Burgers can on occasion - especially when they are of the fast food variety - be an extremely unhealthy food option. I have for a long time been on the look-out for ways on which to improve upon this factor and make the much-loved burger a healthier meal consideration. It was the sheer coincidence of having some leftover mashed potato to use up that gave me this idea yesterday and I have to say that I was delighted by the way in which it turned out.
This was also an experiment in that when I make burgers, I usually add something to the meat and very much use different types of meat. It may be egg, breadcrumbs, fresh herbs, onion, or a mixture of two of these ingredients or more. On this occasion, however, I decided to make the burger purely from beef, other than of course some seasoning in the form of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
This recipe is in the quantites required for one serving.
Ingredients
1/4lb minced/ground beef
2 tbsp cold mashed potato (incorporating salt and butter)
2 tsp plain (all-purpose) flour
4 lettuce leaves
1 tomato
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying
Method
The mashed potato can of course be of the leftover variety or it can be prepared specifically for the purpose of making this meal. If it is to be made specifically, it should be seasoned with salt and mashed with a little butter, before being covered and left to cool. At that point, the flour should be mixed through it.
The burger pate should be prepared simply by seasoning the beef with salt and pepper and rolling it in to a round ball with lightly floured hands. It can then be flattened in to a burger shape between the palms and fried over a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan with a little sunflower oil in it for around ten minutes each side.
When the burger is cooked, it should be transferred to a hot plate and covered with foil to rest and keep warm. The heat in the pan should then be turned up to high.
The floured potatoes should be rolled in to two balls, slightly bigger than golf balls, again with floured hands. They should then carefully be flattened to circles about three to four inches in diameter and added to the hot pan. I fried them for three minutes on one side and two on the other. This had the effect of making one side golden and the other only slightly coloured, just as the two sides of a conventional burger bun would be.
One half of the burger, "Bun" should then be put on to the plate, coloured side down and the burger sat on top. The second half of the, "Bun," should then be added, coloured side uppermost. I was amused to find at this point that gravity caused the edges of the top potato pate to curl over and even better create the image of a burger in a traditional bun.
The lettuce leaves should be shredded, the tomato quartered and the salad arranged around the burger, prior to serving, as shown above.
NB I would recommend that you eat this burger with a knife and fork - attempting to pick it up in your hands may prove rather messy!
Do you want Further Help in Making Fast Food Healthy?
Whenever we contemplate healthier eating, very often we will recognise what we believe to be the inevitability of giving up fast food. The good news is that this is absolutely not the case. What have to do - as in the recipe above - is come up with new and innovative ways of preparing the traditional fast foods at home, in a healthier fashion.
In this fabulous book, Devin Alexander looks at more than seventy-five fast food recipes which can be prepared in a far healthier fashion than they would be served in a fast food restaurant and shows you how to prepare them at home. The book is even discounted at the moment - but then again, what price your family's health?
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