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Easter recipes

Build-it-yourself pickled fish mini pitas

Soup recipes

Tomato soup with egg ’n cheese toasties

25 minutes

Great value

Sweet basil and balsamic roasted tomato rigatoni

20 minutes

Mediterranean

Rikku O’Donnchü’s whole poached chicken in coconut, corn and coriander curry

1½ hours

Cheat recipes

15-minute puttanesca penne

15 minutes

Virgil Kahn’s beef burger with double-fried, hand-cut chips

Serves 2

Difficulty Medium

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cooking Time 1 hour

Ingredients

For the burger patties:

400 g beef mince with fat
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the roasted cherry tomatoes:

500 g ripe cherry tomatoes
½ head garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¾ salt
1 T red wine vinegar

For the caramelised onion:

1 red onion
50 g treacle sugar
2 T red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the roast onion cream cheese:

1 large white onion
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 T cream cheese

For the double-fried hand-cut chips:

2 potatoes
1 T white vinegar
vegetable oil, for frying
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
burger buns, for serving

Method

To make the burger patties, season the meat and work the mince using your hands for about 5 minutes to make the meat more pliable, then shape into 2 patties.
Cook in a pan until medium rare, 10-15 minutes.
To make the roasted cherry tomatoes, mix all the ingredients together in an oven tray and roast for 10 minutes at 120°C.
To make the caramelised onion, sauté the onion in a shallow, non-stick pan for 15–20 minutes. Add the sugar and vinegar and season. Cook for 2 minutes, or until caramelised.
To make the roast onion cream cheese, slice the onion, then sauté until dark golden brown. Season and mix with the cream cheese.
To make the chips, wash and cut the potatoes into chips. Blanch in lightly salted water with the white vinegar until soft but still firm, about 8–10 minutes.
Place on sheets of kitchen paper and allow to dry.
Heat the oil and fry the chips over a low heat until light golden. Remove from the oil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Fry again on a higher heat until golden and crispy.
Assemble the burgers and serve with the chips.

Cook's note: Virgin Kahn, head chef at Indochine at Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch, goes all out in the middle of the week. "This is my go-to burger when I'm home alone, with the kids at school and my wife at work. I spoil myself with an amazing burger, beer and a movie."

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Virgil Kahn’s beef burger with double-fried, hand-cut chips

Virgil Kahn’s beef burger with double-fried, hand-cut chips

Ingredients

Method