Reggae Burgers

It's the height of summer and if the blazing sunshine and soaring temperatures are anything to go by, then it is most certainly BBQ weather.

The Nottinghill Carnival is next month and if, like me, you really wish you could be there but can't, then I think that these are the perfect substitute to add a little Jamaican flare into your summer parties!

These succulent burgers have a wonderfully warmth to them, nothing too overwhelming and the distinctive combination of heat and sweet that Jamaican food is so famed for.  Add some sweet potato chips and you have a Caribbean feast.

Burgers (makes 4 good sized patties)
500g good quality minced beef
1 scotch bonnet, de-seeded and minced.  Leave the seeds in if you want more of a heat hit.  If you can't get hold of scotch bonnets, use habanero's instead although the flavour profile won't be exactly the same.  Don't substitute with birds eye chilli's - the taste will be completely different.
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cider vinegar (white wine or rice vinegar would also work, not malt)
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoons ground thyme
1 teaspoon runny honey
1 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons Jamaican Jerk seasoning
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon reggae reggae sauce (I used Levi Roots).
Good sprinkle of freshly ground salt and pepper

Salsa
50g mango, finely chopped
50g pineapple, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
4 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

Mix all the ingredients for the beef together, apart from the mince.

In a large bowl break the mince up and form into 4 patties

Split the seasoning evenly over each pattie and work in, smushing it around and moulding it back into a patty shape.  You can just pour the seasoning over the mince in the bowl first if you want, but I find that the split and then pour method ensures a much more even distribution of flavour.

Put the patties on a plate and rest in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking.  This is important as if you don't let them rest you will find that your burgers simply fall apart when you try and cook them.  You can grill, BBQ or fry these - up to you!

Mix all the salsa ingredients together and leave to rest, covered, in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the flavours to develop.

When you are ready, griddle, BBQ or fry the burgers until just cooked all the way through, melting some cheese on the top if you are that way inclined.

Layer up your buns with salad and the burger, top with the salsa and add a little extra Reggae Reggae sauce to really make it sizzle.

Steel band playing as you eat optional.

You shall have a fishy on a little dishy

This is not my creation.

I don't think in a million years my brain would have been wired to consider this as a meal.  The combination of ingredients just sounds so strange together, and yet, weirdly, like strawberries and balsamic vinegar, Parmesan and pears or cayenne pepper and mango's, it just works. 

Actually this is one of Steve's concoctions.  He is a much more creative cook than I am - I tend to go for a recipe or a dish I have tried before and adapt it.  He just lets loose and experiments.  Sometimes this results in us having to order a pizza (like the ill-fated time we didn't have any tinned tomato's when he was making cottage pie so he substituted baked beans instead.  Turns out that just cos something is in a tomato-esq sauce doesn't mean you can substitute it for tomato's).  Other times, like this time, his evil genius just works.

This is toasted buttered bruschetta, layered with warm tomato and pepper salsa, a slice of lightly fried fresh monk fish, homemade crispy seaweed and a poached egg.

Weird and wonderful and surprisingly easy. 

You need:

1 loaf of fresh bread
2 tomato's (chopped)
1/2 yellow pepper (chopped)
1/2 green pepper (chopped)
1 red chilli (chopped)
1/2 onion (chopped)
Olive oil
Lemon
Bag of spring greens
Brown sugar
2 fresh fish fillets (firm white fish that won't fall apart on the griddle)
2 eggs
Oil for frying
Butter

You do need to do all of this at the same time so that everything comes together at the end and is still warm.

Slice two hefty pieces of fresh bread and turn the grill on, then toast the bread on both sides until lightly golden.  Remove and butter.

In a saucepan combine the chopped tomato, peppers, chilli, onion, a good glug of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice and allow to heat through on a low temperature

Heat the oil in a large wok, deep fat fryer or saucepan and, when hot enough, very, very carefully throw a few handfuls of the spring greens in.  Step back - the high water content in the spring greens will spit hot fat everywhere so keep your arms covered.  When the spitting subsides, use a spider or a slotted spoon and remove the spring greens to some kitchen towel to drain.  Keep frying until you have enough for your meal, then lightly sprinkle the spring greens in a little brown sugar.

Lightly griddle the white fish in a little oil and seasoning skin side down until the skin is crispy and golden.  Flip and repeat on the other side.

Poach two eggs, keeping the centres soft if you like them like that.

To assemble, layer the bread with the warm salsa, then the fish, the seaweed and then the poached egg.

Serve immediately, cracking the egg so that the yolk dribbles over the brushetta (which is amazing for mopping up the leftovers with afterwards.

If you try this, let me know what you think! I'll pass it onto Steve!

If you like (or hate!) what you have read, please do let me know in the comments below or slap me with a cheeky follow, or say Hi to me on my Facebook group or Twitter or Instagram!

Hot in Havana

There is a huge showground near us in Maidstone.  It hosts wedding fayres, car fayres, country fayres, antiques fayres and even military fayres; everything apart from an actual fun fair and no toffee apples more's the pity.

However, once in a while it stops being a fayre and turns into something rather more special.  By special I mean something that I am a bit more interested in.

