Hey I was rereading the Edge books and your burger recipe with rice? Since many of us might be stretching our meat as well, can you post that recipe?
Laura
Okay, so this is a regional Russian recipe that happened when Southern Russians decided to merge the traditional Russian cutlet with Lula Kebab from Caucasus. You can make it easy or slightly more complicated.
1 lbs ground beef
1 -1 1/2 cup cooked rice. You are aiming for the same quantity of rice and meat by volume. They should be mixed roughly 50/50.
1 egg
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to your preference. I usually add enough pepper as if I were eating the whole thing.
Bread crumbs
Oil for frying
Mix spice into the meat. Add cooked rice, mix together. Add the egg and thoroughly work it into the mix. Really mix it in.
Heat about 1/3 inch of oil in the pan on medium. Form oblong hamburgers – they are easier to hold in hand than round ones. Dip each hamburger in bread crumbs so it’s covered on both sides. Fry in oil, first on one side, then on the other until done.
I usually fry for about 3-4 minutes per side. When it gets done, depends on the thickness of the hamburger, but usually when the bottom is nice and brown, it’s time to flip. I would do a sacrificial test hamburger. It shouldn’t be pink in the middle when you cut it. If your hamburger is brown on the outside but pink on the inside, cover the pan with a lid while cooking, to heat it through, but make sure to cook without a lid for the final minute, so it won’t turn out soggy.
Serve with ketchup or pickled onion. To make pickled onion, cut the onion into thin strips, add your favorite vinegar and a pinch of sugar, and let stand for a couple of hours or overnight.
These hamburgers are very good fresh. But they really shine as leftovers. The crispy coating dries and keeps the hamburger moist. When the kids were little, I would leave the plate on the middle shelf in the fridge and then I would see them running outside to play in the yard, hamburger in hand. It’s a meal in one and it doesn’t require a bun.
If you are feeling more adventurous, here is a recipe for Russian cutlets. This requires a meat grinder, or since we are in US, a meat processor. If you don’t want to bother, substitute onion powder for the fresh onion.
1 lbs of ground meat, any type, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, meat substitute if it can stick together. Whatever you want to get rid of.
2-3 slices of day old bread
1/2 cup milk or water
1 small onion
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of garlic
1 egg
Bread crumbs
In a bowl pour milk or water over the bread, set aside for 5 minutes. Meanwhile pulse the onion in a food processor as small as you can get it. In a bowl mix meat, onion and spices. Crumble the soaked bread and add it in there. Add egg. Smoosh everything. In Russia, everything would go through meat grinder.
Follow the Edge burger cooking method.
These guys have a different texture. The cooked rice ends up being crispy. The traditional cutlets are basically tiny fried meatloaves and they taste exactly like it.
What I posted are the base recipes. Feel free to experiment. If you liked smoked paprika, try adding that. If you want to try it with ground turkey instead of beef, go for it.
Best of luck! If you want other in-book recipes, let me know.
PS. You can see how tired I am by the amount of typos. Sorry.
Thanks so much for all the cheer in these troubled times!
Well, I adore the egg sandwiches from Innkeeper, why not? =)
I love egg sandwiches! They are my go to when I don’t know what to have for breakfast / lunch / dinner. Somehow I missed that recipe in the books. Can you point me in the right direction.
It’s the first book, when Sean is smoking the ribs to hide the stink of boiling the alien beasts to find their trackers. Dina is making egg sandwiches and Sean steals one. Chopped hard-boiled egg & Miracle Whip, But the trick was frying the bread slices in butter, then rubbing them with a cut garlic clove. I don’t remember what else from the original recipe. It’s also highly flexible. We’ve done things like added some shred cheese, or some crumbled bacon, just depending on what we had in the fridge at the time. They’re really good!
Ilona, maybe you’d be willing to re-post the original in full? I looked, and it’s not under your Food subject. Thanks!
I would love this full recipe too! I haven’t been able to find it either!
I am almost certain she’s posted that recipe in an earlier blog post if you want to go hunting for it!
Yes, they are tasty all right.
