Pork & Apple Burgers with Sticky Cider Onions

I'm just going to put it out there, its almost barbecue season. Not that I need any more excuse to eat burgers, but more of an excuse to try something a little different. Making burgers at home is super simple and quick but I tend to stick to my trusty tried and tested tricks. Tricks like maple bacon with some squidgy avocado or some fiery sriracha mayo. 

I was sent some of Aspall's new Waddlegoose cider to try and thought it would be the perfect match for pork, apple and sticky onions. These burgers can be made in under 30 minutes, sweet potatoes included. I didn't realise just how great pork burgers could be until now, I'm officially converted. And you don't even need a BBQ to make them

P O R K   &   A P P L E   B U R G E R S   W I T H   S T I C K Y   C I D E R   O N I O N S  
&   H O M E M A D E   S W E E T   P O T A T O   F R I E S
(Makes 4 regular burgers, or 2 epic burgers for the weekend)

SWEET POTATO FRIES

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chips

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp smoked paprika 

PORK & APPLE BURGERS

6-8 pork sausages or 500g pork mince

1 small apple, cored and grated

2 tbsp oil

2 onions, sliced into rings

1 tsp soft light brown sugar

150ml Waddlegoose Cyder

TO SERVE

4 burger buns (brioche or crispy white rolls are my favourite)

4 tbsp mayonnaise

handful of lambs lettuce, pea shoots or rocket

• Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Throw the sweet potato fries into a sandwich bag with the oil, paprika and season. Seal and shake until well coated. Place the fries in a single layer on the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges turn golden and start to crisp.
• For the burgers, squeeze out the sausage meat from your sausages into a bowl or pork mince. Add the grated apple, season and mix well. Divide the mixture into 4 and form into equally shaped patties. Set aside on a plate.
• Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook stirring occasionally until the onions soften and start to brown around the edges. Add the sugar and cider, mix together and turn up to a high heat. Leave for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the cider has evaporated.
• Meanwhile, heat a griddle pan until smoking hot and add the burgers. Cook on each side for 3 minutes. Once cooked, leave to rest.
• Gently toast the cut sides of the burger buns on the griddle pan before spreading some mayonnaise over the bases and add some leaves. Top each with a burger and generous helping of sticky onions. Serve with sweet potato fries. 

Now I'm well and truly in the mood for sunshine I can't wait to create some Waddlegoose cocktails too! Find out more on Waddlegoose and stockists, here.

Thanks to Aspall and Waddlegoose for sending me a box of cider to give me the barbecue feeling! I was not paid for this post, my love for burgers is my own. 

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Food in November

The month before Christmas means that if you're a self-confessed elf like me then you don't have to restrain yourself any longer. Now is the time to test every shop's mince pies just to find which ones best and to start up a plan for Christmas gifts. And if you're Scrooge? Then you'll be the one grumbling that you always have to carry an umbrella and that you've already heard Mariah Carey playing in the supermarket umpteen times.

I've planned my family's Christmas gifts, made a special advent calendar for Boy and my Christmas cake is soaking away in its Brandy pyjamas.

I lieu of any mince pies at present (I still haven't got to that part) I'll be working on soaking myself in my very own gin pyjamas (exact logistics of this to be confirmed)...

O N E   S I X T Y

The month started with a quick catchup with Emily whilst I accompanied her on a review to One Sixty Smokehouse in the City. She needed my burger opinion, one of the services I offer alongside my blog just in case you needed the same *wink wink*. You can find her full review here, but I love the mac n cheese balls and the burger was pretty good too...look at that patty!

N I N T H   W A R D

After the burger warm up, I hopped over to an old favourite of mine, Ninth Ward, to try out their infamous chocolate burger. Its like they made it just for me. I took along some fellow burger critics, although Persephone ordered chicken and Mike wasn't convinced...Gianni did share my love. Crispy bacon is incredible with a dark, rich chocolate sauce dripping over a burger patty. The patty itself was perfectly pink inside but a little too charred on the outside, but the chocolate sauce more than made up for it. I will return!

