Most days during the week, I work a split shift. I work 8 hours in total, but . . . starting in the morning, until early afternoon . . . then I get a couple of hours off, where I can go home and do whatever . . . and then I am back at work late in the afternoon, where I work until mid evening. Such is the life of a personal chef.
I like this much better than restaurant work. I think you just reach a stage in life where you are past wanting to put up with all the stress that comes with working in a restaurant, not to mention the late nights that are involved. Sure . . . I do have to work late once in a while, like when there is a special occasion or dinner party to cook for, and, I do really enjoy those challenges tremendously . . . but I definitely wouldn't want a steady diet of them . . . a dinner party once or twice a month is more than enough for me.
The split shift means though, that if Todd and I are going to be able to eat a meal together, it has to be done in the middle of the day, which isn't really much of a problem for either one of us. We are also at the stage in life where we don't want to be going to bed with a heavy meal laying on our stomaches. (Boy, do we sound old!)
Anyways, most days that doesn't leave me a lot of time for cooking, so quick and easy is mandatory. Sure there are beans on toast days on occasion, and sometimes even just some scrambled eggs and toast . . . most days though, I am quite capable of rustling us up something very tasty with not a lot of time or effort involved. Things like these tasty burgers.
Moist ground pork combined with a group of tasty spices, shaped into rounds and nicely browned on both sides. I like to serve them with fried onions, but not just ordinary plain fried onions . . . honey mustard fried onions. Deeeee - licious!!
If you wanted to you could serve them in toasted rolls, but we just like them plain with some roasted spuds and sweet and sour red cabbage on the side.
*Spicy Pork Burgers*
Makes 6
Printable Recipe
Delicious, moist burgers flavoured with tasty spices and served with spicy fried onions. These are quick, easy and fabulously tasty!
1 kg of ground pork
(can also use equal amounts of ground pork and veal, just so long as
you have 1kg of meat)
1 heaping tsp of dried marjoram
1 heaping tsp of dried ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp celery seed
10 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground to a powder
(discard the pods)
1 20g packet of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS olive oil to cook
For the onions:
1 TBS butter
2 large onions, peeled, cut in half and sliced into half moons
1 TBS dijon mustard
2 tsp runny honey
Combine the meat with all the spices and parsley. Mix well with your hands to combine thoroughly. Shape into 6 round patties, slightly thicker on the outside edges than in the middle. (This helps them to keep their shape better) Set aside.
Take a large skillet and melt the butter for the onions over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally over medium heat, until they begin to soften and brown in places. Stir in the mustard and honey. Mix well. Set aside and keep warm.
Wipe the skillet out and then add the olive oil. Heat until hot over medium high heat. Add the meat patties. Cook for 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through and nicely browned. Don't press down when cooking as you will press the meat juices out and end up with dry burgers.
Serve the burgers hot with some of the spicy onions spooned over top.
