"Awesome!"

I have to say that in our household we are not really cutting edge with the latest technology.  Partly a deficit of money and partly due I guess to our age, we often find ourselves several years behind the latest trend.  I remember taking delivery of my new computer in 2002 which was the size of a small house, and on the advice of a friend I connected to the Internet.  I just used to sit in front of it and wonder what on earth I was meant to do with it. E-mail was alien enough, let alone blogging. I had never even heard of it. Ten years later, I have just about got my head around blogging and everybody else has moved on to Twitter.


So when I tell you that Hugh has a new addiction, you can guarantee it is a bit out of date.  He has discovered Man versus food, probably about  four years later than most people and has been watching it obsessively on Dave on Monday nights, raving about  the fantastic food in America, especially the sandwiches.   Due to our lack of SKY he only discovered the channel Food Network UK a few weeks ago but now that he has, he seems to be able to watch Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives pretty much solidly, every night.  And now my life is a constant barrage of requests for burgers, pulled pork, Texan chicken hash, smoked beef brisket and every sandwich you can imagine - Po' Boys, Ruben's, Clubs, Bahn-mi, Hoagies and Philly Cheese Steaks.  Guy, the presenter says "awesome" in every sentence, about the same amount of times as most English people say "You know what I mean".  First there is a quick run through on how each dish is made.  The ingredients always seems to be the same no matter what it is they are making; salt, sugar, vinegar, ketchup (containing salt, sugar and vinegar) and barbecue sauce (also containing salt, sugar and vinegar) feature heavily.  Then a huge amount of meat, is piled into some receptacle, be it Ciabatta, French bread, a taco, a sub roll, or a tortilla for example and then it is covered in more sauce, usually containing salt, sugar, vinegar, tomato ketchup and barbecue sauce and then Guy attempts to get as much as is humanly possible in his mouth in one go before proclaiming it "awesome!".  


I have to admit, a lot of those sandwiches look great.  I have already given the Rubens a pretty good attempt and I also make a fine Falafel Sandwich.  I have confronted all sorts of wraps from Chicken Shawarma to Chipotle Spiced Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chilli Tortilla, but to shut Hugh up, I decided to give my hamburgers a re-assessment, just to make sure that they were as good as they could possibly be.  

First I started with the burger.  I did a bit of research and just as I thought, true burger fans would not settle for anything in their burgers apart from top quality beef and a little seasoning.  Nothing else because the beef should speak for itself!  I used the best I could find - organic, 28 aged Aberdeen Angus beef.  Next the burger bun.  I went for a nice floury bap which I lightly grilled before using.  Ciabatta works well but steer clear of the ready made burger buns as they tend to be a bit lame.  Next, the filling.  I wanted avoid all the usual, commercial sauces. I wanted something fresher and cleaner.  So I opted for a home-made cherry tomato, chilli and avocado salsa with lime and coriander for zing.  I also chose some char-grilled fresh red onion, a little salad and finally a slice of swiss cheese.  Why?  Because those are my favourites.  In my considered opinion, that is what works best for me.  And that is what is so great about cooking a burger at home.  Because you can choose exactly what you like.  So all I needed now was some large guy to turn up and try and eat the whole thing in about three mouthfuls and declare it "awesome!".

Cherry Tomato, Chilli, Avocado and Coriander Salsa  
This is identical to one of my favourite salads.  I just chopped everything a lot smaller and added a little more chilli.

One clove of garlic (very finely chopped)

Two Fresh Red Chilli (very finely chopped)

2 spring onions (finely sliced)
200g cherry tomatoes (quartered)
2 ripe avocados (pealed and chopped into large bite size pieces)
Juice of one or two limes
Bunch of Coriander (very finely chopped)
Glug of Olive Oil
Good pinch salt
Freshly ground pepper

Mix garlic, chilli, lime juice and olive oil together.  Season well.  Stir in rest of ingredients.  Make sure avocado is well coated in lime juice to avoid discolouration.