I first came up with the idea for these burgers out of necessity, I swear (swear!) I ordered Burger buns from Mr Tesco, but sadly none were delivered. So on monday when it was raining cats and dogs outside and I could convince no man, beast (or teenager) to go to the shops for me, the healthy burger in the chip *bun* was born.
But this is no ordinary chip, noooo , this is a perfectly crisp, slightly spicy, baked sweet potato chip ( French Fries to any lovely readers from the US ) .
As well as being just divine with the burger they are also super healthy too, sweet potatoes are low in calories, very high in beta-carotene and they also raise our blood levels of vitamin A ( great for good skin and vision, bonus! ) . Obviously a thousand times better than any soggy olde’bun!
And when I tweeted & Instagramed the picture that same day, I thought I must be onto something, because a record amount of you asked me for the recipe. So here it is…Healthy food should’nt taste this good im sure, but hay… if it is, im not gonna argue ; ). Hope you give it a go to, I’d love to know what you think.
( Oh and by the way, I am working on a veggie burger too, but not just any veggie burger…THE best veggie burger ever, one that even Big *Monster Meat Eating* J will scoff and say “By Jingo Thats Good” ( he never actually says By Jingo, ever, but you’ know, it sounds kind of good when I write it ) … Anyway, wish me luck and stay tuned for the results ; ) )
Makes 6 large Burgers ( I froze 2)
- For the burger :
- olive oil
- 1 large red onion ( or 2 small) peeled and finely chopped ( I chopped in the mixer)
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 slices of white bread
- 500g good-quality lean minced beef
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 heaped teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
- A handful of fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- pinch of chilli flakes
- For Sweet Potato *Bun*
- ( Makes 4 *buns*)
- 4 medium sweet potato’s
- a good few pinches of sea salt
- a pinch of chilli flakes
- olive oil ( 1 and a half tablespoons approx)
Firstly start by making the burgers. Fry the red onion and the garlic in a little olive oil for about ten mins on med-low until they are translucent and soft, but not brown. Put aside to cool. Then put the bread in a food processor and pulse until you have pretty fine bread crumbs ( this is strangly fun! but that might just be me ). Then put all the ingredients ( including bread crumbs and cooled red onion) into a big bowl and mix. Scrunch together ( clean hand please) really well ( also fun, honest) until evenly combined. Then form into six burger shapes. Put on a oiled baking tray and refridgerate for at least an hour so they set well. ( Me and milly made them in the morning, refrigerated them and then brought them out to cook for tea ) .
For the chip/bun, chop up the sweet potato’s into chunky, square chip shapes, discarding the top and bottoms ( remember we are going to place the burger ontop of the chips and then chips on top so regular shapes are good, but they dont need to be perfect ) .
Place chips on a big baking tray and toss with the oil, salt and chilli. Place in a pre heated oven at around 200oc for 25-30 mins until crisp and golden ( sweet potato cooks a little faster than regular potato’s so when they are brown they are done ).
Whilst they are cooking fry the burgers, they are quite thick so I put them in a oiled pan for around 25 mins on med/low , top with chesse at the end and bung them under the grill for a min.
Now just plate up, I used three or four chunky chips on the bottom, then burger then topped with the same amount of fries and maybe a pickle? (optional of course) . Serve with giant salad drizzled with a little olive oil lemon and sea salt…YUM!
The only downside is you do need a knife and fork, but heck its worth the cutlery, honestly!
See u soon soon lovelies, I will leave you with a very wet image from this week, strangely I’m discoving that April showers are actually fun, with a little person in tow ; )
have a really fab weekend! xxx
Sweetie your recipes are amazing. Will you do a guest one for me for Thursday please? Papa G would love to have you x