On location in SC - Friday night is burger night!

It's not unusual to have a houseful of guests and this weekend my friend's son-in-law has friends arriving and they're off to the Carolina Panthers game tomorrow. The only problem is that they arrive at different times and from different directions – some to the airport, some by road – but both are subject to delay.

All the more reason to make sure we have food ready and my suggestion is burgers – I can make them ahead of the game.

If I had a pound, or in this case dollar, for every burger I've made over the years I'd be a rich girl! Here's the tried and tested recipe which, by the way, makes excellent meatballs too.

Burgers

Makes 5 x 100g burgers

500g minced beef, pork or turkey

*salt and black pepper

*garlic – either 2 tsps of paste or 2 cloves, crushed

*mixed herbs or garlic italian seasoning – a generous sprinkle

*half a tsp of chilli

*heaped tbsp of tomato paste

*1 egg

sprinkle of plain flour

Rapeseed or vegetable oil for shallow frying

Place the mince in a large mixing bowl then add the remaining ingredients marked *, mix well. At this point your mixture may be too wet. If it is, sprinkle a little plain flour over the mixture and fold in gently.

The easiest way of making uniform burgers is to weigh whatever amount you wish – 50g or 100g depending on size of appetites - with damp hands. Using a large frying pan, heat the oil gently and seal the burgers on both sides.

At this point you have a choice, you can continue to cook the burgers in the pan or you can transfer to an oven-proof dish and pop into a pre-heated oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 20 minutes.

Serve on burger buns or a brioche version, toasted – add a cheese slice for a cheeseburger with dill pickles and salsa. Wrap in a square of greaseproof paper and a serviette – your very own fast food!

I made 12 burgers of various sizes to suit all appetites and they all disappeared. What worked really well was that each person could take whatever they wished. You know what it's like when you've been travelling - you are absolutely ravenous and whatever you serve it needs to be quick!