Mexican Burgers

We’ve been eating sensibly and upping our gym attendance this week so felt like we deserved a treat on Friday night. We haven’t had burgers for a while and I wanted to play with the recipe, creating something spicy and different to the relatively plain beef burgers we usually eat.

I started off with a mixture of pork and beef mince which I intended to add some chilli and coriander to, then I remembered the chorizo in the freezer and decided to add that too. Some salt and pepper, a little extra paprika and some lime juice completed the ingredients.

My top tip when it comes to burgers is to fry a little of the mixture first, not only do you get something good to eat while you’re putting everything together but it also gives you the opportunity to adjust the seasoning if you need to. I definitely did this time and added some extra paprika and quite a lot more salt.

As we were using pork mince, we had to cook the burgers to well-done which did mean they were a little dryer than they would have been if we had only used beef mince. The chorizo added some brilliant little pockets of fatty, tasty good stuff though so this wasn’t too much of a problem.

Alongside the burgers we served some avocado topped with coriander, lime juice, chilli, tomatoes and red onion (which I’d soaked in lemon juice for a while to remove the bitterness). A lot like guacamole but not as good.

There was also a corn salsa which included more coriander, some spring onion and some lime juice. This was really good: the corn was sweet but still tasted like corn and the coriander, lime juice and spring onion added an extra zing to the whole thing.

I suppose I should point out that where I say “coriander”, what I actually mean is “parsley”. I bought coriander but when I got home I noticed half a large bunch in the fridge so decided to use that up first. Except it was parsley. And I didn’t realise until Stephen pointed it out halfway through eating. Coriander would have been better though so I’m going to add that to the recipe for next time.

Mexican Burgers
Serves Two

125g pork mince
125g beef mince
75g chorizo
Half a chopped, red chilli
Handful of chopped coriander
Salt and pepper
1.5 tsps paprika
Squeeze of lime juice

Combine all ingredients and shape into burgers. Don’t do this too far in advance of the cooking time because the salt will draw out all the moisture.

Fry for two minutes each side and then cook in the oven for 15 minutes on 180 degrees.

Corn Salsa
Serves Two

Two heads corn
Two spring onions, slices
Handful of chopped coriander
Salt
Squeeze of lime juice
Olive oil

Cook the corn for about six minutes, or until cooked through. Leave to cool.

Combine with the other ingredients and reserve until needed. This is best made a little way in advance so that the flavours have time to combine.