Homemade Burgers

It seems an age since I lasted posted anything but I guess it's the usual lot of excuses. So much to do and really so little time to get it all done. That, however, doesn't mean I haven't been hoovering up all the food that has been put in front of me ... plus a few photos as evidence too :)

First up, burgers we had for dinner a few weeks ago. I'm not a huge burger fan. I do like one now and then but as I had bought some nice beef mince and was a little too lazy to make meatballs, so burgers it was. And how proud I was when they turned out so nicely :) I made a huge batch with about 800 grams of mince so there's still plenty in the freezer for another meal and a half.

Burgers
800g mince beef - the better quality the meat, the better the burger tastes
2 large eggs, beaten
2 large handfuls of breadcrumbs (I had some leftover cheese flavoured crackers so I crushed those and added it to my breadcrumbs)
3tsp of garlic powder (certainly use fresh garlic should you have it but I was feeling particularly lazy)
2tsp dry English mustard powder
2tsp dried mint
2tsp dried basil
2tsp sumac (one of those odd things sitting in my cupboard)
2tsp za'atar (a dry Middle Eastern mix of sesame seeds, marjoram and thyme)
good dash of soy (I cannot live without!)
salt and pepper to taste

• Mix all the ingredients together well
• Shape the meat mixture into patties - be however generous (or stingy) as you wish :)
• Heat a griddle pan on medium until it smokes lightly
• Place the patties on the pan and cook on one side for about 5 minutes before turning over
• The cooking time will really depend on how thick your patties are and how you like your meat cooked. Mine were cooked right through and took about 10-12 minutes for both sides.

Guacamole
2 large, ripe avocados
handful of very ripe, sweet cherry tomatoes
handful of finely chopped coriander
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

• Cut the avocados in half. Scoop out the flesh, as close to the skin as possible to get the lovely darker flesh out. Mash.
• Cut the tomatoes into small chunks. If your tomatoes are small enough, just halve them but keep in mind this is not a chunky guacamole.
  
• Add the cut tomatoes to the avocados, along with the coriander.
  
• Add the lime juice and salt to taste. Mix well and leave the mixture for a few minutes to let the flavours fuse.

Putting it all together:

• Put the cooked patties aside to rest. Leave the griddle pan on the heat.
  
• Cut the bread/bun of your choice in half. We had rosemary and potato rolls that day. Warm the bread on the griddle pan.
  
• Put a leaf or two of lettuce (I used butterhead lettuce) on the toasty bread, top with a burger patty and plenty of guacamole. Top with the other piece of bread and serve.