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30-Mins
Moderate
Serves 4My love for good meat is relentless and coming from a country where cured meat is rarely available and scarce, we have to make do with what we have. My take on the gourmet burger takes a bit of elbow grease but the end result is to die for. This recipe will feature a triple cheese burger, you read it right! Three types of cheese! It is simply decadent, easy enough to make once you have all the ingredients. I’ve designed this as a plated gourmet meal meal and not a TV dinner, its more like a deconstructed burger, I’m sure you’re going to like this recipe, enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
The Patty:
450-g Beef Tenderloin, mince
100-g Bacon rashers, minced
1-tbsp. Tabasco sauce
1-tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1-tbsp. Garlic powder
1-tsp. Salt
1-tsp. Pepper, fresh
1-tbsp. Olive oil
2-cloves Garlic, lightly crushed
5-Sprigs of Thyme
4-tbsp. Roquefort cheese
The Burger:
4-slices Red Hot Dutch cheese
4-balls Mozzarella cheese, fresh
4-no Burger buns, whole wheat
1-cup Basil leaves, fresh
2-cups Roquette leaves, fresh
1-cup Spicy tangy tomato chutney
1-cup Onion compote
½-cup Compound butter
Few drop Truffle oil (optional)
4-tbsp. Roquefort cheese
2-tbsp. Chives, fresh, chopped
The Sides:
2-cups Fresh tomato salsa
4 Tomatoes, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, minced
2-tbsp. Green pimento olives, chopped
2-tbsp. Curly leaf Parsley, chopped
2-tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
1-cup Mustard Chive Mayonnaise
1-cup Mayonnaise
1-tbsp. Dijon mustard
2-tbsp. Chives, chopped
1-tsp. Pepper, fresh ground
250-g Sweet potato wedges
250-g Potato wedges
2-tbsp. Seasoning mix
4 Eggs, room temperature
2-tbsp. Synthetic white vinegar
3-ltrs. Water
400-g Baby Spinach
1-no Onion, small, minced
4-cloves Garlic, minced
1-tsp. Tarragon, dried
Olive oil for cooking
Salt and pepper to taste
400-g Portobello mushrooms
2-tbsp. Garlic butter
1 Bottle of Australian Shiraz OR French Cabernet Sauvignon
PROCEDURE
Prep the Sides: Since this recipe has a lot of elements we’re going to start with the sides get them ready and out of the way. Remember this is a gourmet meal, it takes time and effort.
1. Fresh tomato salsa – Chop the tomatoes, mince the garlic, chop the olives and parsley, mix well in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, taste, adjust, taste, keep aside.
2. Mustard Chive Mayonnaise – Mix together the mayo, mustard, chopped chives and pepper in a bowl and taste for salt, add some if needed, keep aside.
3. Poached eggs – Bring 3-ltrs of water to a boil in a wide sauce pan, add the vinegar, gently crack one egg in a bowl, ensure you’re using fresh eggs*. Reduce the water to a simmer, with a slotted spoon swirl the water clock wise in the pan to make a ‘whirlpool’ and gently drop the egg in, stir in a circular motion while the egg coagulates, cook for 3-mins, take it out with a slotted spoon and place on a kitchen towel. This can be done a day before and stored in a refrigerator, to use, bring to room temperature and repeat the above procedure for 1-min before serving.
4. Herbed spinach РIn a saut̩ pan, add oil bring to a heat, add the minced onion and sweat for a few minutes on medium heat, do not burn, add the garlic and fry well. Add the washed spinach, turn up the heat and toss well, add the tarragon with the salt and pepper. The spinach should be slightly wilted, once its done in a few minutes, take off the heat and cool down. Once cool, chop up the spinach and keep aside. This will be served with the poached eggs.
Prep the Burger: Now you have to go and shop for a few ingredients, if you haven’t already, this is simple and quick to be done just before you start cooking the patty.
1. Mozzarella cheese – Slice the fresh cheese balls into four slices per burger and keep aside. The red hot Dutch cheese slices are packaged, so open the packet.
2. Burger buns – Slice the whole wheat burger buns and keep aside. I prefer using whole wheat buns as they are firmer and earthier in taste.
3. Basil leaves – Wash and pull the leaves off the stem, keep aside.
4. Roquette lettuce – Wash and snip the lettuce to the size of the burger bun, keep aside.
5. Spicy tangy tomato chutney – Make this chutney in advance as given in the earlier posts, if you don’t have the recipe click here.
