Chicken and Bacon Burger with Caramelised Red Onion and Sweet Chilli Mayo

This week I will give you a double whammy of recipes. Two tasty burgers to satisfy all.

I love Chicken burgers, real chicken burgers that is. I love them more so than beefburgers because of the massive amount of variety you can do with them. This time I made a chicken and bacon burger topped with home made sweet chilli mayonnaise and caramelised red onion.

This will make 4 delicious, mouth watering burgers:-

For the Burger:-

400g Minced Chicken
1 egg
75g breadcrumbs
50g bacon rashers, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
buns (any kind, I used carrot ones)
salad

For the Caramelised onions:-
One medium red onion, sliced
1tbsp brown sugar
2tbsp water
1tsp oil

For the Sweet Chilli Mayo:-
1 Basic Mayonnaise 
1tbsp sweet chilli sauce

First combined the burger ingredients and form into four burgers. I do this by forming a ball and then flattening it. Then brush your burgers with a little oil and heat a pan up. Cook them on both sides for about 4-5 minutes, getting a nice golden colour on them. (You can even do them on the BBQ if you want).

For the onion, heat the oil in a small pan and add the onions, sweat them for 2 minutes then add the sugar. Cook for a further minute, letting the sugar caramelise and stick to the onion. Add the water and cook until all the water is gone and your onions are nice and sticky.

The mayo is simple, just stir the sweet chilli sauce in your mayo mix.

Now all that is left is to assemble your burger. I put my salad on the bottom followed by the burger, mayo and finally topped with the caramelised onions.

It was so moreish that I had a hard time resisting eating them all. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Basic Mayonnaise

I love mayonnaise, I love it on chips, chicken, fish, burgers, well basically anything goes with mayo. However, like most people, I bought it in because I was just too lazy to make it myself. However I have been experimenting with an quick and easy DIY mayo that can be used as it is or have things added to it to give you different flavours.

So here is how to make enough for three-four servings:-

1 large, fresh egg
1 teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
salt and pepper
150ml Oil (I used rapeseed oil)

Put the egg, mustard, salt and pepper into a food processor. Turn it on and pour the oil through the top, it will start to thicken. Leave after all oil has gone for 10 more seconds then switch of. Check consistency (you can add more oil if you want it thicker) and seasoning.

Put into a fridge and consume within 7 days.

It is as simple as that.

Simple and Tasty Nasi Goreng

My wife and I love Prawn Crackers, we love them so much that we normally produce a meal to accompany them rather than the normal way round. Nasi Goreng, like all types of fried rices, was a way in which to use up the leftover boiled rice as the frying killed off the dangerous microbes that love to gather on rice. It has its origins in Indonesia (where it is often labelled as the national dish), however it has now spread across many of the Asian countries and also is big in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

This recipe produces enough to feed four people:-

375g long-grain rice
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
500g Chicken breast, cut into 1cm thick strips
250g cooked peeled prawns
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
Prawn crackers, to serve, i'll let you decide how many you want

Put a pan on to boil, add some salt to it. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and add the rice, about 20 minutes. Then drain and rinse under cold water and the set aside in a colander to drain thoroughly.

Then make an omelette with the eggs. Then roll it up and cut it into strips, then put it aside.

In a mortar crush the onion, garlic and chilli into a paste.Then put the oil in a wok and fry the onion paste for a couple of minutes until you start getting a beautiful fragrant smell from it. Then add your chicken strips and stir-fry until it starts changing colour on all sides. Add the prawns and soy sauce, stir fry until the chicken is tender.

Now add the rice to the wok, toss until the rice gets hot. Throw in the omelette strips, season to taste and then serve.

So simple, so tasty. So give this amazing, healthy Asian dish a go, you won't be disappointed.

Eggs Benedict

The Classic Breakfast dish..... Eggs Benedict

I first made this dish for my wife (then girlfriend) and a friend two years back. They both loved it, even if they prefer their eggs hard. Since then I have made it on a few occasions, working on the recipe to get perfection and to make it fairly simple. Here is, what I feel, to be the easiest Eggs Benedict recipe out there, however I have still classed it as a Class 3 recipe because of the time and patience involved. However, if you want a wee challenge and a good breakfast, then this is worth it. 

To serve yourself and your lovely partner you will need to have:-

2 English muffins (slice in half) or 2 Rolls (sliced in half)
4 Medium Eggs
4 Slices of ham (any will do, I love using smoked ham)
About 1 and a half teaspoons of Freshly cracked pepper 
2 tbsp Vinegar (I use white vinegar)
2 egg yolks
200g butter
seasoning, cayenne pepper for taste

First put a pan on to boil with enough water to cover your eggs, bring it to the boil. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the water. 

While the water is coming to the boil, in a small sauce pan put the peppercorns and the other tablespoon of vinegar into it and reduce by 1/3 then take off heat. Add 1 tablespoon of cold water, leave to cool, about 2-4 minutes. Mix in the yolks and return to a low heat, whisking continuously. DO NOT STOP WHISKING! Cook into a sabayon (that means the yolks will thicken to the consistency of double cream, it will show the mark of the whisk when passed through). Remove from heat and cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Then whisk the melted butter in gradually until it is thoroughly combined. Season to taste.

Add your eggs to the boiling water, do this by cracking open the egg and in one smooth fluid movement, they will start to cook straight away. For a soft one cook for about 2 minutes and 4 minutes for a harder one. Take out with a slotted spoon and put onto some kitchen towel to dry off. 

