Now I have to admit this weeks top 5 is something of an after thought. After 10 months of writing weekly Top 5s my inspiration is drying up a little. I reckon I can finish the year but beyond that – who knows? Any requests or ideas would be very welcome.
I don’t think anyone need think to hard to guess what we had for dinner tonight. I was just clearing the plates away when my partner suggested this Top 5. I didn’t have a nice photo of a burger so you will have to content yourself with the remains of Mr 3’s. Be warned though 3 year olds and food are a messy combination.
The photo does give quite a few clues about this weeks top 5, although he’d eaten all his tomato by the time this was taken.
1. Tomato – Now various fast food restaurants would have you believe that you can eat a burger without tomato. Well I guess you can but frankly who would want to? Whether your burger is made from lentils, beef or chicken a couple of slices of tomato are a must and that’s even before you add any sauce! Personally I add tomato sauce both in the burger mix (when making lentil or beef burgers) and after cooking but then I do like my tomato sauce.
2.Beetroot – I suspect this is quite an Australian addition but in my world beetroot is a must. It needs to be the pickled variety and it needs to leave a slightly red stain on your fingers after eating. Incidentally an Australian ‘burger with the lot’ would also include egg but that’s stretching the vegetable thing a bit too far, fruits I can pretend are veg but eggs?…hmm, not really.
3. Cucumber – Like the beetroot, the cucumber should also be pickled, ideally with a bit of chilli for a slight tang. Even the evil fast food giants realise that pickles are good with burgers – shame they make neither good burgers nor good pickles to go with them…
4. Lettuce – You simply must have a bit of green with your burger and lettuce fulfills this role admirably. It is also very useful as if you overfill your bun, like I invariably do. If you wrap the lettuce around the ingredients it helps to hold it all together.
5. Onion – I was tossing up here between onions and carrots. I like a bit of grated carrot in my burger for sweetness but then I also like some fried onions for much the same reason. When I make burgers I always have both but for the purpose of this Top 5 I’ll go for the onions, for the decadence mainly – carrot would just be too healthy and virtuous and you are eating a burger after all…
I know that you’ll have your own favourites. I’d love to know what they are, and after that head over to the New Goodlife to check out her Top 5 for the week.
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Definitely onion ! What about top five vegetable burgers – it’s a good way of using up courgettes so I’m sure there are four more veg that would make good burgers out there.
Do you know aside from lentil burgers I haven’t really cooked any vegetable burgers although if you count fritters I make them all the time but I wouldn’t eat them between bread so I suspect they don’t count. Hmm now you’ve got me thinking…..
Interesting that you only consider something as a burger if it is eaten between bread.
Habit I guess…off to look up the definition of burger….
Try pickled onion in your burger sometime. It love that. And I’ve never heard of beetroot being an addition to burgers. I’d put avocado and sauteed mushrooms on my top five list. Of course I wouldn’t have tomatoes. Sadly. They really are my favorite on a burger, but I can’t eat them anymore. Oh and does mustard seed count as a veg? Maybe not, but I do love mustard.
Do you know I think I will allow mustard seed – good call! I’m not a fan of mushrooms, although other members of the household are so I should do some next time and yes definitely to the avocado – can’t think why I didn’t include them.
I must say I’m impressed with Mr 3, that food looks like it’s both still on the table, potentially even on a plate and has been eaten in part. I’d either have to photograph mine on the floor after Miss One has discarded it from her plate (granted she eats the vast majority of everything) or take a shot of a disassembled but not actually touched burger after Miss Three picks through the contents and then declares (I’M NOT HUNGRY).
As for the fillings agree, agree, agree, agree. The onion one only if it’s caramelized or onion relish, there is to be no crunchy onion!
Finally, I agree about losing steam on the lists.
I spend most of my time trying to ignore the fact that whilst Miss 6 almost always finishes everything on her plate regardless of what it is Mr 3 hardly ever eats dinner at all. His daily diet seems to consist of breakfast cereal, toast and cream cheese sandwiches plus fruit, cakes, lollies, biscuits, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and still frozen peas. Very little ‘proper’ food. I assume he’ll grow up one day. On this occasion he did marginally better than normal – 2 bites of burger, a bite of beetroot and 6 slices of tomato and any number of licks of sauce.
“His daily diet seems to consist of breakfast cereal, toast and cream cheese sandwiches plus fruit, cakes, lollies, biscuits, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks and still frozen peas.”