These look great, except I’m allergic to all things onion/garlic. Any suggestions on what could be used as a substitution?
we never used onion and garlic, it’s fine as long as you do use some spices -> comment on the one with bread since that one is usually made in Croatia as well 🙂
Just don’t put them in. 🙂
Mmmm:)
I’ve always wanted Jim Shrapshire’s recipe for Beef Wellington in Magic Strikes ????
If you want to add other flavor, I find chopped fresh herb works well in these kinds of things. Depending on your taste, italian parsley or cilantro, could go for chives (if that isn’t a too close a relative to your allergies) or even rosemary and thyme!
Thank you Ilona Andrews for posting the two recipes.
I am allergic to onions too. Inherited from my father. Sigh. But I make something similar to first recipe and just leave onions out. It’s is tasty.
Yes I made/ concocted the egg sandwiches from innkeeper 1. Do not remember where I got recipe from— I think was a blog post many moons ago.
I don’t know if this would be helpful to you, but I struggle with onions, & substituting shallots seems to work for my gi track. Mine isn’t a clear allergy tho, so might not be the same. How are you with green onions? But then I haven’t explored low fodmap diets much myself. My coworker who must be low fodmap or bust uses a garlic-infused olive oil from Trader Joe’s. She still misses onion & garlic, but gets a hint of it with the oil.
FWIW, some Indian (India) vegetarians won’t eat onions, and use ground asafeotida instead. From Madhur Jaffrey’s book “Curries to Kebabs”:
“Asafetida. The sap from the roots and stem of a giant fennel-like plant dries into a hard resin. It is sold in both lump and ground form…It has a strong fetid aroma and is used in very small quantities both for its legendary digestive properties and for the much gentler, garlic-like aroma it leaves behind after cooking…Store in a tightly closed container.”
Ooh! These look awesome. Thanks for sharing them!
Doing Edge burgers tonight ???? thanks so much. Would love Kate’s sausage recipe!
Omg and passion cones!! Pretty please ????
+1 Yes! Those! Although, I’d understand if it isn’t a real recipe. ????
I am addicted to your food scenes, thank you so much for these two recipes-I’d love your apple pie recipe with Immortality apples, please and thank you!
Also, not a recipe but a question that obsesses me- when Neva orders Carpaccio at Takara, is it a Korean/Japanese take on Carpaccio, or the same as an Italian one? ????
Yes please- Kates Apple Pie for me as well ????
This is great!! I’ve been wondering about this recipe – thank you!!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks — I have ground beef at last (the stores were out for the last week of almost all meat.) I tend to get a big package and freeze half but it was looking pretty scary until someone posted online that my grocery store had meat this morning. I admit I was tempted to stock up since my freezer has room but I got my usual amount because I don’t want others going without.
I would like to have the chocolate mousse recipe that Nevada made for Rogan
There’s tons of mousse recipes, but this one is from a friend of mine in California who has consulted for the Food Network. Her recipe is called, “Chocolate Mousse. The One. The Only. Great and Powerful Mousse.” =)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter.
1 1/2 cup sugar
4oz unsweetened bitter chocolate
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1) Cream butter well with sugar.
2) Melt Chocolate, and add it and Vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture.
3) With an electric mixer set on HIGH, or a brace of enthusiastic teenagers, add the eggs, ONE at a time, taking a full five minutes to incorporate each egg before adding the next one. That is 20 minutes total. This is the secret to the whole thing. DO NOT SKIMP.
4) Turn out into a pie crust or small serving cups, and chill for at least an hour before serving. IF you can stand the wait.
Speaking from experience, if you do a half portion of this recipe (like I did my first time making it), then you still go the full 20 minutes mixing time because it really is the key to the whole thing. She also noted that you can double the chocolate for a ‘truly decadent experience.’ This really is a great mousse, I highly encourage anyone to try it. =)
the problem with this recipe, and most mousse recipes, is that it has raw eggs in it. Most people (myself included) no longer will serve raw eggs (especially to my 21 month old granddaughter. I make chocolate mousse without eggs.
Just keep in mind if you are concerned about salmonella, just wash the egg before you crack it. Years ago i was visiting my aunt and she made a cake. I asked who was gojng to fight me for bowl licking priviledges and she said “oh we don’t lick the bowl, there are raw eggs in it.” I reminded her how many times she consumed items with raw eggs growing up, and then asked how often she came down with Salmonella.
