1 egg white

finely grated zest of 1 lime

salt & pepper

coating

3 slices of wholemeal bread, lightly toasted

1 egg white

• Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment
• Cook the pumpkin/squash in a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until just tender, drain really well
• Heat a little spray oil in a frying pan over a medium heat & fry the onions until softened & a little browned, for approx 8 minutes
• Prepare the burger coating by whizzing up the lightly toasted bread in a food processor
• Tip the crumbs into a wide shallow bowl and season with salt & pepper
• Lightly beat the egg white in another shallow bowl
• Add the garlic , chilli, paprika and coriander to the onions and cook for a further minute & remove from heat
• Tip the kidney & cannellini beans into a large bowl & lightly crush with a potato masher
• Stir in the onion mixture and the lime zest, egg white & salt & pepper.
• Fold in the pumpkin/squash until mixed through
• Form the mixture into patties with dampened hands
• Dip the burgers into the egg white, coating them fully & then into the breadcrumbs until evenly coated
• Spray each burger with a little oil & place onto the baking tray
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until crisp & golden

My burgers weren't quite as neat as Lorraines but they did taste good - I made a mango salsa & served the burger on a crisp lettuce leaf (lighter option for myself) and in ciabatta with oven baked paprika fries for everyone else

     

I received the book for the purpose of this review

The Best Toastie...EVER

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cooking event in London hosted by Warburtons. It was all about the sandwich and ways to be creative and make them more exciting, whether it be open or closed, brown or white, toasted or not.

There was a huge amount of ingredients to choose from, fresh meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables and all the condiments you could dream of (well almost), along with Warburtons square(ish) wraps and sandwich thins

Our challenges were to create sandwiches, using the ingredients available, along the themes of 'flavour pairings', 'British with a twist' and 'International sandwiches'. There were some really interesting combinations and flavours created, including chocolate & bacon (oddly nice), mango salsa and roast beef, fish & chips to name a few.

My sandwiches were :

• Hot peppers, beef and chocolate
• Cheese & Pickle with a twist - Mozzarella and Lime Pickle
• Brie, Walnut, Honey & Rocket
• PB & J stack - with a twist as there was no jam so I used cranberry sauce instead, which is a good alternative at Christmas!
• My all time favourite toastie - Banana, Cheese, Chilli & Mango Chutney. This may sound very odd but it is amazing and one that I eat quite often. It was met with scepticism at first but one bite changed their minds and amazingly it was awarded first prize!

I even managed to convince the taxi driver that it was the best toastie ever and he said he couldn't wait to get home and make one.

The following day, armed with some Warburtons square wraps I made one for my lunch. If you do fancy being brave and trying it for yourself you will need the following :

2 slices of bread or square wrap

1 banana, sliced

cheddar cheese, sliced

a few slices of fresh chilli (or dried chilli flakes)

Mango chutney

• Lay the ingredients onto one slice of bread or on 1/3 of the wrap
• Lay another slice of bread on top, or fold the wrap over to enclose the ingredients
• Place in a sandwich toaster, panini press or in a frying pan and cook until the cheese has melted
• Enjoy!

I received expenses to allow me to attend the event, as well as some samples