Valentine kindly shared with us this recipe from his new book What to Eat Next, selecting this particular recipe as his choice for a hearty supper now that the seasons are changing. While this recipe calls for beef mince, Valentine recommends using deer mince for a delicious result.
Serves 2
- 300g good fatty beef or venison mince
- 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt, plus extra for seasoning
- a hearty splash of Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, plus extra for the toast
- 1½ tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 2 thick slices of sourdough bread, grilled or toasted
- softened unsalted butter, for spreading
- ground black pepper
- a handful of chopped chives, to garnish
- For the gravy
- 1 medium onion, halved and finely sliced
- 30g unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon demerara sugar
- ½ teaspoon tomato purée
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 200ml canned beef consommé (freeze what’s left)
- 100ml red wine
Squidge the mince, sea salt, Worcestershire sauce and mustard together in a bowl and form into 2 firm, flat, deep burger shapes- Now start to make the gravy. In a pan fry the onion in the butter until very soft and turning golden brown. Add the sugar and caramelize even more before stirring in the tomato purée. Stir, but allow this to catch a bit on the pan before adding the red wine vinegar and cooking for a further minute or so.
- Pour in the consommé and wine and simmer rapidly until the appearance of the gravy is only just syrupy rather than wet (this will take about 10 minutes), then season to taste and turn off the heat.
- In a medium nonstick frying pan, heat the sunflower oil enough that the burgers sizzle on entry and cook them to your desired doneness (about 4 minutes or so on each side over a medium-high heat).
- Rest the burgers, briefly, while you fry the eggs in the same pan and toast the bread. This would be a good time to reheat the sauce if need be.
- Butter the toast, scrape over a little more mustard and place the burgers on their platforms. Spoon over the onion gravy, crown with the eggs, sprinkle over the chives and season with a scratch of sea salt and black pepper.