One of my favorite recipes has raw egg yolks. I make it, i eat it, and it never makes me sick.
It’s not just the shell that can be contaminated with Salmonella; the inside of the egg can be contaminated before the shell is formed. Salmonella is serious, and can be life threatening for certain people (elderly, children, immuno-compromised). All it takes is once. You can go years and not have a problem, but that one time…..
The fastest way to make chocolate mousse is to get chocolate pudding mix (like Jello) and use heavy cream. For the milk measurement, use about 1/4 cup less of the cream. Mix it to the recipe on the box. Put plastic wrap or parchment paper directly over the mousse and refrigerate for a few hours or over night. Yummy mousse! 🙂
Egg-Free Chocolate Mousse (serves 4-5, or makes ~40 mini-muffin size)
8 oz (224 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup (295 g) sugar
2/3 cup (75 g) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz (85 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1/8 cup (30 ml) strong coffee OR ⅛ tsp (0.5 g) espresso powder
1 cup (236 ml) whipping cream, whipped to form firm peaks
Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Mix in cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, chocolate and coffee until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Chill 2 hours before serving.
Serve with raspberry sauce and softly whipped unsweetened cream.
Or, line two 24-portion mini-muffin pans with plastic wrap. Spoon or pipe mousse into muffin cups. Cover tin with another layer of plastic wrap before flash freezing. When solid, roll up the whole thing. Store in freezer in a gallon freezer bag up to 6 months. Plate straight from the freezer before serving dinner, then leave on the kitchen counter — portions should be at the proper temperature by the time you’ve cleared the last course!
Raspberry Sauce
10 oz. (280 g) bag of frozen raspberries
2 tsp (10 ml) cornstarch
1/2 cup (120 ml) current jelly
Crush raspberries. Combine in a small saucepan with cornstarch and jelly. Cook and stir over medium heat until clear. Strain to remove seeds, then cool.
Raspberry Coulis #1
400 g raspberries
1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
2 Tbsp (30 ml) honey
1 Tbsp (15 ml) creme fraiche
Press berries through a sieve to remove seeds. Mix the resulting puree with remaining ingredients, stirring until smooth.
Raspberry Coulis #2
2 cups (10 oz., 283 g) raspberries
2 tsp (10 ml) sugar
1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
Combine ingredients in blender. Puree, then strain out seeds.
Créme Fraiche (Makes 1 ½ cups)
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup buttermilk/sour cream/sour milk/yoghurt
Stir well in a glass container. To make firm crème fraiche, let sit in a warm place six hours before refrigerating.
I’ve also piped the mousse into little chocolate liqueur cups, then injected a little raspberry sauce/coulis into each one — it still freezes beautifully, and is wonderful for cocktail parties or pot luck dinners.
I also have a link for pasteurizing eggs yourself before you cook them… One sec. https://bakingbites.com/2011/03/how-to-pasteurize-eggs-at-home/?fbclid=IwAR0R4C4_bFSNzQqIAzAjWxYsqIEEXpm-2-E5-UH8wp5YTnkQAujt8t3o7kk
Thanks for the recipe. Will try it when my hens start laying extra eggs again once teens are back at college. The teens really have at least one empty hollow leg.
Thank you for the recipe! After reading the description in the book, I tried to make my own version and it didn’t go well, so I’m delighted to have the real recipe. Thanks again! 🙂
I had something very like this in a restaurant in Petrograd but I swear it had raisins? or some sort of dried fruit in them… ?? It’s been a long while so I may not remember correctly.
Ehh, this is very savory so I don’t know about raisins, but they might have gotten adventurous. You know, if they used poultry, perhaps raisins might go with it.
Huh. I never would have considered putting raisins in poultry, but my mother always put them into meatballs made with beef. Also bracciole. I also use them when I stuff peppers with beef. In all the years I have fed this to people, only one told me the meat was too sweet for his taste. It’s all about the taste buds!
I absolutely love the “base” recipes to be used and altered to suit your own ideas of what’s good to eat. When are you two going to publish your cookbook? LOL!
This is great, thank you!
When I read the Edge book I never thought the recipe with rice /bread was anything special. As being from Russian, Polish, Slovak this is how I always cook hamburger. I still have my great grand mother’s grinder. I luckily have a food processor to do the work. Hopefully I won’t need it for the future.
