The Big Burger Recipe | Food Diaries | Zarnak Sidhwa | Fast Food

Method:
For the big burger sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and chill until ready to use. To make the patties, season the mince with salt and pepper and form into 4 balls. Heat oil. Cook beef patties until cooked through. Carefully slice each burger bun into three across ways, then lightly toast. To assemble the burgers, spread a little big burger sauce over the bottom base. Top with some chopped onion, shredded lettuce, slice of cheese, beef patty and some pickle slices. Top with the middle bun layer, and spread with more big burger sauce, onion, lettuce, pickles, beef patty and then finish with more sauce. Top with burger lid to serve.

Method:
To make the sponges, beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add the lemon zest and juice, vanilla, semolina, almonds and poppy seeds, whisk to mix. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl to stiff peaks. Add to the other mixture and stir in well. Divide the mixture between 2 greased and lined tins, spread the top to smooth and bake at 180 degrees c for 20 minutes until springy to touch and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave the sponges to cool in the tins. Blend half the strawberries and the icing sugar to a smooth purée. Transfer to a saucepan and gently warm. Soak the gelatin in little water. Once gelatin has bloomed, stir it in. Mix well and pour into a bowl and let cool. Halve the remaining strawberries and trim so they’re the same length – so when they are sitting on the sponges, they don’t come above the top of the tin. Line up the strawberries all the way around the edge of one of the cakes, cut-sides flat against the side of the tin. When the purée is cool, fold through the whipped cream until evenly mixed, then pile into the tin, spreading to fill all the strawberry corners, and smooth the surface.
Remove the remaining sponge from its tin and, using a ruler or skewers and a small heart-shaped cutter, cut 8 hearts from alternating ‘squares’ – as if your sponge is divided into a 4 x 4 grid. Turn the cake onto the mousse to top, and peel away the paper. Gently press into the mousse to stick and chill for 5 hours or overnight to set. Just before serving, sieve the jam to remove any lumps, then use to cover the mousse in each heart hole – a small piping bag is good for this. Finish by cutting 8 squares of baking parchment the same size as your grid squares were. Sit over the 8 heart ‘squares’ and dust heavily with icing sugar. Carefully lift off the parchment squares, and serve immediately.