Burgers with Mushrooms and Spicy Ketchup

 

These burgers were fabulous.  

We used our normal burger meat, with an aged white cheddar cheese.
But then we topped it with these delicious mushrooms, 

a chipotle ketchup and kewpie mayo!

Served on turkish buns, spread with butter, sprinkled
with season all and then toasted on the BBQ.

So ... I got the idea from this Food Network recipe .... 

I did my mushrooms like this:
5 punnets of mushrooms.  (I used shitake, button, swiss brown, enoki and shimeji)
fresh parsley and thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt

Slice mushrooms.  Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan.  Add mushrooms and a pinch of salt.  Saute to desired tenderness.   Stir in parsley and thyme.   They were pretty juicy, but it didn't matter.  We just used a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the pan.

And the chipotle ketchup:
I used the leftover homemade ketchup.  There was about 1 cup of it.  Add to that some chipotle in adobo that I pulled out of the freezer.  Maybe 3 tablespoons ... but it was pretty spicy, I'd maybe only do 2 tablespoons next time.  Salt.  Pepper.  Zoop Zoop with the stick blender and that's it. 

So ... to assemble to burger.

Toasted Turkish bun
Burger Meat with Cheese
Mushrooms
Chipotle Ketchup
Kewpie (Japanese) Mayo

I'm not kidding, this burger was gooooooooooooood!

GP's Hot Chips and Homemade Ketchup

These hot chips were EASY and delicious!  I found the recipe on Pinterest ... they are out of Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook.  I didn't follow the measurements at all and reading through the recipe again now, I realize I skipped a couple of steps too ... like peeling and drying the potatoes.  

Here's how I did mine.  I just cut up as many potatoes as fit on my two big baking trays.  I put them in a big bowl of cold water and let them soak for an hour or so. 

Ten minutes before I wanted to cook them, I turned the oven on to 230C/450F

Then I drained the water, added a tablespoon or two of olive oil and a good sprinkle of coarse sea salt.  I shook that around in the bowl, then transferred the potatoes to my baking trays that I had lined with baking paper. 

I baked them in the pre-heated oven until they were golden and cooked through.  The first time it took about 40 minutes, the second time it only took about 30 ... I set my time for 20, stir them and then check them every few minutes after that.

When they come out of the oven, I sprinkle with a bit more coarse sea salt.

  

I've been trying to make some more things from scratch.  You know, eliminating additives and preservatives one at a time.  Last night, I decided to tackle ketchup.  I found this one on pinterest and was pretty happy with the results, although it did have a slight honey taste.  But only very slight.  The whole family liked it.  I have a couple of other ketchup recipes pinned that I want to try though before I decide which one is the best. 

I just realized too that I didn't print (or read through) the recipe completely so I missed the bit about cooling it.  We ate it warm and it was delish. 

I won't share the recipe with you here ... the link is above.  Like I said, I want to try a few more ... probably in the end I'll adapt a few of the recipes and then print you my favorite. 

Homemade Ketchup

This does not taste like Heinz ... not one bit. But, Jono, who is EIGHT, says it tastes better. Rory and I thought it tasted like a chutney. I took a few recipes I found on line and mashed them into this one recipe that I will share with you today. Simple process. Great outcome. But ... don't expect Heinz. Expect better ...

1 fennel bulb, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, whole smashed
6 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup palm sugar, grated
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup vinegar
10 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
1 tsp salt


Throw all ingredients into a pot. Cover, medium heat, simmer 45 minutes. Throw in blender and blend until smooth. Strain if you are worried about fennel/star anise bits. I wasn't worried. This will thicken more in the fridge.