We had tickets for an evening in the heart of Havana whilst still in the heart of Kent.  RV had called us a little while beforehand as his birthday was coming up and asked if we fancied doing something completely different this year.  Steve and I both jumped at the chance, especially as it is not often you get the chance to get completely glammed up!  I was wearing the biggest dress I own.  It's bigger than my wedding dress (the one I bought the morning I got married, not the ruined one I was supposed to wear).  I originally bought this 'little' grey number for my 30th birthday and it is now a little big on me but sod it, I feel swishy (swishy, not squishy thank you) in it.  I should probably wear it with higher heels as well as walking on lower ones does require the much practiced 'stamp and kick' to ensure I don't (gracefully) stack it.  It probably meant I walked like a deer in deep snow all night but a few glasses bottles of wine later and I didn't really care.

Tables were booked in groups of 12 and we had an entire table to our party.  As well as RV's birthday it also happened to be Charne and Peter's wedding anniversary so as celebrations went, this was a double whammy

Babysitters were booked, hair quaffed and tuxedo's donned and we came out for an evening of pure escapism and entertainment.

I have to say, Steve does look rather dapper in his white tuxedo jacket.  All the boys were supposed to be wearing them with pride but the others *ahem* forgot.

We entered the transformed showground and were entertained by aerial acrobats whilst sipping on cocktails in the foyer as we waited to be called through for dinner.

The whole place was a riot of colour with large scenery bought in to represent the colourful Hispanic streets of Havana with iconic wall art, classic cocktail bars and the must have Chevrolet.

Latin beats thrummed throughout from the Cuban band as people danced and talked, providing a backdrop to the wannabe starlit night sky above.  It was pouring with rain outside.  This was as close to a starlit sky as I was going to get.

As dinner was ready to be served the great gates were opened and we were led through to our tables which circled the large dance floor and performance space.  Aerial ropes and hoops dangled from the ceiling, giving tantalising hints of what was to come.

We sat down to a starter of antipasti; seared asparagus tips, roasted peppers and aubergines, cured meats and mozzarella all drizzled with a basil oil.  There were garlic dough balls and bread rolls doing the rounds as well but I didn't fancy any of them.  It was nice, although the mozzarella was a little watery.  Still, not bad when you consider they are catering for 400 people at once.

As we ate and talked the dancers came out, giving a dazzling display of Cuban salsa in extravagant costumes.  I spent most of my time wondering how the ladies managed to keep those big bird esq wigs on their heads whilst being spun about by men in very tight shiny pants.

We chatted and drank, utterly relaxed and transported away from the everyday worries and stresses of life. 

The main course was a breast of chicken with the best Dauphinoise potatoes I have ever tasted, drizzled in a Rioja jus. Tables around us were starting to get rowdier as the night progressed and there were some definite breaks for freedom towards the dance floor, only to be ushered by burly, unsmiling bouncers back into your seats as the dancers returned for another spin.  Apparently mixing with the artistes is frowned upon.

It wasn't just the dancers hogging the dance floor though.  Throughout the main course the aerial entertainers were back out in a beautiful and graceful hoop routine hanging high over the heads of the diners.  You know that hula hoop I wanted after seeing Pride at Brighton?  Yeah I still want it, only now I want it suspended from the living room ceiling, a bit like a smaller version of the tire swing I fell off periodically that hung over the river in the park near my house as a kid. 

Dessert was an incredibly sharp lemon tart with a red berry coulis.  This was lovely but so sharp I could only manage half of it!

The weather was particularly bad on this night and two of our party were delayed by an accident on the motorway.  We held onto their food (and resisted eating it ourselves) for as long as possibly but eventually the wait staff had to clear it away.  Luckily there was the cheese course and the survivors breakfast of bacon butties served at midnight to try and tide them over when they finally managed to arrive.  Is it just me or is a 'survivor's breakfast' at midnight a bit of a cop out?  Survivors breakfast when I was a student used to be served at 3am at the earliest.  I always thought food at midnight was just called a kebab.

The rest of the entertainment was a bit more interactive.  Steve and I can never resist a casino, especially a charity one, even though my track record with them is, shall we say, less than impressive.  I was once entrusted to look after Steve's winnings in our student days and managed to lose the lot in about 15 minutes.  I am a Casino proprietor's dream customer.  I cannot resist the shiny spinny things; classic magpie syndrome.   Ever since then I have been closely regulated when I am near a table as I clearly do not have the self-restraint required by the true virtuoso gambler!

Easily my favourite entertainment of the evening was the dodgems though.  It has been years since I have been in a dodgem car!  I don't have a particularly great track record with these either - I once managed to split my sisters lip open when I lost control and drove the dodgem face first into the safety barrier, making her head bounce off the wheel and cutting her lip.  I didn't mention this to Steve before he agreed to go head to head with me behind the wheel...and don't even get me started on the time I went go-cart racing and lost control, ended up off the track, down a corridor and crashing the car into a store cupboard.  Apparently the man who came racing to get me could just see a hand waving from the bottom of a pile of brooms, mops and spare go carts.

After chasing Steve around an electrified circuit for a happy few minutes I then kicked off my heels, making my dress drag along the floor even more and hit the dance floor until the wee hours, pausing only at regular intervals to wrench my skirt out from under some woman's heels.  I haven't checked the condition of the bottom of my dress yet - I dread to look. I felt the dancing next day - my feet were sore and bruised and it took 3 lots of exfoliation wash to get the black marks off them but it was worth it!

We enjoyed this so much we are thinking of making the Havana Ball an annual tradition for us.  I wonder if I could learn fast enough to do an aerial performance at the next one?