Monday 27 January 2014

Pork and parsley burgers

Pork and parsley burgers
Pork mince can be a very versatile ingredient however it can often be bland and dry. It lacks the meaty juiciness that beef or lamb mince naturally has. I have a couple of recipes I use regularly for pork mince but this one I had completely forgotten about because I wrote it out and it ended up being trapped on my old laptop. It wasn't until I needed something else off of it did I find it again.

The reason this recipe needs 50g of breadcrumbs is simple – any scraps of bread I have left over that look past their best I blitz with a hand blender and then bag up in 50g quantities and then freeze them until required. No waste and breadcrumbs always available when required. I gave up buying the little bags of grated Parmesan some time ago. They are very expensive - check the price per kilo compared to a block – and inevitably you end up with some left in the bag which need isn't used. The pre-grated hard cheese is also very bland in taste. I now buy a block of hard cheese and have it in my fridge at also times. Once covered it lasts for ages so don't worry about it going mouldy. It's very useful for just adding a flavour kick when grated on top of dishes. A little goes a long way.

As this contains fresh parsley I am putting it forward for this month's Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage. Karen has requested a special citrus hit this month and this is provided by the lemon.

This is also going to Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for the No Waste Food Challenge for using up breadcrumbs and not wasting any Parmesan!

Makes 4 burgers
 
Ingredients

2oz (50g) Breadcrumbs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1lb 2oz (500g) Pork mince
1oz (25g) Italian hard cheese, such as Parmesan, finely grated
2 tbsp (30ml) Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 Garlic clove, crushed
Black pepper to season
1 tbsp Olive oil, for frying

Method

1. In a bowl put the breadcrumbs and squeeze over the lemon juice. Stir together.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the olive oil. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.
3. Once it has come together divide into four equal portions and shape into burgers. Flatten them to ensure they cook all the way through.
4. Put on a plate and cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry until they are browned on both sides and cooked through.

We served ours in foccaccia. They also go well in normal burger buns.



8 comments:

  1. What other, or additional, herbs could you use as well as parsley? Coriander, cumin? And mix or just use one?

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  2. Since I've added the lemon juice to add moistness to the mixture I wouldn't want to overpower the lemon flavour too much with extra herbs. You could try making them with coriander or try thyme, tarragon or oregano on their own. I think cumin may be too spicy for the lemon.

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  3. I LOVE recipes like this as I LOVE minced pork, so this has been bookmarked to make in the future! Karen

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    Replies
    1. Always good to have a selection of pork mince recipes. I'll have to write up my others and share them.

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  4. This makes 4 VERY big burgers! Used oregano as only thing I had. Did you embellish them with lettuce etc when you served them?

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    1. No one goes hungry here! Oregano is a good choice to go with the lemon. I don't buy salad much at this time of year but later on in the year it would be nice to have them with lettuce and tomato.

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  5. Yum!! These burgers look lovely, juicy and succulent - great job! Thanks for sharing with the no waste food challenge :) I usually freeze the cheese rinds for use in soups later on, preventing even more Parmesan waste!

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  6. They sound great with the Parmesan in it. I always make sure to have a block of Parmesan in my fridge. I can't stand the thought of not having any Parmesan in my fridge. I definitely will keep the idea of those burgers in mind.

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I appreciate your comments. If you have any tips, tricks or tweaks please pass them on!