My mom would serve these kind of burgers with a mushroom gravy. Very yummy!
Ooh, sounds good. Have you ever shared the honey muffin recipe? I’d love to try that one.
That’s what I wanted too! Thanks for asking! Honey muffins sound yummy.
Thatnk you!!! I haven’t thought about adding rice to burgers since I was a kid. My neighbor was also Russian
Looks yummy, defo cook book from your Series inc Kate’s Apple pie????
What apples would sub in well for apples of immortality, though? ???? Honeycrisps, maybe?
Outstanding. Enjoying my Russian culture dip with food and book of Russian fairy tales. Rest. Don’t quit. Rest.
Thank you! I was always curious how those were made 🙂 The descriptions of what Catalina makes are always so mouth watering but I would love the recipe for the apple pithivier.
Also allergic to allium, my mom would sub celery for anything that called for chopped onion. (family allergy) I often just leave it out.
This looks really interesting to make. I have a lot of rice so this might make a nice change. We buy rice in bulk.
Ha! I just reread the Edge books, and I was thinking the same thing! Thanks!
very curious as to what other things that Ilona learned in Russia will come to be relevant now. She mentioned the other day that she had some things remind her of Russia with regards to having money but nothing to buy. I suspect there will be more similarities in the days ahead and that Americans will be the least prepared to handle this as we never really thought it would happen to us.
Thank you!
So how is George doing these days?
The russin cutlets are basically swedish meatballs but with a slight change in spices since we don’t use garlic powder. More or less the same way we prepare and cook them as well. That recipe works as small or burger-sized meatballs and meatloaf.
Checking on your blog was the escape I needed. Thank you for taking the time!
I have been looking for the Low Country Boil recipe from Magic Burns for years.
I make a low country boil outside on a propane burner and a really big pot with a built in strainer. You bring the water to a boil, add in 3-5 bags of Zatarans boil in a bag seasoning, a bunch of lemons cut in half, a couple of onions pealed and quartered then add a bunch of little potatoes. I buy the bag of mixed red, purple and white potatoes. Boil potatoes for 5 mins, then add the half size corn on the cob and 3 or 4 all beef kielbasa packages cut up into 2 bite sized pieces and boil all that for 3 minutes when that is done, add raw shrimp (and/or crab legs) and boil for 1 minute. After adding each item, it may take a few minutes to bring the water to a boil again. Then pull out the strainer and dump in a couple of big roasting pans. Serve with melted butter and/or cocktail sauce. It’s very easy to modify this recipe for what you want in it, but this is how we do it.
Lol go to any southern us coastal area and there you have it 🙂
Och! Come on! Its sooo simple: for the next holiday season Ilona will have to come up with an all around recipe-book from all their worlds ????!!!
????
Greets from Switzerland
Inga
kate’s apple pie!!!!!!!! i need a pie to snag a curran hehehe
You have opened the recipe floodgates!
In Jacksonville Beach, (Palm Valley Fish Camp), I ordered Low Country Boil because I had read about it in the Edge books, and it’s delicious. And enormous. North Florida has fresh not frozen shrimp and there’s nothing that tastes better. We can’t buy them fresh, here, so a better boil is potatoes, cabbage, and corned beef, which is a New England boil. Which I forgot to make, yesterday.
My mother’s New England Boiled Dinner was with smoked shoulder. Don’t forget the carrots and onions. It would all get chopped up the next day and fried in a copious amount of butter to make hash (with fried eggs). In our area of New England what you described was simply Corned Beef and Cabbage. Both delicious.
I’m still interested to know the details of brewing a “proper cup“ of Russian tea, Kate-style. ???? Evdokia’s crumbly vanilla cookie recipe would be amazing too! I’ve got LOTS of time to bake!
I’d like to put in a request for Kate’s method of making coffee – small pot on stove, bring to boil… what? How do you keep the grounds out of the cup, I thought you weren’t supposed to let coffee boil (or maybe that’s just tea?), etc. It makes me curious for the details.
I am craving comfort food so since I am currently working from home, in the morning I will be starting a big pot of ham and beans. Pinto beans, not the mushy navy beans. Yum. Best thing is that it just gets better as leftovers and freezes well.
