I first came to visit Sydney on weekends in mid 2003. J was living in Darlinghurst.
Sydney was a world away from the country town I grew up in and so unlike Canberra where I'd been living and studying. "Having a coffee" wasn't simply 'drinking a coffee and moving on' but the experience of sitting on the pavement and taking in the sights and sounds of the street.
In the year or so I visited Darlinghurst before I graduated and moved to Sydney we rarely ate a meal at home. The food around the Cross was fast, cheap and easy... and good. I often dream of the mountainous burgers from Burgerman which was a cafe at the end of our street.
Burgerman burgers were unlike anything I'd seen and everything I've seen since. Reading their menu doesn't do the food or food philosophy justice but I am salivating just reading it. J used to always order a vegetarian burger (roasted capsicum rocket fried eggplant beetroot parsnip kumera, goats feta garlic & basil mayo) with a beef pattie and bacon. And it didn't come with canned beetroot!
So, with that on my mind this morning I made my own version of a Burgerman burger with a few ingredients I had and a few more I bought.
Firstly I sliced half of one eggplant and one zucchini and fried these for a few minutes (until golden) in EVOO.
While the eggplant and zucchini was cooking I mixed together 800g organic beef mince with half a handful of herbs (parsley, mint), a teaspoon of dijon mustard, one egg and breadcrumbs made from one slice of wholegrain bread.
Using a tablespoon of mixture I rolled the hamburgers in my hands and cooked in EVOO over a medium heat. I gently flattened them as I placed them in the pan and flipped them after a few minutes, or until could see them cooked partway through.
You can add anything you want to a burger and I, for one, am a sucker for a chutney or a spicy sauce. My mum gave us a delicious peach kasundi she'd made and this was the perfect addition to my burger. I also had half a bunch of kale that needed to be eaten so, using the same pan, I wilted this with some garlic.
I stacked everything up in a soft and fluffy wholemeal bun. Yummo!
What's your favourite burger filling? If you are inspired by this post please come back and let me know what you included in your burger...
Sydney was a world away from the country town I grew up in and so unlike Canberra where I'd been living and studying. "Having a coffee" wasn't simply 'drinking a coffee and moving on' but the experience of sitting on the pavement and taking in the sights and sounds of the street.
In the year or so I visited Darlinghurst before I graduated and moved to Sydney we rarely ate a meal at home. The food around the Cross was fast, cheap and easy... and good. I often dream of the mountainous burgers from Burgerman which was a cafe at the end of our street.
Burgerman burgers were unlike anything I'd seen and everything I've seen since. Reading their menu doesn't do the food or food philosophy justice but I am salivating just reading it. J used to always order a vegetarian burger (roasted capsicum rocket fried eggplant beetroot parsnip kumera, goats feta garlic & basil mayo) with a beef pattie and bacon. And it didn't come with canned beetroot!
So, with that on my mind this morning I made my own version of a Burgerman burger with a few ingredients I had and a few more I bought.
Firstly I sliced half of one eggplant and one zucchini and fried these for a few minutes (until golden) in EVOO.
While the eggplant and zucchini was cooking I mixed together 800g organic beef mince with half a handful of herbs (parsley, mint), a teaspoon of dijon mustard, one egg and breadcrumbs made from one slice of wholegrain bread.
Using a tablespoon of mixture I rolled the hamburgers in my hands and cooked in EVOO over a medium heat. I gently flattened them as I placed them in the pan and flipped them after a few minutes, or until could see them cooked partway through.
You can add anything you want to a burger and I, for one, am a sucker for a chutney or a spicy sauce. My mum gave us a delicious peach kasundi she'd made and this was the perfect addition to my burger. I also had half a bunch of kale that needed to be eaten so, using the same pan, I wilted this with some garlic.
I stacked everything up in a soft and fluffy wholemeal bun. Yummo!
What's your favourite burger filling? If you are inspired by this post please come back and let me know what you included in your burger...