Burgers With Home-Pickled Green Tomatoes and Smashed Garlic and Parsley Potatoes

In February, I ate one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten.

It was in Romania at a craft beer bar called Ironic. There was a small concession stand in the corner slinging out what they dubbed “Romanian burgers.”

Romania in the winter is freaking cold. It was -10°C (14°F) outside and as often happens with countries that pride themselves on seasonal food, there was little in the way of fresh local produce.

But they do have pickles. And if burgers love anything more than cheese, it’s pickles.

The star of this burger — along with the local Trascau cheese — was its pickled green tomatoes that had been picked and pickled some months before. The hit of acid and sweetness gave a welcome jolt of energy to my palate which had seen little more than soups and sausages for weeks.

mo.bucharest

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I dream about that burger. And I love making pickles.

Which is why when I saw green tomatoes in my local greengrocers here in Porto, I thought it was time to re-create the Ironic Romanian Burger, homemade pickled green tomatoes and all.

Ready to be pickled

And where burgers lead, potatoes follow.

I could have made fries but I was thinking of something fancier. Plus I had some small potatoes in the bottom of the fridge that needed using up.

So I smashed them.

If you’ve not tried smashed potatoes before, they’re like magic thanks to a wider, craggier surface area that sucks up oil and transforms into a golden crispy crunchy mess in the oven.

I may never make potatoes another way again.

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Every element of the Ironic burger adds a different dimension. This is how it’s made up:

• Brioche = sweetness

• Mustard-mayo sauce = acidity and creaminess

• Pickled green tomato = acidity and texture

• Cheese and patty = fat and texture

• Red onion and lettuce = freshness

When it came to making the Ironic burger here in Porto, I made some substitutions based on these elements:

• I swapped mustard-mayo sauce for a hot-mayonnaise sauce

• Trascau cheese is similar to Gouda, which is also hard to procure here. So I swapped it for another hard, fatty cheese — mature cheddar

• I don’t like the sweetness of brioche buns so I swapped them for generic-brand white burger buns.

You’ll find more burger variations — like every week — under the recipe.

Burgers with home-pickled green tomatoes and smashed garlic potatoes

The pickled tomatoes

• 2 large green tomatoes, sliced into 1/5 inch thick rounds (around 800g / 1.75lbs)