All of those foods you mentioned are ALL carbs which could lead to diabetes except the tomatoes. Every SINGLE one turns to sugar into the blood stream.
I am not trying to be “mean”. Just be careful.
I don’t let my 5 yr old eat too many carbs. If he is “not hungry” then he doesn’t get anymore “food” other than dinner.
Agree with 4 of the 5. Onion only if sauteed, I just cannot handle raw onion.
I do like raw onion but on a burger I always have it sautéed, I like the texture and the sweetness it brings.
We went to a restaurant recently that served a burger with wilted arugula and pac choi on it. And it was quite tasty! I have seen burger with egg on it over here. That would be enough protein for a day for me! I was thinking about posting a ‘top 5 things to do with kale’ but only came up with 4. I’m thinking I need to be more adventurous with my kale.
I frequently come up with 4 somethings and then get a little stuck. I don’t reckon i’d even get to 4 with Kale so I think you did well!
Roasted mild green chile, such as New Mexico or Fresno or Anaheim or Poblano. And that must be paired with cheese (yes I know, that’s not a veggie, nor is the optional bacon).
I’m a newish reader of your blog so I didn’t realize that you have been posting Top-5s for so long. Your inspiration always seems so fresh to me, I’ll have to go back and read up on the posts that I’ve missed.
Oh that would be a nice addition ditto the bacon – very decadent! I had issues germinating poblano chillies but I did manage to get one to grow so I can try this in a few months providing the thing fruits.
You know, I was wondering the other week how you manage to think up a new top 5 every time – 10 months! Well done.
Can’t say I do burgers much at our place. But you can’t go past tomato and lettuce and beetroot.
I’ve only recently started cooking burgers again and I have to say I quite like them, easy no one complains and they are cooked outside so I don’t have to clean the stove afterwards (clearly cleaning bbqs is mans work! he he he).
I usually do some tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers and greens with my burger, but never had beets in them. Onions taste really good in burgers, I mean raw sliced. Yes, you need to floss after that but don’t miss out on that taste.
Oh avocado! I know I was forgetting something – I do like some avocado with my burgers too.
Yum, pickled cucumber. I want to eat that jar full.
I love your Top 5 and am constantly amazed at and interested in what you pull out of the hat! Good choices for burger accompaniments, btw.
Personally, in a few weeks, when we get down to the new property, I am going to declare Tuesday as Zucchiniday. I am going to try to post weekly about zucchinis and invite others to as well , becasue, as we all know, they have a little bit of an image problem, yet they are easy to grow and yield – perhaps a little too many! I figure that I am going to have to rely on reliable crops like them while I get my self and the garden going and will need help on how to consume.
What do you think?
I do like you zucchini day – I usually don’t grow them but I am giving them a try this year so I would appreciate some inspiration regarding uses. I may even come up with a recipe eventually – you never know…
Lashings of fresh coriander
Would that be with ginger beer?
I love your top 5’s. I don’t know if you have done any of these before, but here are some suggestions: Top 5 tomato vaireties, Top 5 plants that are pionsonous to animals (we now have chickens) Top 5 animals that benefit from eating your vegetables (Pets not pests) Top 5 pests to look out for, Top 5 plants that keep pests away, (you can see my train of thought!) Top five chili varieties, Top 5 plum varieties, Top 5 frost tolerant plants/vegies (we live in a frost area), Top 5 plants that can be succssfully planted out of season, Top 5 strawberry varieties, Top 5 ways to use (insert garden vegetable/fruit here), you can ask for suggestions for everyone’s best recepes if you get stuck.
Fabulous suggestions! I will try and do tomatoes & chillies after this years season as I don’t think I’ve trialled enough varieties quite yet. The poison ones I will research and given we too are getting chooks soon I will be interested to see what I find. The Pests I have done but not plants to keep them away – I like that idea very much. I also like the idea of plums but I will have to buy them to try (and get them from mum) as I don’t grow them. Frost tolerant I will do – thankyou – good suggestion, ditto out of season. With all of these I should be going for awhile. Thankyou!!!!!
I for one would love to see you continue your Top 5’s! In our family, burgers are mostly a vehicle for condiments, but am fascinated by the addition of beets…
I agree regarding them being a vehicle for condiments – I feel much the same way about sausages.