A delicious gathering at Cheval Three Quays

We held a fabulous event in partnership with House of Kooser last night at the glorious Cheval Three Quays! We had sparkling wine, great conversation and delicious nibbles courtesy of John Gregory-Smith! John is a fabulous globetrotting chef inspired by the discovery of new dishes from the far corners of the globe.

Get that Friday feeling with this wonderfully spiced burger straight from John’s fantastic new book ‘Mighty Spice Express’. Available now at all good bookshops.

The Bosporus Burger

SERVES 2

1 small handful of parsley leaves
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp chilli powder
300g minced beef
1 tbsp olive oil
55g blue cheese
4 tbsp mayonnaise
¼ lemon
2 burger buns
1 handful mixed lettuce leaves
sea salt

Finely chop the parsley and chuck it into a large mixing bowl. Add the paprika, cumin, ground ginger, chilli powder, minced beef and a really good pinch of salt. Mix everything together really well – I find that squeezing the mix together in your fists works best.

Divide the beef mixture into 2 portions and flatten each one into a burger. Push your thumb into the top of each burger to create a little indent, which will help the burgers to cook evenly.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the burgers, indented side facing up. Cook for 4 minutes, then turn the burgers over, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for another 3 minutes. Top each burger with half the blue cheese and cook for 1 minute, or until the burgers are cooked through and wonderfully juicy and the cheese has just melted.

While the burgers cook, put the mayonnaise in a mixing bowl and squeeze in the juice from the lemon. Add a pinch of salt and mix well. Split the burger buns in half and spread the mayonnaise evenly over the base of half of each. Divide the lettuce leaves over the mayo’d buns. Add the cooked burgers, put the top of the buns on the burgers and tuck in straight away.