6. Onion compote – This to should be made in advance if you haven’t already, but click here for the recipe. Both the tomato chutney and compote are substitutes for onion and tomato rings.
7. Compound butter – Mix together the butter, Roquefort cheese and chives well, taste for seasoning, add a pinch of pepper if required, no salt needed, the cheese and mayo are seasoned. The truffle oil is optional but if you have some use it, the flavour is sensational.
Prep the Patty: This should be done a few hours ago if not a night before, this procedure will impart all the flavours into the meat and make is succulent.
1. Beef tenderloin – In a bowl add the mince, Tabasco, Worcestershire, garlic powder, salt and pepper, mix well, now add the olive oil and mix well, refrigerate overnight.
Make the burger: I assume you’ve followed all of the above prep steps now its time to cook and assemble the burger, this is going to be fun.
1. Sweet potato wedges – Par boil the sweet potato whole for about 5-min on medium heat, cool down, cut into wedges and deep fry in hot oil until done.
2. Potato wedges – Follow the same procedure as for the sweet potato. Sprinkle any Italian herbed seasoning mix of your choice. Both these wedges should be made fresh and served.
3. Portobello mushrooms – Stir fry the sliced mushrooms in garlic butter, season with salt, cook this on a very high heat, never reduce the heat and keep tossing.
3. Burger patty -
a) Remove the rind from the bacon rashers and chop it to a fine mince, put the same in a hot sauté pan and fry for a few minutes till the fat is released and the bacon turns brown, remove from the pan, keep on a kitchen towel and retain the fat in the pan as is.
b) Once the bacon has cooled down add it to the mince.
c) Divide the mince into four equal parts, use a kitchen scale for perfect weight and size, then use a 4-inch round cookie cutter ring OR 5-oz. ice cream scoop OR use a 1/2 measure cup pack it tightly to get approx. weight. The cookie cutter rings is a very good tool to have especially for burgers.
d) Place half the amount of mince per portion in the cookie cutter and press against the edges, now spread about 1-tbsp. Roquefort cheese in the centre, avoid spreading it to the edges, spoon over the remaining half of the mince and press down firmly making a perfect round burger patty. Do this for the remaining three burgers, set aside.
e) Add a olive oil to the a large frying pan with the bacon fat, bring to a high heat, put in the two lightly crushed garlic cloves and reduce the heat to medium. After a few minutes add the thyme sprig and continue tempering the oil.
f) Once the oil is tempered raise the head and place each burger patty, keep the heat high at all times, fry for 2-mins per side, in the last minute place a few leaves of fresh basil and then put the slices of Mozzarella cheese on top to melt, cover the pan to speed up that process.
The meat should be cooked to a medium rear, ideally never cook beef right through and grey, the meat will toughen up. You would know the meat is done once you see the Roquefort cheese coming out from the sides, its done!
f) While the burger is cooking, spread the compound butter on the two half’s of the the buns and grill them on a hot grill, pan or salamander for a few minutes till the get a golden brown colour.
g) Now its time to assemble the burger and serve, lets quickly review what needs to be ready.
Tomato salsa is ready and served in a bowl.
Mustard chive mayo is taken out of the refrigerator and served.
Poached eggs are refreshed in hot water for a minute and kept aside, do this just before serving, it should be the last element placed in the plate.
Herbed spinach is portioned and served in the individual plate, use a 2-inch cookie cutter to do this.
Both the potato wedges are hot and ready, sprinkled with the seasoning mix and salt, taste, adjust, taste again.
The mushrooms are just finished, piping hot and ready to be served.
h) Spread tomato chutney over the lower half of the bun, then spread about 1-tbsp. of the onion compote.
i) Spread a generous amount of Roquette leaves over the compote and put one slice of the Red Hot Dutch cheese over the leaves, place this on the plate.
j) Serve the potato wedges in the plate next to the herbed spinach, put the now refreshed poached egg over the top of the spinach, put 1/2-tsp. of the compound butter, season with salt and pepper.
k) Put the hot burger patty over the Dutch cheese slice and place the top half of the bun leaning against the burger to the side. Serve the mushrooms, done! You’re ready to serve.
l) Don’t forget to serve the Red wine, it goes perfectly with a meal like this, enjoy!