We just did ham and beans at work. I had white (great northen maybe) and black. Notbat all mushy, but made usi g dried and soaked beans, not canned. It was delicious and kind of pretty with the two colors. I almost added red to the mix, but will save tuose to do read beans and rice or chili.
Lol … You should just publish a World of Ilona Andrews Recipes book 🙂 i always get super hungry reading your food scenes.
*sigh* now i am thinking about greek food from the Andrea and Kate eating scenes
Ooooo I would buy that cook book! I always crave coffee when reading Ilona books ❤
So, We going to get a cook book soon?
I made spicy pulled pork over the weekend. I used pretty much all the ground peppers I have at home (paprika, chipotle, New Mexico chili peppers, etc.) and use my slow cooker using the time Ilona put in a past post. I used chicken stock for more flavor. It turned out wonderful. Made soft tacos when the pulled pork was finished. Then I put it into a Lock ‘N Lock and into the refrigerator. I’m having some of it tonight as a quick supper. I put the rest that’s in the Lock ‘N Lock into the freezer.
I have defrosted two boneless chicken breasts and decided to make my version of chicken parmigiana where I will bake the chicken after breading for half the oven time, put the sauce and cheese on, and bake for the rest of the cooking time.
Second vote for passion cones. Or whatever number we’re on. ????
I have been thinking about this recipe for years !!! I would pay good money for it at this point Ilona
Thank you for the recipes! I have absolutely been inspired by the food descriptions in all of your series and found some tasty recipes. Love your characters and world-building! Also, a third vote for the passion cone recipe, please!
I saw the title, and the first thing I thought was that you caught Boots and went Rimworld on him.
Lol I’ve been thinking about edge burgers for a week, it really does seem like a perfect meal for these days!
I’ve totally used Kate’s low country boil! (minus shrimp since I’m allergic to seafood). It’s a fun meal we do with friends and family. Thank you – love your books and blog as always!
Annnd now I’m hungry, darn it.
I don’t dare have an early supper, because I feed the cats first. (Less plate stalking that way.) If I feed them early, they will expect early supper until the next time change.
I have no idea how they know what time it is, but they do.
Being currently one handed, I’m cooking very little for the near future. (Can’t even open cans.) There’s still take out in Houston, but it does not compare to fresh food. 🙁
I won’t go hungry, but I will really miss things…
I would buy a cookbook or three. Often said – “You write it, we’ll buy it.” Next weird project?
Next thing the BDH knows Ilona and Gordon would do that for an April fool’s joke. ????
This is such a fun post – recipe + book tie-in has me inexplicably delighted, which is such a rare feeling in these strange days. Any other recipe+book posts you may feel like putting out there would be received with childlike excitement!
I made the Edge Burgers! I overcooked the first one, so it was dry, but after I took that into account, they were quite yummy! My version of ‘swamp spice’ is Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning and I seasoned each burger with it as it came out of the pan. I got nods of approval from 18-year-old daughter and 22-year-old nephew as well as hubby! Unfortunately, hubby can only sample, as he’s diabetic and rice is not his friend! The only difference was that I used minced onion and garlic instead of powder. I have leftovers, too, so I can test that tomorrow!
I don’t know if it would work for him, but Banza makes a rice out of chickpeas. I actually like it and my husband couldn’t tell the difference (that doesn’t exactly mean it tastes the same though, I’m not sure how much he actually pays attention). ????
They look so YUMMY!
My mother made that EXACT recipe (the 1st one) back home. My family’s from Sosnowiec, which is in Poland/Germany. But wow. To. The. Tee.
BTW, thanks for all y’all are doing. And remember: Hays County isn’t having a bit Spring Break thing going on… Be safe.
Would love to read a cookbook of recipes from your books. You could make it really funny with comments and reviews from Orro. (Hint)
Oh yeah!! This is exactly the kind of food our family needs right now. Thanks for sharing! xx
Easy Sautéed Chicken and Rice-
I got this recipe from a restaurant and now it’s a family favorite. You can make it have an Asian flare with coconut amino acids ,soy sauce or a little of teriyaki sauce at the end of cooking:
2-3 boneless chicken breast cut into ~1”x3”
Make a marinade with just Italian Dressing and honey. I was told to make it with the proportions of 1/2 n 1/2 but that’s sweet. I therefore typically use 1/2 cup of Italian dressing and 1/3 cup of honey.
