Cooking “Under Fire”, or in difficult conditions brings a special set of challenges. You don´t have your usual array of pots and pan available to you. You also don´t have your usual stock cupboard with its range of flavours and spices at your fingertips. But you do have a good appetite at the end of a busy day, and you have tasty ingredients available to you which are not so easy to get hold of back home in Spain. So…you adapt. You work around the “problems” and enjoy the opportunity of a challenge.
I bought a large, deep frying pan with me which can be used for deep or shallow frying, braising and boiling and searing meat at a high heat. Here in the UK there are beautiful little waxy potatoes and superb beef from my new best friend the local butcher. I have learnt to cook more than I need when I get the chance, then to use leftovers the next day in another dish to save time.
Having made a delicious Ensalada Cateta (Orange and Potato Salad) for a taste of home, I made sure to cook double the amount of potatoes. Of course, I didn´t weigh them so I can´t give you exact amounts, but you´ll know how many you can eat!
Ingredients
For the burgers
- 300g ground beef approx
- One large red onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar or honey
- 2 cloves of crushed garlic
- A little olive oil for frying
- One tablespoon of very finely chopped fresh coriander
- Salt and Pepper
For the “Fries”
- Potatoes cooked in their skins (new, or small if possible) and peeled (or not) and quartered lengthways
- About a dozen mushrooms (I used brown) thickly sliced
- Half a white onion thinly sliced
- 2 cloves of sliced garlic
- Salt & Pepper
- Oil for shallow frying
- One tablespoon of very finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
To make the burgers, fry the red onion very slowly until tender then add the sugar and garlic and continue cooking very slowly until the onions start to caramelise. Season lightly with salt and pepper and allow to cool. Add the onion mixture to the minced/ground beef, then the coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into two large of four small burgers/patties and chill until required (but do bring them up to room temperature before cooking).
Add a little oil to a large non stick pan and add the potato pieces. At a high temperature cook the potatoes until browned (you could also use raw potatoes, but it will take a little longer). Turn the heat down and add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook gently until the onions start to soften and release their liquid. Now add the burgers, continuing to cook slowly to ensure they are cooked through. Turn over to cook on both sides. Just before you are ready to serve, turn the heat up and brown the burgers on both sides and to cook off any liquid in the pan. Add the chopped parsley and serve.
Not quite burger and fries as most of us know, but very delicious and a great one pot dish.
PS. Think of me tomorrow and keep everything crossed – fingers, toes and eyes. We´re hopefully having our internet connection installed and I´ll be able to start reading and commenting again – yay!
Chica Andaluza 
Fingers crossed !
One pot is all you need 😉
Fingers crossed here too!
More than enough! And less washing up too 🙂
It’s like camping, without the bugs! 😀
Love the recipe. Fingers and toes crossed for your internet!
You´re so right – it´s not as basic as camping but not yet quite as glamorous as “Glamping”!
Hope that all goes well with the internet, definitely all digits crossed! And the one pot burger, looks delish! Coriander is the stuff!
Love coriander – and Big Man is learning not to question it!
Seeing as it´s nearly lunchtime I was already starting to feel hungry but after reading that I´m starving! Great post! Fingers crossed on the internet! Can´t imagine what it has been like for you, I wouldn´t have lasted! G 🙂
It´s been tough – it was cold turkey at first but I think I may go a bit mad tomorrow trying to catch up!
This is so delicious, I love it. Thank you dear Chica, love, nia
Ah, thank you Nia. Looking forward to catching up on your posts soon!
Delicious supper. You even made a burger sound appetising:)
Ah, thanks Roger. It was a pretty tasty burger, good old English Beef!
this looks so yummy!!!
Simple but very tasty 🙂
I never have burgers this way and if you asked me my preference I would have said grill baby grill. Now my whole universe has been turned upside down. These look so good!
