ULTIMATE HOMEMADE BURGER WITH THE WORKS

As soon as the sun shines in London, we love a barbecue so I had the perfect day a few weeks ago when we cooked homemade burgers with my dad's potato salad. Pascal thinks I should change this blog to a burger blog as I always eat so many…and it's true, a bacon cheese burger (with mac and cheese) is my ultimate meal. Like mother like daughter - Arabella is constantly asking when we can go back to Shake Shack so we can have cheeseburgers with cheesy fries - two weeks and counting!!!

The key to making burgers is being prepared as you need time to chill them, if you don't, they have the tendency to fall apart on the barbecue which is a very very sad occurrence, so we made these in the morning, then went to the park while they "chilled" for a couple of hours. Plus another tip -  don't make them too fat and cook them slowly as you do not want them burnt on the outside and raw in the middle.

Ingredients for 6 people:

For the burgers:

1kg good quality minced beef

1 onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tbsp of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 egg yolks (I forgot to add 2 eggs in the picture)!

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Vegetable or sunflower or olive oil for cooking

For the sauces:

Horseradish and Sour Cream Chive Sauce:

100ml sour cream

1 tbsp creamed horseradish

1 tbsp chopped chives

Dijon Mustard Mayonnaise:

100ml shop bought mayonnaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to season

Additional garnish:

3 avocados, sliced

1 big red onion, sliced

6 buns, halved and toasted

6-12 slices of American or Cheddar Cheese (I like two slices on my burger obviously)!

Place the meat into a large bowl and add the onion, garlic, parsley, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Add the egg yolks one by one.

Then season and mix thoroughly – this is a messy process so take any rings off and don’t be squeamish. (Pascal actually did the honours here as I was busy faffing getting ready for the park).

Using wet hands, shape into 6 evenly sized burgers. You don’t want them too fat in the middle (like some of ours were as you need them cook all at the same time).

Then leave the burgers in the fridge for a couple of hours (minimum 1 hour but 2 is best). Here is your time to go to the pub, go to the park or just chill (like the burgers)!

Once the chilling time is almost up, it’s good to prepare everything else. You need to chop up the avocado and red onion.

For the horseradish and sour cream chive sauce, add the ingredients to a bowl and then whisk them all together.

The same goes for the Dijon mustard mayonnaise.

Then it is time to fire up the barbecue, add a brush of oil and cook these burgers. How long you cook them depends on personal taste. Arabella and I both like the burgers medium which took about 7/8 minutes of each side. Pascal likes his rare so his took half the time.

Then add the all important cheese and lightly toast the bun.

Finally build your burger starting with the horseradish and sour cream chive sauce on the bottom, then add the cheeseburger, avocado, chopped onions and smear the Dijon mayonnaise on the top bun and voila!!

The burger is pretty stacked but you can easily push down on the bun and press all the ingredients together making it easier to fit in your mouth. All the flavours together work magnificently and so just go for it….even if it gets messy!!

A fantastic burger – I would be tempted to add some streaky bacon but then it would be sooooooo tall and this is the type of burger you want to eat with your hands.

Apparently we are going to have good weather for the next couple of days….you can guess what I am cooking again!!