You may have noticed from my recent blog posts that I’ve been getting back into the kitchen over the past few weeks. I’m actually planning to renovate my kitchen in January, as we haven’t done anything much with it since we moved in. But in the meantime I’ve been using some new gadgets to help me prepare meals in my kitchen, and today’s post is a combination of a frying pan review and the Italian-inspired burger recipe I made with it.
This burger is a delicious combination of all my favourite flavours; tomato, garlic, herbs, olives, peppers, and beef, of course. I’ve stacked it high with crispy Italian salami and pepperoni, and a heap of sauteed onions and peppers in a crisp bun. I had to use a bamboo skewer to hold it all together and I could barely get my hand around it to eat the burger! 
The pan I was testing out with this recipe is a rather unusual pan. You may have seen frying pans with compartments that are designed to be used on a gas hob, but this one IS the hob. Yep – the pan plugs in! The underside of the pan surface heats up and becomes a hotplate for cooking on. So now there’s no need to have an oven if you want to fry off an egg or cook bacon for breakfast – just plug in the pan and cook.
The product is the Goodmans Multi Frying Pan, available exclusively at B&M stores for £29.99. It’s got six separate cooking compartments so I was able to brown my burgers, sautee my onions and peppers, fry off the salami and warm through the burger buns all in one pan. I was surprised at just how quickly it got up to temperature after switching it on, and my burgers were sizzling away in no time. 
Here’s how to make the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
400g mince beef (makes about 6 medium burgers or 3 large ones like this!)
1/2 cup of chopped pimento-stuffed olives
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
1 tablespoon of dried grated parmesan cheese
1 slice of salami and 1 slice of pepparoni per burger
1 burger bun
1 large tomato
1 large onion
2 roasted peppers from a jar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
I got all of my ingredients (except from the mince) from my local B&M store when I bought the frying pan. The burger buns are a pack of 4 part-baked rolls so I pre-baked these before warming through on the pan. 
METHOD
In a large bowl, mix the mince with the parmesan, garlic paste, tomato puree, chopped olives, herbs and seasoning. Squish it together until it is thoroughly mixed and combined into a large ball.
Divide into burger patties. I chose to make 3 extra-thick burgers, but this quantity of mince would easily make 4 big burgers or 6 medium burgers.
Heat a little olive oil in the pan or use some rapeseed oil for cooking off the burgers. Brown the burgers for 10 minutes on each side, turning every 5 minutes. 
While the burgers are sizzling, slice up an onion and two roasted red peppers and then fry off in a little olive oil until the onions are soft and golden.
Add slices of pepperoni and salami to the pan and fry a little to make them crisp and brown.
Warm the burger buns on the hot plate for a short while before stacking them with vine tomato slices, then the burger, a couple of slices of pepperoni and salami and top with the softened onions and red pepper slices.
For an extra treat, you could tear some mozzerella over the top before adding the lid of the bun. Serve with some baby leaf salad and extra onions on the side. I got my colourful, summery dinner plates from The Caravan Trail – the design is called Harbour Sands.
Let me know if you have a go at making this recipe by leaving me a comment below and share how you got on with it making your own. Enjoy your Italian-inspired burger!
Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂
