Quarter Pounders With Low Carb Psyllium Husk Burger Buns

Friday night. Traditionally it's a time to unwind. Traditionally, it's a time to eat easy-to-make comfort food. Oftentimes, that food is bad for you, or makes you feel worse come Saturday morning. But not these babies!

The Buns
This bread recipe from Maria Mind Body Health is a real gem. This recipe is made with psyllium husk powder and coconut flour so not only is it low in carb, it's a great source of fiber. Psyllium husk binds with water when mixed and it's this reaction which replaces the gluten and allows the burger buns to rise. 
You can pick it up in The Quay CoOp, but if that's not an option for you there are a number of websites which deliver it, including healthstore.ie. Make sure you're not getting the dietary capsules though!

The Burgers
Pair your buns with some homemade slider-style burgers. I'll usually add salt, pepper, onion salt, thyme, rosmary and a little garlic to great quality mince. Form into patties and press a little hole in the centre of the burger to help it keep its shape. 
Cook on a high heat for 3-4 minutes per side, depending on size and personal taste.

The Cheese
Once the burgers are cooked to your liking, place your choice of cheese on top. Add a drop of water to the fying pan and cover with a saucepan lid. Leave for approximately 30 seconds to gorgeously melt the cheese.

I'm fond of the traditional cheddar but mixing things up with a different cheese can transform a burger into an entirely different experience. We recently tried some gorgeous manchego from Sheridans Cheesemongers. This goes particularly well with a nice, sweet relish like the homemade one from Cork's Nash 19. Careful though, relishes can be very high in sugar!

Serve with your choice of vegetable and sauces. May I recommend rocket leaves, pickles, mayonaise and mustard?

Pro Tip: The burgers seem to rise better when the psyllium husk powder used is very fine. If you can be bothered, I'd recommend grinding it further before use, but it's not necessary.

The Slow Laura Burger

Friday evening and the eternal question- what to have for dinner? After a busy, busy week I was certainly not in the mood for anything boring or blaaaaaah. I wanted flavour, sensations, craziness!

These amazing burgers are a version of the Slow Larry as cooked by The Rivestaurant.

Constraints on my time and availablity of some of the ingredients at short notice meant that the following recipe is an approximation of the culinary genius you can watch at the link above. 

The original recipe calls for a mixture of beef and pork mince, but unfortunately I could only get beef. I've made gorgeous meatballs with a mixture of beef and pork several times, so I'd imagine the burgers would be awesome. But these turned out pretty darned tasty nonetheless. Next time though, I will certainly be trying it his way.

Recipe for the Slow Larry, done my way: The Slow Laura. 

Makes 4 giant burgers.

Ingredients 

800g Minced Beef

250g Streaky Bacon

1/2 Block of Cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 a white onion, finely diced

1 Medium Egg

1 Tablespoon Paprika

1 Tablespoon Barbeque sauce - I used the Jack Daniels Smokey sauce

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

Salt & Black Pepper

Jalapeño Slices- I used these Discovery ones 

Method

1. Fry off the streaky bacon in a little bit of oil. I use steamed coconut oil from Biona, which is odourless and flavourless. Once lightly cooked, take off the heat and finely chop.

2. In a bowl, combine the minced beef, bacon, diced onion, egg, paprika, barbeque sauce and garlic powder. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix these ingredients well, using your hands if you don't mind that.

3. Now for the cheese filling. Put the grated cheese in a bowl.

4. The jalapeño bit: The Rivestaurant roasted their jalapeño before mashing it, but in Tesco at 7:30 Friday night there wasn't a fresh jalapeño to be found. 

I had a jar of Discovery jalapeño slices at home, so in a pinch these would have to do. De-seed and mash about two tablespoons worth of flesh and add these to the cheese. Though this tasted great, next time I'm going to try to roast it.

5. Mix the cheese and jalapeño well, don't be afraid to sqeeze it and get it all mushed up. Just don't then touch your eyes without washing first.

6. Next I took the full bowl of minced beef, and divided the mixture into half, then half again so I had four equal-sized balls of meat.

7. On a clean work surface or cutting board, slap down one of the balls of meat. Press down on it and even it out so it's in a very large circular patty. Make the patty double the size you would make a burger.

8. In the centre of the patty place a small handful of the cheese and jalapeño mixture. It might be a good idea to divide the cheese mixture into four pieces before you begin stuffing burgers, so you end up with an even spread.

9. Carefully curl up the edges of the patty around the cheese mixture, covering it completely. Make sure there are no gaps for the cheese to seep out of. You can see exactly how The Rivestaurant do it here.

10. Once all your burgers are formed, place under the grill for about 15 minutes in total. I turned them once during cooking and they didn't break open but be fairly careful with them.

11. Serve! 

The Rivestaurant have a couple more recipes for sides to go with this dish, but at that time on a Friday I wasn't getting into all that. We had ours with a giant pile of mixed greens and a couple of sauces I knocked together.

12. Bonus Step: Dips

To make your dips, put three tablespoons of mayonnaise in three bowls. 

Into one I added a teaspoon of French's mustard, into another I added a teaspoon of Encona West Indian Hot Sauce, and into the third I added Mexican tinga paste, which contains chipotle chilli flakes. This gives you a great range of flavours to choose from with every bite.

Burgers With Goats' Cheese

Formerly of The English Market, Iago opened up a shiny new store on Prince's Street just before Christmas. I popped in yesterday and picked up a small log of goats' cheese for €1.95. Bargain.

When I lived in Dublin I would get a burger topped with goats' cheese whenever I was in Jo Burger, and as soon as I saw the cheese I knew that's what I would make for dinner tonight. The recipe below makes four burgers, and serves two low-carb people. If you're a carb-eater and want to have burger buns/fries, one burger will be enough per person.

Ingredients

1 lb Minced steak
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons of almond flour
Salt & black pepper

100g Goats' Cheese

10 Asparagus Spears
200g Spinach Leaves

Method

1. Put the asparagus and spinach on to steam. You'll want to steam them for about 15 minutes so you can pretty much forget about them while you're getting the burgers ready.

2. Mix the beef, egg, almond flour, salt & pepper together in a bowl. The egg and almond flour will help the burger to bind well and stay together.

3. Use your hands to form the mixture into a ball, half it, and half it again. Each quarter will now make a good-size burger.

4. Form each quarter into a ball by rolling it in your palms, then flattening the ball between your hands.

5. Spread the four burger patties out on a grill tray, and use your finger to make a small dent in the middle of each one. Don't go right through the meat, just make a small dent. This stops the burger from swelling up in the middle and allows them to cook through evenly.

6. Put the burgers until a medium-heat grill for about 6 minutes each side for a slightly pink centre.

7. Once the spinach has wilted and the asparagus is tender, take it off the heat and allow to stand.

8. Once the burgers are cooked, flip them back over to the side you cooked first, and sprinkle some goats' cheese on the centre of each burger.
Goats' cheese is great to put under the grill as it doesn't drip everywhere when it melts. Give it another minute or so, until the cheese starts to brown slightly.

9. Serve immediately.

Pro Tip: Ballymaloe Relish is the perfect sauce to have with these burgers.