roasting Archives * Eating Covent Garden

Today I’ve been asked to sample some beef burgers from The Black Farmer. The company was set up by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones and produces gluten-free products that are also RSPCA assured which means the company has a vision for all farm animals to have a good life and be treated with compassion and respect. Well, I’m all for that.

The beef burgers look beautifully plump and juicy and I decided to think laterally and come up with a different way to cook them. Sometimes my somewhat weird cooking ideas don’t work out quite as I’ve visualised them in my head, but today this dish was even better than I’d expected.

I started off by roasting some vegetables. Colour in food is so important to me and when I was trawling around the supermarket choosing my veg, lots of vibrant reds attracted me. So red roast vegetables it is.

For two servings I used:

1 red pepper, cored and sliced

1 red onion, peeled and quartered

12 cherry tomatoes, whole on the vine (I think cooking them on the vine enhances the flavour of the whole dish)

3 tbsps olive oil

Place the pepper and onion in a roasting tray and pour over the olive oil. Make sure they are well coated in the oil.

Place in the oven at 180C for about 20 minutes until they start to soften. Then add the tomatoes.

A tray of redness to roast

I love the large portobello mushrooms around at the moment and came up with the idea of using them as a base for the burgers instead of a bun.

Add the mushrooms to the roasting tray when you add the tomatoes and drizzle over a little more olive oil. Cook for another 10 mins.

Then place the burgers on top of the mushrooms, return the tray to the oven and cook for 10-15 mins until the burgers are mostly cooked through. I like them very slightly rare in the middle.

Vegetables sizzle and the burgers cook atop the juicy large mushrooms

Check that your burgers are cooked and serve with mustard mayo. I make the mustard mayo by mixing three large tsps of mayonnaise with one large tsp of Dijon mustard. It’s really delicious and goes equally well with the veggies and the burgers.

The combination of sweet vegetables, earthy mushroom, meat burgers and spicy mayo is fabulous. Give it a try. Do you have any inventive ways of serving burgers? I’d love to hear your recipes, do get in touch.

The Black Farmer produces a range of sausages, burgers, free range chickens, bacon, eggs and meatballs. Much of the range is available online at Ocado and you’ll also find the beef burgers at Asda and the chickens at selected Budgens.

Find out more at theblackfarmer.com

I love the seasons in London. And now it’s time for the season of mist and mellow fruitfulness, to quote Keats. Autumn’s arrived. You wake up to atmospheric, misty mornings and go to sleep to the comforting patter of steady drizzle, the sky’s a different colour and well, there’s a definite nip in the air. The trees in our local park are just starting to change colour and soon everywhere will be a carpet of (often soggy) leaves. Just the time to start thinking comfort food.

One pot (or dish in this case) recipes are always great – simply chuck everything in and cook. I’ve made this one a bit more complex as I’ve used vegetables that need different cooking times so you need to add things in stages. But it’s all really easy. As it’s early autumn I decided to give everything a fresh lemon and mint flavour, don’t want to go too wintery just yet. Substantial, yet light with a healthy dose of veg, this is the perfect dinner for a cosy autumn evening in.

Serves 2

For the lamb

2 lamb leg steaks (about 375g)

3 tbsps olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Large handful of fresh mint, chopped

Good grind of black pepper

Marinate the lamb in the minty, lemon mixture for 3 to 4 hours

Marinate the lamb steaks in olive oil, lemon juice and mint

Marinate the lamb in olive oil, lemon juice and mint

For the vegetables

1 large potato, cut into bitesize chunks

1 red onion, sliced

6 large florets of cauliflower

Half a small butternut, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tbsps mint jelly

1 handful fresh mint, chopped

2 tbsps olive oil

Toss the potates in the olive oil and mint.

Place in a roasting pan and roast for 20 mins at 180C

Add the butternut and roast for 10 mins

Add the cauliflower and roast for 10 mins

Add the red onions and top with the lamb steaks, stir in the mint jelly

Roast for 20 mins

Check all the vegetables are cooked and serve

Save on your washing up with all your dinner in one dish

I like my lamb nicely pink inside as you can see here. I sliced it diagonally and served it spread on top of all the veg.

Juicy lamb steaks with a healthy portion of veggies

Eating Covent Garden

Cook, eat, explore

roasting

Recipe: The Black Farmer’s burgers with roast red vegetables

Recipe: Citrussy, minty lamb with roast vegetables