Wow – I am turning universes upside down from Bexhill…! I love them grilled too, but when you don´t have one you have to make do and it turned out pretty good!
well I do hope you can get that internet installed and your dinner looked great, though i love ANYTHING with caramalised onions as you know! c
Caramelised onions take a little patience but it was a nice restful time at the end of a hectic day standing over that pan and sniffing in anticipation! Will know by tomorrow if all goes well with the internet 🙂
Let me know so i can uncross my toes and fingers, milking was a little difficult this afternoon!! (laughter!).. c
Looks yummy. I love one pot cooking – so much easier at clean up time!
So right – only one pot to wash up!
Another great meal but you had better be careful, Tanya. If Big Man sees how well you do with just one pan, he may start wondering whether all of your kitchen equipment back home is really necessary.
Good luck with the installation. We’ve missed you.
Hee hee – you´re right, maybe I need to clatter and make more noise in the kitchen! He has certainly realised how invaluable my huge selection of wine glasses is at home as we (for that read “he”) has to keep washing them up! Missed you too 😦
Hubby’s favourite kind of meal. He’ll love the onions with the burger.. Good luck with the Internet thing. Just remember you may have withdrawal symptoms in reverse. I’ve just had what feels like an all-nighter on genealogy.
I know, I am worried I´ll get so distracted I´ll “down tools” for a day and go all goggle eyed from internetting! Hope all is well with you guys as you go into a lovely NZ springtime 🙂
Helloooooo! Fingers crossed.
Regards Florence x
Hellooooo to you too! Keeping all feasible body parts crossed!
Good luck with the net installation and that looks like a FINE use for leftover potatoes (drooling at breakfast time over what you are going to cook tonight is just sad ;))
Not sad at all, perfectly normal as far as I am concerned!
;). I LOVE potatoes…I eat them all of the time and a new way to serve them is always top of my list, cheers for the lovely new way (and the early morning drool on my keyboard 🙂 )
Rock on, Chica…when the going gets tough, the tough get cooking…
Thanks Natalia – nothing like a home cooked food to make you feel better!
My perfect sort of cooking – all in one pot! Usually the most delicious and hardly any washing up. Hope your project is coming along nicely!! xx
I even have my fur babies crossing their front paws while napping this afternoon!
Love what you created in one pan Tanya – yummilicious.
🙂 Mandy xo
Ah, thank your fur babies for me – I think I should be properly connected by tomorrow!
What a fun idea, your meal looks delish! I love the look of those onions! Great job~
Oh yes, the onions were gorgeous!
After a long day of working outside I can think of few things better than walking into a kitchen with this dish cooking. Sounds so satisfying. 🙂
It was certainly just what we needed!
What an excellent substitute for the traditional burger on a bun! I love that the onions are cooked up and added right into the burger! Such flavor! And this is all in one dish, what a bonus!! I’m trying to avoid “wheat” for a while, so this is a great recipe for me!
Hadn´t thought of the wheat free element but yes, no bun, no flour, just great taste!
Ooooh, this sounds so good. And necessity is the mother of invention, after all! As others have said, my first thought as I read this was that it was kind of like camping. We do actually “glamp” when we camp and have all kinds of special camp cooking stuff. I’d eat this dish anytime it sounds so great and I’m a huge fan of the one pot dish.
I think a bit of “glamp” helps enormously!
I couldn’t stop staring at the photo. That’s what I want for dinner.
Go on and have it…you know you deserve it!
Making this for my Novio for lunch. I never cook, so using a spin on a simple burger will probably trick him! thanks, dear!
Hope he enjoys it and is impressed with your efforts!
Oh my word. Cooking under fire is obviously one of your strengths. This looks delish!
Dodging the bullets but managing ok!
You are really very creative Tanya!
I really don’t think I would have the energy to cook with after all that work
I am seiously motivated by hunger and the need for something that tastes good!
I have recently learned the magic of caremalised onions – no idea why it took me so long! And am learning not to be as limited by the palates of my kids. They can pick things out right? Anyway, thanks for the reminder here :o))
I think it´s not just kids who are picky – grown ups are too! I agree with you – go for it and people and pick out what they don´t enjoy. And sometimes they try it accidentally and find they like it 🙂