Showing posts with label mince. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mince. Show all posts

Monday, 27 January 2014

Pork and parsley burgers

Pork and parsley burgers
Pork mince can be a very versatile ingredient however it can often be bland and dry. It lacks the meaty juiciness that beef or lamb mince naturally has. I have a couple of recipes I use regularly for pork mince but this one I had completely forgotten about because I wrote it out and it ended up being trapped on my old laptop. It wasn't until I needed something else off of it did I find it again.

The reason this recipe needs 50g of breadcrumbs is simple – any scraps of bread I have left over that look past their best I blitz with a hand blender and then bag up in 50g quantities and then freeze them until required. No waste and breadcrumbs always available when required. I gave up buying the little bags of grated Parmesan some time ago. They are very expensive - check the price per kilo compared to a block – and inevitably you end up with some left in the bag which need isn't used. The pre-grated hard cheese is also very bland in taste. I now buy a block of hard cheese and have it in my fridge at also times. Once covered it lasts for ages so don't worry about it going mouldy. It's very useful for just adding a flavour kick when grated on top of dishes. A little goes a long way.

As this contains fresh parsley I am putting it forward for this month's Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage. Karen has requested a special citrus hit this month and this is provided by the lemon.

This is also going to Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for the No Waste Food Challenge for using up breadcrumbs and not wasting any Parmesan!

Makes 4 burgers
 
Ingredients

2oz (50g) Breadcrumbs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1lb 2oz (500g) Pork mince
1oz (25g) Italian hard cheese, such as Parmesan, finely grated
2 tbsp (30ml) Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 Garlic clove, crushed
Black pepper to season
1 tbsp Olive oil, for frying

Method

1. In a bowl put the breadcrumbs and squeeze over the lemon juice. Stir together.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the olive oil. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.
3. Once it has come together divide into four equal portions and shape into burgers. Flatten them to ensure they cook all the way through.
4. Put on a plate and cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry until they are browned on both sides and cooked through.

We served ours in foccaccia. They also go well in normal burger buns.



Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Lamb & potato bake

lamb and potato bake

Shepherd's pie will be on the list of many families' list of favourite dishes but one that necessitates the use of several dishes and steps. You need to peel the potatoes and dice them, fill a pan with boiling water, wait for the potatoes to cook, drain them and then finally mash them with butter and milk. All for just the topping! So this is my cheat method for Shepherd's pie which I cook everything in my trusty Le Creuset cast iron shallow casserole dish. If you don't have something which can be used to fry in and then cooked in the oven you will need then you will need to use another oven-proof dish but at least I've cut out the mash stage!

This is a one-pot meal as I've added the vegetables into the dish. Mr JibberJabber and I both like leeks and in fact it's probably his favourite vegetable. However, the younger members of the family are not fans. My daughter can seek out anything remotely leek or onion in origin while Master will reject any green vegetable. My cunning plan therefore was to chop the leeks finely rather than just slicing them and the outcome was clean plates all round! This is particularly satisfying as leeks are in season at the moment and I bought a pack of four British trimmed leeks for £1. Another green vegetable which can be disguised in the same cunning way is the stalk of a broccoli (and saves it from the bin). To add some more extra goodness into this dish I leave the skins on the potatoes so make sure they are of the ready washed variety.


Equipment: A 12in (30cm) round casserole dish that can be used to fry in and oven-proof or 1 large frying pan and an oven-proof dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1tbsp (15ml) Oil
1 Leek, finely chopped
3 Carrots, finely chopped
9oz (250g) Lamb mince
½ pint (150ml) Lamb stock
2 tbsp (30ml) Tomato purée
1lb (450g) Potatoes, washed but unpeeled and sliced
3½ oz (100g) Strong/mature Cheddar, grated

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.
2. Heat the oil and then lightly fry the leeks and carrots until they start to soften.
3. Add the lamb mince and continue to cook until the mince has browned. Drain off any excess fat.
4. Add the stock and tomato purée. Stir and bring to the boil.
5. Reduce the heat. If you need to transfer it to an oven-proof dish do so now. 
 
6. Layer the potato slices on top and try to fill any gaps.
7. Sprinkle over the cheese and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.




I am sending this recipe to three challenges this month. Firstly to the new Extra Veg event being hosted by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families.

Extra Veg Badge-003
For a similar reason I am also sending this to Family Foodies for this month's theme of Hidden Goodies and ways to get kids eating good stuff without them realising it! It is run by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash and Louisa at Eat Your Veg.

family-foodies
Lastly, this is going to Cheese, Please! at Fromage Homage. This month's theme is Comfort Food and Winter Warmers and without the cheese topping this dish is just plain wrong!
Fromage Homage