Rectangular Burgers

This weekend, I had an extra shift at work. This meant that I had to condense the activities of a weekend into one day; the day included a four hour trawl of clothes shopping, featuring every pair of jeans in every shop, a bout of dying my hair orange (mostly on purpose) and a night of drinking and dancing. This did not leave time for much blogging or, indeed, any cooking.

My Sunday shift ran from ten till six, which also meant no time for breakfast and, as it turned out, no time for a lunch break. I emerged on the other side of it sporting a somewhat zombie-like expression, and absolutely starving (possibly for brains). The train journey to the G man’s flat was laced with anticipation: what would be for dinner? The G man, true to his nature, did not disappoint.

Rectangular burgers, with fries and salad and, as if that wasn’t enough,a plate of sauteed mushrooms turned up moments later. To say it hit the spot would be an understatement. It obliterated the spot. In fact, when the spot saw this dinner, it hid.

In between mouthfuls (or it may have been during), I asked what was in the burgers. The G man said they were just minced beef, salt, pepper, olive oil and an egg, shaped and fried. Admittedly my appetite was sharpened by a deficit of meals to the tune of two, but really, this was a fine burger.

I think this demonstrates the fact that it pays to make food simply, but well. We piled the salad on our burgers and added a variety of condiments. My choice was the classic ketchup and American mustard – French’s Smooth and Spicy, to be exact, which looks more like a mix of wholegrain and dijon than the luminous yellow of your generic American mustard. Here it is, peeking out from under the ketchup:

There was also a generous portion of cheddar on the burgers, already melting in a little bit, making itself comfortable. The end result was a bit of a Scooby Snack but we managed admirably. Except when I squirted a mix of ketchup and mustard right down my tee and on my new jeans.

I didn’t even care.