Amsterdam: The (h)Amsterburger

In Amsterdam the girls and I stayed in a lovely loft with a fully equipped kitchen and a view on the most enchanting little garden ever. The moment I stepped in our little pad, I had a feeling that I had to make some burgers for the lovely ladies and if I hadn’t come up with the idea, the girls would have forced me. The loft was given to us by Wimdu: a great website where you can hunt your own little pad in pretty much every cool city in the world and rent it for a desired period of time. It’s better than a hotel: it’s your own little cosy home on the move. For more pictures of our Amsterdam blogger pad check out Kim’s blogpost!

Ingredients for 2 servings:
2 “Vloerkadetten” (a typical Dutch bun)
Some lettuce (any kind you want)
taco’s
Dutch cumin cheese

For the burger:
300 gr of minced beef
1 small red onion
1 small clove of garlic
1 egg
extra fine breadcrumb
salt & pepper

For the guacamole
1 avocado
1 clove of garlic
1 tomato
a splash of fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper

For the salsa:
1 sweet pointed pepper
2 tomatos
1 small shallot
a pinch of thyme
a pinch of paprika powder
a pinch of cumin
a TS of olive oil
4 TS of tomato passata
salt & pepper

The burger: chop up the garlic and the shallot in tiny pieces, put them in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. (Make sure you chop up the garlic and don’t press it, pressing garlic gives a bitter taste to the meat.) Mix everything thoroughly. If your mixture is too moist add some extra breadcrumb for consistency, you want to get a sticky and firm paste. Roll the paste into meatballs and flatten them to get a real burger, you want a thickness of 2 cm. Put the burgers in the fridge.

The guacamole: Dice up the tomato, the less juice and seeds the better. Slice up the garlic. Slice the avocado and remove the pit. Put the avocado flesh in a bowl, add the garlic and tomato, give it a nice splash of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. Mix with a fork and not with a blender, you want the guacamole to be chunky!

The Salsa: Dice up your tomato like you have done for the guacamole. Slice up the point pepper and shallot. Put in a bowl, add all the other ingredients en mix with a spoon or fork, don’t blend!

Let’s build the burger! With the lack of a BBQ I used a grilling pan. Heat up your pan, grease it with some olive oil and grill the burgers for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
Top the base of the bun with salsa, top with a burger, then the guacamole, a slice of Dutch cumin cheese, another burger, again some salsa, some taco’s, at last again some guacamole and close it up! Ten storeys of pure pleasure!

Bon appétit!

Ts = tablespoon
ts = teaspoon