Smokey Pork Burgers

These burgers are flavoured with lovely smoked bacon & paprika to give a wonderful taste. They are great for a BBQ or just grilled indoors. Serve with some lovely BBQ sauce and some applewood smoked cheese & salad. I served mine with hommade coleslaw and onion rings, for a great American feel. I love finding recipes that use pork mince as its a nice budget-friendly meat. This recipe will make 4 burgers.

olive oil, for frying
500g pork mince
4 rashers of smoked  bacon, finely chopped
1 shallot - peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon smoked paprika


Gently fry the shallot & bacon for a few minutes in the olive oil, over a medium heat, until the shallot is  translucent and the bacon crispy. Add the paprika and continue to cook for a further minute. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly then add to a mixing bowl with the pork mince and season. Combine the mixture with the mince using your hands, then divide into 4 equal parts. Form into patties. Cook the patties in a grill or an oiled frying pan on a medium heat. Cook for around 4 minutes each side, until cooked through. Arrange on bread rolls with salad, smoked cheese slices, BBQ sauce & serve.

Slow Cooker Boston Baked beans

I love to cook a gammon joint in my slow cooker with nothing but 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in with it. The meat that comes out is amazing! As soon as I remove the gammon though, I am left with a crock pot full of gammon & brown sugar stock, which seems a shame to waste. This time I added some beans & other ingredients, plus some left over shredded gammon, and created these tasty boston baked beans. They were fab on jacket potatoes topped with cheese.

Leftover gammon & brown sugar liquid from slow cooker
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp maple syrup
 2 tsp English mustard powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 x 400g cans cannellini or haricot beans, drained and rinsed - I used a tin of both
Leftover shredded gammon

Just add all the ingredients to the slow cooker, and cook on low for as long as you can. Mine were on for about 8 hours.

Sticky Sauusages & BBQ Beans

It was just 3 of us for dinner last night, the girls have gone to stay with family for a week. Big Bee doesnt liek sausages, so this was a good time for us sausage lovers to enjoy them! I used good quality butchers sausages, as I prefer the taste. You could use any chutney you like, I used a cherry tomato & shallot one from our local factory - they sell some amazing chutneys! I sent some beetroot & orange chutney to my foodie penpal last month & she loves it. These BBQ beans are a bit of a hassle to make, but taste lovely.

Serves 3

2 or 3 sausages per person
3 tablespoons tomato chutney

1 tin of baked beans in tomato sauce
1 onion finely diced
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons tomato puree
2 teaspoons American yellow mustard
1 tablespoon black treacle
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
Pinch garlic powder
Pinch paprika
5 tablespoons tomato ketchup
230 mils vegetable stock
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 200c. Add the sausages to a roasting tray & put into the oven for 25 minutes, shaking the tray now  again to get an even colour. Add the tomato chutney, spreading all over the sausages, then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan & add the onions & tomato puree. Stir fry for 5 minutes until softened. Add the mustard, treacle, Worcester sauce, tomato ketchup, garlic powder, paprika, stock & sugar. Simmer for 6 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Tip in the tin of beans, and mix. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then serve.

BBQ Pork Burgers

I had some pork mince to use up, so I thought I would be inventive and make BBQ flavoured burgers. Big Bee hated them, but the rest of us enjoyed them. Quick &easy to make, and I love BBQ flavour so this was right up my street. Popping them in the freezer for an hour helps them to keep their shape while cooking without having to add breadcrumbs/eggs as binders. Serve with finely diced onion & sliced gherkin on top for that McDonalds feel.

To make 4 burgers

400g pork mince
Salt & pepper
Teaspoon sugar
BBQ sauce ( I use Heinz honey barbecue)
4 burger buns

Mix the mince with your hands, adding the salt, pepper & sugar, Form into 4 equal patties, wrap & freeze for 1 hour.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Fry the burgers on both sides until cooked through. Add a spoonful of bbq sauce to one side of the burgers, then flip & cover the other side with sauce. Cook for another minute each side.