Toast you muffins and butter. Then add your slice of ham, eggs on top and then top with sauce.

Serve and enjoy the richness.

Nordic Style Baked Salmon

Last night (29th June) we had some very special guest round our house. Sister Gasser and her parents. This sister has been a big help to our family over the last several months she has been in Oulu, so as a thank you, we decided to cook for her and her family a really nice Nordic style dinner. This oven baked salmon is a perfect example of Nordic food, simple and tasty.

This will serve 6 people:-

1,4kg Salmon side (You want around 150-200g per person)
2 tbsp Coarse sea salt
2 tbsp fresh cracked pepper
2 tbsp Dill
Juice of one lemon
4 tbsp of olive oil

Take your Salmon and go along the middle bit and check for bones. If there is any take them out with some tweezers. Once cleaned put your salmon inside some baking paper and add the sea salt, pepper, dill, lemon and olive oil, rub into the salmon and put in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat your oven to 200oC.

Take your fish out of the fridge and wrap the baking paper around it, then cover it in tin foil. Place on an oven tray/dish and put into the oven.

After 30 minutes open up your parcel and return back to oven for 15 minutes.

Take out of oven and serve. It is that simple.

Billionaires' Shortbread

In the UK, Caramel Shortbread is a favoured confectionery. However not many people know that it actually originated in Australian in around the 70's. I love the stuff, have fond memories of getting a small square from the local bakery in my town of upbringing. Over the years I have experimented with the recipe and tweaked it.

About 12 months ago I told my wife about Millionaires' shortbread and she asked could I do it with white chocolate so she could take it to her workplace. I thought i'd give it a go. It went down a treat, the creamy white chocolate made this rich biscuit even richer. I decided to name these adaptations Billionaries' shortbread on account that White Gold is worth more than yellow gold.

So Tuesday just gone we had a Professor of the Philosophy of Religion come over to our house, accompanied by the missionary Sisters. I had met this learned guy before, he wasn't interested in joining the Church but wanted to know more about our Church and what made us different from other faiths. So for the snack I was originally going to make just some normal, boring biscuits until my wife asked could I do the white chocolate caramel shortbread. They went down a storm, so much so that I didn't have many left.

So to make a 33cm * 25cm tray you will need:-

2 cups of flour (225g)
175g butter (not marg)
75g/5 tbsp caster sugar

150g butter (not marg)
1 tin (379g) condensed milk
100ml golden syrup

260g white chocolate

First preheat your oven to 150oc and greaseproof your tray.

Put the flour, 175g butter and the sugar into a food processor and blitz until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. If no food processor then rub with your fingers. Put the mixture into your tray and even out and press flat using a spoon (you can use your hands too), then put in oven for 30 minutes (or until a light golden brown).

Pour your milk, butter and syrup into a pan and slowly heat until all the butter is melted. Then bring to boil. Make sure you stir frequently otherwise you will burn the caramel, I use a silicon spatula for this. Keep stirring until it gets thicker and turns a nice golden colour (about 15/25mins). Put aside and leave to cool for 10/15 mins. Do the same with your shortbread.

Once both have cooled a little pour the caramel on top and spread evenly. Leave to cool completely.

Then melt your white chocolate using a Ban Marie (a pan with boiling water over heat and another pan/bowl on top of it). Then pour over the caramel and smooth out. Then leave to cool and harden, then cut them to your desired shape.

ANZAC Biscuits

Today (April 25th) is known as ANZAC in Australia and New Zealand, as well as many areas of the British Commonwealth. It was originally the day of memorial for members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (more commonly known as ANZAC) who fought during the disastrous Gallipoli Campagin, which started on April 25th 1915 and ended in January 9th 1916 and saw over 35,000 of them dead or wounded. Today the day is for the memorial of servicemen of both countries "who died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served".

Tradition has it that the wives and daughters of ANZAC troops produced these tasty, simple and long lasting biscuits so their husbands and fathers could have something tasty and they would survive the long naval voyage that post had to go through back then.

I have a real like for these biscuits, they are super tasty and can be made up in large batches and then eaten at your leisure. I also remember having them at primary school on ANZAC day, as well as my Nana making them (some of our relatives are Australian).

So in honour of ANZAC day, here is my recipe for ANZAC biscuits. They have been tried and tested by a real life Aussie (Sister Francis) who was serving a Mission in Oulu last year at the time of ANZAC day and she gave them a pass.

This will be enough to make around 8:-

1cup/80g Rolled Oats (Porriage oats)
3/4 cups/ 55g dessicated coconut
1cup/ 125g plain flour
1cup/ 200g caster sugar
1/2 cup/ 155g butter
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp boiling water

To start preheat your oven to 175oC. Then get a large mixing bowl and mix together the oats, sugar and coconut. Then in a small pan on a low heat combined the syrup and butter, make sure the heat is low otherwise the syrup will burn. Once melted, add the bicarb of soda and water to the syrup/butter mix.
Now add the syrup/butter mix to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then you want to put a tablespoon of the mixture onto a greaseproof papered baking tray, repeat until the tray is full, make sure you leave some room for expansion. Bake for 15-25 minutes. Take out when done and leave to cool down 10-15 minutes at least before tasting.

In Australia there is a big divide on whether they should be hard and crunchy or soft and chewy. You can decide on how you want them by the cooking time. 15 minutes is ideal for soft and chewy while 25 is the maximum for hard and crunchy.