Food & Drinks

Delicious and ready in half an hour: the Surf & Turf burger

Ask me about my ultimate guilty pleasures and I'll tell you: 1. cheese platters, 2. red velvet cake, and 3. burgers. Zooming in on the last one: not a standard piece of frozen meat, no, a real hamburger. With a nice dollop of sauce on the side, because that's essential. And preferably from Hellmann’s, because that is -duh- the tastiest there is.

In the context of we-are-going-to-cook-more, I just shoved the recipe below under my partner's nose. Burgerz has come up with a hamburger that makes many meat lovers drool spontaneously. Behold: the Japanese surf & turf burger. On brioche buns, with Hellmann’s sauce, fried glass noodles, and tiger shrimp marinade. I saw it pass by with our friends from Munchies and suddenly I have an urge to cook. So, do you really want to score points with your lover, family, and/or friends? This is how you whip up five chef-worthy burgers in no time. Bet that everyone will come to eat? I certainly will.

Servings: 5
Preparation: 30 min.
Cooking: 10 min. for medium/rare burgers

For the burgers:
1 kg ground beef
5 soft brioche buns
1 red onion
1 head of romaine lettuce
Pepper and salt

For the nori mayonnaise:
300 ml Hellmann’s mayonnaise
1 lime
3 sheets of nori (sushi sheets)
6 tsp sesame oil
Coarse sea salt

For the tiger shrimp marinade:
10 tiger shrimp, peeled and deveined
100 ml soy sauce
80 ml honey
2 cloves of garlic
Ginger the size of a thumb tip

For the fried glass noodles:
75 g glass noodles
Pinch of chili powder

Preparation:

  1. Finely chop the garlic and ginger (without skin) and place them in a bowl or dish. Add the soy sauce and honey and mix everything well together. Add the peeled tiger shrimp and let them marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  2. Then preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Lay the 3 nori sheets next to each other, drizzle each nori sheet with 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, and roast them in the oven for 8 minutes. God, this is already going to be delicious.
  3. Then grind the roasted nori sheets into small pieces in a food processor or chop them into small pieces with a knife and place them in a bowl. Add the Hellmann’s mayonnaise, the juice of 1 lime, and a pinch of coarse sea salt to taste. Mix everything well together (I'm getting hungerrrrr...).
  4. Heat the deep fryer or a frying pan with a thick layer of sunflower oil and fry the glass noodles in 5 small batches very briefly until they float to the top. Let them drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle them with chili powder until they have a nice white-red color.
  5. Cut the brioche buns in half and toast them briefly (3-4 minutes) in the oven until they are lightly crispy. Then cut the red onion into thick rings and remove the hearts (the inner rings).
  6. Divide the kilo of ground beef into 5 parts, roll them into meatballs, and gently flatten them until nice burgers form. Cook these on a grill plate or in a frying pan with a small splash of oil on both sides for 4 minutes over medium heat until medium done, and add pepper and salt to taste.
  7. Place a second pan on the heat, remove the tiger shrimp from the marinade, and cook them for 3 minutes on each side over medium heat, then turn off the heat.
  8. Now it's time for the burger. Top the bottom of the buns with a bit of lettuce and a few onion rings. Place the burgers on top. Add a tablespoon of nori mayonnaise on each burger and then place 2 tiger shrimp, the fried glass noodles, and the top of the bun on each burger.

Okay, it seems like a lot, but it really can be done in half an hour. And then you have a star-worthy, awesome burger on your plate. Bon appétit!