Serve in the burger buns with onion, gherkin or salad. Add extra BBQ sauce if liked.

Slow Cooker Ribs

I nipped into Morrisons last night when I dropped off Little Bee off for her dance class, and found they had ribs on special offer. I managed to buy enough ribs (half a rack each) for £2.50! The glaze I created from store cupboard items, and knocked up a quick batch of homemade coleslaw. You can find that recipe here. I left the slow cooker on low all day (about 6 hours) and these came out meltingly soft! The meat just fell away from the bones - just how I like my ribs. I can't wait to make these again, and experiment with glazes. I love the Dr Pepper ribs, but they were chewy compared to these - I might use the sauce but pop them in the slow cooker.

What do you use your slow cooker for?

2 racks of ribs
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
4 crushed garlic cloves

Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Pop the ribs into the slow cooker, and pour over the glaze/sauce. Set to low and allow to cook for around 6 hours. Turn the ribs every 2 hours, to coat them in the glaze.

Serve with corn cobs, coleslaw & onion rings (or your own favourite side dishes).

Sticky Asian BBQ Chicken wings & sweetcorn rice

Another recipe from Lorraine Pascale! This is such a great TV show & recipe book, I have loved everything I have tried from it. It is also exactly my way of cooking, Fast, Easy & Fresh! Tasty hearty meals for my family that are budget friendly and easy to whip up. This glaze is made entirely from store-cupboard ingredients. I used a mixture of chicken wings & drumsticks - no leftovers though! The kids went back for seconds.

Sauce

800g chicken wings & drumsticks
6 squidges of tomato ketchup
3 tblsp balsamic vinegar
3 tblsp soy sauce
2 tblsp chinese 5-spice
2 squidges of honey
1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
Few sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
Sunflower oil (drizzle)
Salt & pepper to season

Preheat the oven to 200c. Mix all the ingredients together to form a thick sauce. Lay out your chicken pieces on a baking tray. Pour over the sauce and make sure each piece is coated. Pop into the oven for 30 minutes, until cooked through. Baste occasionally while cooking.

Sweetcorn Rice

350g rice
198g tin of sweetcorn
Handful chopped coriander or parsley
Drizzle of oil

Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet. Drain and toss with the oil, herbs & sweetcorn. Serve alongside the chicken.

Dr Pepper Ribs

Dr Pepper ribs - delicious! These would be fab done on a BBQ too, which I might try if we ever get any nice weather! It seems a little bit of a faff with the long cooking, but its worth it for soft, melting ribs. I don't like Dr Pepper as a drink, but makes a great marinade. I served it with a sweetcorn salad.

3 racks of small pork ribs, approx 500g each
1½ l Dr Pepper
2 star anise

Glaze 

200ml Dr Pepper

6 tbsp soft brown sugar

6 tbsp tomato ketchup

1½ tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground allspice 

  

Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the ribs, fleshy side down, in a single layer in a large roasting tin. Pour over the Dr Pepper and add the spices. Tightly cover with foil and cook for 2 hours. 

Put all the glaze ingredients in a pan and simmer until thick and syrupy. 

After the initial cooking take the ribs from the oven and turn it up to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6, or light your barbecue. Drain all the liquid from the tin. Turn the ribs flesh side up and baste with the glaze. Roast for 30 minutes or barbecue, adding more glaze halfway through until sticky and shiny. Cut into sections to serve. 

Corn salad

Small tin of sweetcorn, drained

Half a cucumber, finely diced

Half a red onion, finely diced

Tablespoon chopped parsley

Teaspoon lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together.

Marinated Cucumber

I have been eating a lot of salads lately, but cucumber always seems so boring! I was flicking through the River Cottage Veg Everyday cookbook, and found this simple recipe for jazzing up cucumber. It was such a nice change, I will be doing this more often! I grow mint in my garden, so always have some fresh to hand. The rest is just store cupboard items.