S L O W   C O O K E R   S T I C K Y   T O F F E E   P U D D I N G

It didn't take much encouraging to dust off my slow cooker for the season and have a whirl at making more recipes in it. I've not made any desserts or cakes in it before so thoroughly enjoyed creating this sticky toffee pudding for the guys over at Domu. Their slow cooker recipe hub is a great place for recipe inspiration. You'll find my recipe here. You know what I need to try next? Brownies!

L O S T   A N D   F O U N D   A F T E R N O O N   T E A,   B I R M I N G H A M

A little day trip to Birmingham to meet Emily and Amelia. We had brunch in Bar Opus, mulled wine in the Christmas market then onto Afternoon Tea at Lost and Found. I loved their cute teacups, glorious jam filled flapjacks and perfectly fluffy scones.

H O M E S L I C E

20 inch pizza? Yes please! Although the wait was almost an hour for three people at 6pm on a Friday, it was well worth it. Homeslice's menu only consists of wine, beer and pizza. Order by the slice or the full 20" to share. We went for half chorizo, corn and coriander and half pulled BBQ brisket with pickles. Wine also comes in a giant carafe, you pay what you drink when they measure it at the end

M U L L E D   C I D E R

You know you have the right friends when they appear at yours with cider, spices and camembert. Flick came over to bake one afternoon to bake loaded up all the essentials. This mulled cider was made with cranberries, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, a few spoons of brown sugar and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg. There's no real recipe, just leave the cider and spices to heat through and the sugar to dissolve. So good we forgot to bake the gingerbread we'd planned and left some chai brownies in the oven for 50 minutes...!

There's already so much baking planned for December, I can't wait for mince pies.

What's are your go to Christmas recipes?

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Food in September

September whizzed by in a flurry of food and meet ups. I got by, with a vitamin B12 deficiency and a bout of laringyitis. All the more reason to eat you say? Thank you very much!

I tried steamed buns for the first time and am absolutely hooked. Pork belly too. So much so, I'm looking forward to taking some more sweet buns this week. Last weekend, Persephone, Flick and I ventured over to Lewisham's Model Market. There we saw our favourite Mother Flipper but also these guys, Yum Bun. Soft plump steamed buns, tender pork and crisp cucumber with lashings of hoisin sauce. Awesome.

I'm feeling seasonal. It didn't take much, but I'm already excited to get baking with sweet potato, cinnamon and apples. Zomato hosted a little get together with Primrose Bakery to celebrate National Cupcake Week and to show off their new book. This sweet potato cake with brown sugar frosting is glorious and I can't wait to recreate it. I had a sneaky little flick through the book and fell in love with pretty much all the recipes. If I were to have a book, this is exactly how I'd want it. So as you can imagine, I was thrilled to hear I'd won a copy when its released in the next few days!

For months I've passed The Fire Station on the way to work and worried that their renovations would see it turn into a block of flats or hotel. When they finally reopened and revealed a new menu of burgers and stone baked pizzas, I grabbed Hannah and Flick and went to do research...! You need to know where's good for burgers within a 5 minute walk-radius of your office, right? The bun is gorgeously plump, the patties were tender and so much American cheese and maple bacon, I was in my element. They didn't scrimp on the fries either. Highly recommend this if you're near Waterloo. 

You may think I'm a little mad, but I booked train tickets up to Manchester just to try this place. Home Sweet Home have dominated my Twitter feed with their towering creations ever since I got Twitter. I went for the cookie monster which has a bright prink swirled sponge and cookies tucked in between each layer and Boy went for a hazelnutty chocolate creation. Far too sweet but great for a treat. We also stopped by Solita and absolutely loved their cheeseburger spring rolls.

And lastly, if you've been round these parts for a while you'll know just how much I love yogurt. Onken hosted a great party to mark the launch of their new Greek range. This included Greek Gods, a Dairy Grove where yogurts hung from trees and plenty of cocktails. They even made yogurt portraits of the X Factor judges, pretty impressive. I loved all of the flavours, particularly apple and cinnamon one.

Another monthly favourite of mine is Frankie's horroscopes, check out what's in store for you this October. Or just for a laugh, her clever infographic of what actually goes on in female toilets.

If you're still in the need for a little more seasonality then Emily's pumpkin spiced latte macarons should do the trick!

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