burger night

I love making burgers from scratch - beef burgers, salmon burgers, pork burgers, all with any spice I'm in the mood for. That's the brilliance of these burgers - they're personal, they're special, one of a kind. Most importantly for a calorie counter, the fat content is easily controlled.

They also feel like a treat. I serve mine without the bun, but with all the garnishes you can imagine. Add roasted sweet potatoes ("They're better than chips," raves my husband) and green beans, and an excellent weekend night in meal is born.

This time I felt like garlic and parsley beef burgers. It could be spinach and garlic salmon burgers. Or pork and chilli. The concept's still the same. Use a seasonal green vegetable where possible... since it's (nearly) summer, I've used green beans. If you're counting calories, only have one burger patty, though others may want two or more.

We have this at least once a month.

garlic and parsley beef burgers, roasted sweet potatoes and green beans
(serves 2)
approximately 500 g lean beef mince (like Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself 50% less fat)
1/2 of an onion, chopped small
25 g chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg
10 sprays fry light
salt and pepper
120 g reduced fat mature cheese, sliced into 30 g portions for each burger

for the garnish:
the other 1/2 of the onion, sliced in rings
1 beef tomato, sliced
romaine lettuce

for the sweet potatoes:
400 g sweet potatoes
20 sprays fry light
salt

400 g green beans

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Peel and chop the sweet potato and put in a lined roasting tin. Spray with the Fry Light and add salt to taste. Roast in the oven for approx. 45 minutes, tossing occasionally and adding Fry Light if they become dry. They will become brown in spots - this is good.

Meanwhile, make the burgers. Combine the mince, egg, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl and work through with your hands. Make four patties by forming a ball with a quarter of the mixture, then slightly flattening. Poke a bit of a hole into the top so that the burgers will remain flat when they cook. Place on a plate. Do the same for the other three, then cover with cling film and put the burgers in the freezer. This will help them stay together when you put them under the grill later.

Prepare the garnishes on a plate - slice the onion rings, the tomato slices and wash and cut appropriate sizes of lettuce.

About 35 minutes into the cooking of the sweet potato, switch the setting to grill and move the potatoes to the bottom of the oven. Line the grill pan and let it heat under the grill. Take the burgers out of the fridge, spray the grill pan with Fry Light and load the burgers onto the grill. For a medium burger, they should cook for approximately 8 minutes on each side, turned once halfway through. Once you have turned the burgers, boil the green beans. A few minutes before the burgers are done, top them with the cheese and place back under the grill.

When they are done, place on a plate with the garnishes, the sweet potatoes and the green beans. Serve with a tablespoon each of French's mustard, ketchup and light mayonnaise.

calories (for one burger, approx 150 g of sweet potato, 200 g green beans, and the garnishes):
615