1 medium cucumber
Tablespoon bunch fresh mint
Tablespoon olive oil
Teaspoon cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to season

Top & tail the cucumber, then peel. Chop in half, then slice those into halves length ways. Chop into chunky half-moons. Mix the olive oil, vinegar & mint, and add the cucumber. Thoroughly mix, season & leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Stir again then serve.

Stuffed Cheese Burgers

I used Lidls steak mince to make these burgers, and they tasted great! Definitely the best homemade beef burgers I have made. I had mine with salad leaves & a huge dollop of homemade coleslaw. Having the cheese in the middle, all melty & oozing, was a great addition, I cant wait to make these again! These would work well on a BBQ too. Make sure to firmly seal the patties around the cheese, to stop the cheese oozing out.

Makes 3 Stuffed burgers

450g steak mince
salt
pepper
pinch garlic powder
pinch onion powder
3 small matchbox size blocks of cheese

Combine the mince with the seasoning & onion/garlic powder and mix well by hand. When thoroughly mixed, divide into 6 equal parts. Roll each part into a ball, then flatten to make a patty. On 3 of the patties, place the cheese directly in the middle. Top with one of the other 3 patties, and seal the edges. Grill, fry or BBQ until cooked through.

Homemade coleslaw
1/2 white cabbage, grated
1 carrot, grated
5 spring onions, chopped
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Chill in the fridge. Will keep for 3 days in the fridge.

Pork, sage and apple burgers

These burgers taste great! Everyone has asked me to cook them again, but I think I will try them on the barbeque next time. I chilled these in the fridge for an hour or so before cooking, I find this really helps them to keep their shape whilst cooking. I cooked mine under the grill, but you could fry them if you like. I served our burgers with a lovely Scottish delicacy - Potato Fritters! I can also post the recipe, just request it in the comments. The caramlised onions definitely add to the aoverall flavour, so dont skip those! Apparently, these are popular at Belfast's Graffiti restaurant.

• 900g minced pork
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 1 cooking apple , peeled and finely grated
• 1 egg
• handful sage

CARAMELISED ONION

• 3 onions , sliced
• 2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
• butter

 To caramelise the onions, cook them with the sugar and a large knob of butter over a very gentle heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, mix all the burger ingredients together in a bowl and season well. Shape into four burgers, then fry over a medium heat for 6-7 minutes each side until cooked in the middle.

BBQ!

Today was a BBQ day! How hot has it been your way? Even here in Scotland we have been baking! We just had a very basic BBQ (sausages and burgers) and made a few sides to go with it.I particularly enjoyed the sweetcorn salad, I keep going back for more!


  Corn Salad

1 large tin of sweetcorn, drained
1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves

Potato Salad

750g boiled new potatoes
3 tablespoons mayonaise
3 tablespoons natural yogurt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Snipped chives





Coleslaw
1 small onion, finely sliced
1/2 small white cabbage, finely shredded
2 large carrots, grated

3 tablespons mayo
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch black pepper
Soak the onions in cold water for 30 minutes. Grain & pat dry. Combine all the ingredients, then
refridgerate overnight.

Big Mac Sauce

4 tablespoons mayonaise
2 teaspoons American yellow mustard
2 teaspoons tomato ketchup
1 tablespoons finely chopped gherkins

Mix & keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

 Yellow Rice

350g basmati rice
30g butter
Large handfull raisins
1 teaspoon sugar
1 scant teaspoon tumeric
Put all the ingredients in a large pan with 1 tsp salt and 500ml water, then heat until boiling and the butter has melted.Stir, cover and leave to simmer for 6 mins. Take off the heat and leave, still covered, for 5 mins. Fluff up and tip into a warm bowl to serve.

Pesto Pasta

500g cooked pasta
4 tablespoons homemade pesto