You know those moments when something has been staring you in the face the whole time and you failed to see it? I’m not sure if I love those moments, or hate them with every fiber of my being. On the one hand there’s the “eureka!” moment. On the other hand, there’s a much more sustained “Yeah, DUH!” moment.
The reason I mention these moments of stupidity is that I’ve been agonizing over what to write about next. So I’ve been sitting here, scrolling through a backlog of photos of random concoctions, half-written posts, and beating my head against the tabletop trying to think what is most suitable, while I wait for my burgers to finish roasting.
You see where this is going, yeah?
BURGERS!
As per usual I have a backstory. I love Jamie Oliver. Is it the accent? In part. Is it his enthusiasm? In part. Is it the tousled, devil-may-care semi-spiky-floppiness of his hair? A little bit of that too, yeah.
It’s so many things.
It’s the way he gets down and dirty with the food he cooks. Hands smashing ingredients freshly ripped from the soil together, punctuated by random exclamations (“Howzat!” being a personal favourite), and a genuine love for his creations. He is a completely obsessive purist, and where Nigella Lawson is a food eroticist, Jamie takes his food out for a few dates, behaves like a gentleman, falls completely in love by the second date, and calls it back the next day to see how it feels.
This particular recipe rapidly became high in rotation for several reason. First and foremost: it’s really good! Second: it’s very time-liberating. Smoosh stuff together, chuck em in the oven, and 25 minutes later they’re done. No running back and forth between the barbeque, or peeking in on a frying pan, cutting through layers of carbon to discover a raw mess inside. Nope, none of that. They come out amazing every time! That 25 minutes leave you free to tidy up, bathe a cat, do your nails, watch a PVRed half hour program (minus commercials, of course), or write a belated blog post. *ahem*
As is my usual practice, I’ve tweaked the original recipe somewhat. Feel free to do the same. Particularly with the spices and seasonings. I often find I only need one egg, whereas the original recipe calls for two. Use your judgment. If the beef mixture just isn’t holding together, add a second egg. If it looks like it’s floating in a sea of egg, add more breadcrumbs.
Oven-roasted Hamburgers
· 2 ¼ lbs ground beef
· ½ large red onion, chopped fine
· 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
· 1-2 large eggs
· 1-2 handfuls breadcrumbs (or Panko, if you buy the Costco-sized bucket loads like I do)
· generous pinch cumin seeds
· generous pinch coriander seeds
· heaped spoonful Dijon mustard
· few drops Worcestershire
· salt and pepper (I HIGHLY recommend trying different peppercorns: Pink, Szechuan, Tellicherry. Each one can completely change the scope of flavour. Feel free to use regular pepper, too… Philistine)
Preheat oven to 450°
Grind dry spices in mortar and pestle.
Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl, sprinkle spices over, and mix well. Adding breadcrumbs as required.
Mold into patties, more ball-shaped than pancake. A flattened ball, if you will.
Place on roasting pan with drip tray for excess fat, and pop into the oven for 25 minutes. If you want cheeseburgers, place slices or shredded cheese on patties at about the 20 minute mark.
As you can see from the photo at the top, I didn’t have buns on hand, so I used thick slices of homemade bread. I just thought I’d make that clear in case you thought that I thought that that’s what buns were.
I also have this strange inability to be able to make burgers without this clip getting stuck in my head.
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