I hardly ever eat fast food these days, but a few weeks into a diet and what do I start craving? Burgers and chips. *sigh*  My brain is a funny place at times.  So when I spotted a recipe for burger and chips in Irresistible, the new quarterly food magazine from Weight Watchers UK, I was very keen to try it out and hopefully avoid any insane late-night to Burger King.

I’ve got to say, there’s nothing new in this recipe—it’s all in the portion sizes, you know—but it makes a splendid (and delicious) base recipe for whatever variations your own imagination can come up with.  I laced last night’s burger with plenty of garlic, oregano, parsley and a pinch of chilli flakes for an Italian feel, further cemented by serving it with a balsamic tomato salad.  Next time I’m thinking of Mexican-style burger with cumin, jalapeños and fresh coriander, topped off with some searingly hot tomato salsa.  Yum.

Burger and chips

Note: I never bother to peel the potatoes as I think wedges are tastier than ‘chips’ when cooked this way.  Plus, you keep all the vitamin C as that lurks just under the skin.

Serves 4
WW (UK) points per serving: 7

• 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunky chips
• low-fat cooking spray
• 400g extra-lean beef steak mince
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 4 burger buns
• salad, to garnish

To serve

• handful soft lettuce leaves
• thinly sliced red onion
• sliced gherkins
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add the chips and blanch for 1 1/2 minutes.  Drain.  Tip chips onto a large rimmed baking sheet and spray generously with low-fat spray.  Spread them apart and bake for 25 minutes, turning once or twice during cooking.

Mix the beef, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and some S&P together in a bowl.  Divide into four equal portions and shape into burger patties at least 2cm thick.

Fry burgers on medium heat in a large frying pan for about 10 minutes.  Leave to rest for a couple of minutes while you get everything else together.

And now… build your burger!  However you like it

This post is my contribution to Magazine Mondays, hosted by the lovely Ivonee from Cream Puffs in Venice.