Entertain at home: Beef burgers with balsamic onions, mature cheddar and pickles
Who said burgers are only for weeknights? Take your burger game up a notch with this mouth-watering homemade hamburger recipe. Serve with a smooth Spier Pinotage.
Serves 4
You’ll need: For the balsamic onions – 15ml butter; 15ml olive oil; 2 onions, peeled & thinly sliced (not chopped); 4 sprigs thyme, stalks discarded; 45ml balsamic vinegar; 30ml brown sugar; salt & pepper to taste.
For the burgers – 600-800g best quality ground beef mince; butter, for frying & spreading; 4 large sesame buns, sliced horizontally; best quality mayonnaise, for spreading; finely sliced lettuce, for topping; sliced mature cheddar cheese, for topping; a few pickled gherkins/ cucumbers, finely sliced, for topping; golden roasted potato wedges/ chips, for serving (optional).
How to:
Make the balsamic onions: in a large wide pot, heat the butter and oil and add the onions and thyme. Fry for about 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring often until the onions are soft and start to brown (don’t rush this).
Continue to fry until they start to go golden brown but not too dark. Turn up the heat to high, then add the balsamic and brown sugar and stir well. Fry, stirring, until the vinegar reduces to a syrup that just coats the onions. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Fry the patties: divide the mince into four equal parts and shape it into a wide disk that is a little wider than your buns (it will shrink in the pan). Flatten the middle of each patty a little more.
Heat the butter in a large pan and fry the patties on each side until they have a nice dark crust on the outside and are just pink in the middle, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Remove from the pan and let them rest for about 3 minutes before serving.
Prep the buns: spread the insides of the buns with butter and give them a quick toast in a pan or the oven under the grill. Spread the bottom halves with mayonnaise and top with shredded lettuce, then top with the freshly cooked patties, sliced cheese and pickles. Serve at once, with or without potatoes with a glass of Spier Signature Pinotage.
About the wine:
This classic South African Pinotage offers a generous bouquet of dark cherries, juicy plums and hints of cinnamon with smooth and silky tannins.
Also pairs well with pork with a fruity barbecue sauce, lamb chops or burgers with caramelised onions.
* Recipe & image by Spier.
