Burgers & sliders

By Jamie Oliver

This simple beef slider recipe shows you how to make mini burgers for a party. Filled with bacon, spicy mayo and pickles, this is truly epic party food!

Ingredients

• BURGER MIX
• 2 medium red onions
• olive oil
• 6 Jacob's crackers or 4 slices of bread, crusts removed
• 500g quality lean minced beef
• 1 large free-range egg
• 30g Parmesan cheese
• SPICY MAYO
• 2 teaspoons low-fat mayonnaise, made with free-range eggs
• 2 teaspoons fat-free natural yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon tomato ketchup
• a good pinch of smoked paprika or cayenne pepper
• ½ a lemon
• TO SERVE
• 6 rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
• 6 large or 18 small burger buns
• 1 soft round lettuce
• 4 tomatoes
• 6 gherkins
• a few pickled chillies

Instructions

1. 1

   You can make these burgers or sliders in an oven at full whack, on the barbecue or in a hot pan. If you’re using the oven or barbecue, preheat it now.

2. 2

   Peel and finely chop the onions. Put a splash of olive oil into a large frying pan on a low heat and add your onions. Fry for 10 minutes or until the onions have softened, then put to one side to cool completely.

3. 3

   Blitz your crackers or bread (remove the crusts first) in a food processor until you get a fine consistency. Oil a clean baking tray and put aside.

4. 4

   Put the cooled onions into a large bowl with the rest of the burger ingredients. Use clean hands to scrunch the mixture together really well, then divide into 6 equal balls for burgers and 18 equal balls for sliders.

5. 5

   Wet your hands and roll the balls into burger-shaped patties about 2cm thick. Place your burgers or sliders on the oiled baking tray and pat with a little olive oil. Cover them with clingfilm and put the tray into the fridge for at least an hour, or until the patties firm up.

6. 6

   This is a good time to make your spicy mayo, so put mayo, yoghurt, ketchup and smoked paprika into a bowl, squeeze in the lemon juice, mix well and put to one side.

7. 7

   If using a frying pan or griddle pan, put it on a high heat now and let it get really hot. However you decide to cook your burgers, they’ll want around 3 or 4 minutes per side – you may have to cook them in batches if your pan isn’t big enough.

8. 8

   When your burgers or sliders are nearly cooked on one side, add the rashers of bacon – whichever way you’re cooking them – then flip the burgers and cook the bacon until golden and crisp.

9. 9

   When the burgers are cooked to your liking and it’s all looking really good, halve your burger buns and warm them through. Put the bacon on a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain.

10. 10

    Click off the lettuce leaves, wash and spin dry. Slice the tomatoes and gherkins.

11. 11

    When everything comes together, pop your burgers or sliders on to their buns, add all your lovely toppings and your spicy mayo (you know how to put a burger together!), then tuck in with a lovely fresh salad, baked potato or potato wedges.