Mighty Meaty
Burger Salad
A small portion makes a great starter course while a more hefty serving is a filling main course. Serve burger salad either way and just enjoy!
Why is it a “burger salad”? Because all the ingredients are what you’d use to assemble a burger sandwich — bread, lettuce, patty, tomatoes and cucumbers.
Inspired by cheeseburger salad recipes that proliferate on food blogs, the creaminess of the salad dressing would have made the addition of cheese too over-the-top.
And what’s the salad dressing? Mayo with roasted garlic. So simple to make yet so big on flavors. You don’t need to make your own mayo either. Just get good quality mayo from the grocery, roast some garlic, mash and mix with the mayo.
The part about roasting the garlic, you have to do by yourself. But don’t worry because it’s as easy as A-B-C.
And the burgers? Are the patties from the frozen section of the grocery? Well, you may take that route. But the burgers that I diced for this salad was made by Alex. Ground beef mixed with her choice of herbs, spices and seasonings.
Won’t that look lovely on your holiday dinner table?
Note to self: Thinly sliced onions should form part of the ingredients of the burger salad.
Burger Salad
Ingredients
For the roasted garlic mayo dressing
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 drizzle olive oil
- 1/2 cup mayo
- lemon juice to taste
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
For the salad
- 2 to 3 burgers (see notes after the recipe)
- 1 bunch Romaine lettuce (the size of the bunch should be enough for four people)
- 3 to 4 plump tomatoes rinsed well and patted dry with a kitchen towel
- 1 to 2 cucumbers rinsed well and patted dry with a kitchen towel
- 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups croutons (see noted after the recipe)
Instructions
Make the dressing
- Start by making the dressing to give the flavors time to develop. Peel the garlic, lightly pound then place in a small bowl and drizzle in just enough olive oil to moisten.
- Heat an oil-free pan and roast the garlic over low heat until soft, lightly browned and aromatic. Cool.
- Mash the cooled garlic on a plate with the back of a fork. Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle.
- Place the mashed garlic in a bowl. Add the mayo and mix. Add a teaspoonful of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Taste. Add more lemon juice, salt and pepper to suit your taste. Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge.
- (Note that the thickness of the dressing depends a lot on the quality of your mayo. If the dressing is still too thick after sufficient lemon juice has been added, do not be tempted to thin it out with more lemon juice. If you do, the dressing may turn out too tart. Thin out the dressing by adding milk or its vegan equivalent.)
Make the salad
- Rest the burgers for 10 minutes after cooking. Cut into bite size pieces. Set aside.
- Rinse the lettuce well. Tear into bite size pieces then dry in a salad spinner.
- Cut the tomatoes into one-inch cubes.
- Split the cucumbers into halves lengthwise, scoop out and discard the seeds (skip the scooping part if you'd rather keep the seeds). Cut the cucumbers into one-inch cubes.
- On a platter, arrange all the salad ingredients in rows.
- Drizzle the dressing over the burger salad and serve. Excess dressing may be served on the side.
Notes