Let the chicken marinade for 30 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator.
Start your rice whatever kind
Then pour the chicken and marinade all together into a large skillet on the stove and cook on medium high heat till done ~ 5-10 minutes. Note- you can pour off the old marinade and make a new batch to cook it with on the stove if you prefer.
Serve over rice with a side salad or steamed veggies.
Very neat, and tasty-sounding. Thank you!
OH MY GOSH! I was just thinking about these the other day and trying to figure out if there was a real recipe or if I’d have to imagine my own. HAHA! Thank you.
I don’t know if the fruit is real or fantasy, but do you have a base recipe for the Passion cones from the Kingsmen series?
If you don’t want to sacrifice a hamburger to test doneness, you can use an instant read thermometer to check the inside temperature. I use the IRT on grilled, roasted and fried meats and fish. Also, almost every savory recipe can be improved by the addition of soy sauce…just saying.
OMG! I was wondering about the recipes for these just a couple of days ago. Thanks so much for sharing!
Tough times recipe tip:
If you can’t get eggs, but have tinned beans (or if you’re cooking for a vegan) – the thick water the beans come in is liquid gold – highly nutritious and it behaves just like egg whites in cooking.
You can use the liquid from the tinned beans (also known as aquafaba – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquafaba) as substitute egg white, as it mimics its properties in cooking. It even whips up and you can even make meringue (both for lemon meringue pie or even the crispy meringue).
Of course, you can also make your own when cooking your own dried beans. Don’t throw it away, it freezes really well.
Take care everyone and be well.
I so love y’all. Thank you so much for answering my request. Love these. My neighbor is always asking for my experimental hamburgers. I also discovered that a small potato per pound of beef (instead of rice) was loved as well.
I am so sorry your long-awaited vacation was cancelled, but you are certainly brightening your readers’ spirits with this post and the previous recipe post!
I’m not very good at cooking meat, but you write the instructions so clearly that I will be trying several once I can get to the store.
Meanwhile I would like to echo some others who requested Martha’s honey muffin recipe. Re-reading MAGIC TRIUMPHS now and I just love the scene where Conlan demands ‘huny’!!!
Thank you.
Oh yes, please! This would be a good one
When I was younger my Mom used to make “Porcupine balls” from raw rice, ground beef, and spices. I was not the biggest fan because the rice never seemed to cook fully and was always crunchy. These sound much more appetizing, yum!
We often had “porcupines” when the kids were little, but not so much any more. Had some about a month ago and the left overs were fought over. :-). You need plenty of tomato sauce and a good simmer time to get the rice cooked properly. I’m looking forward to trying the “Edge Burgers”!
Omygoodness!!! So excited and so glad i am not the only person who was very, very curious for this recipe!!!!
I would love the egg salad on garlic bread recipe from Clean Sweep. I know it seems simple but I’ve screwed “simple” up before.
Thanks!
I want the egg salad on garlic bread recipe, too, please! It seems so yummy in the book.
Just want to add that I adore the Edge books and they hooked me into the other series.
Edge burgers FTW! Thank you very much!
Thanks for The recipes! I am self isolating but will write these down for later. Hey Ilona or anyone, are you getting knitting done or catching up with older unfinished projucts? I am using t the rule of one new project done, then finish two unfinished . I have a lot of unfinished stuff but usually undone because something urgent came up, like emergency birthday gift or dino slippers for sick toddler. But entirely my fault for being seduced by a nice yarn stash. like I ‘ll knock out something new for abreak, THEN go back and finish theold project.
my Sicilian grandmother made something very similar to your tiny meatloaf. They were made like a meatball in their seasonings and instead of being left round or smooth flat and then Brown in olive oil in fry pan. The basic recipe is this:
One pound of ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken or a combination of
1 egg
Breadcrumbs
1/2 – 1 tbl oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder
Pinch of cinnamon
1/4 -1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
Olive oil
Mix all the ingredients together so that it’s firmly stays together but it’s not hard meatball and it’s not mushy and sticky. Make small round meatballs and then smoosh them flat in the palm of your hand so they’re like tiny little hamburgers. Fry and heated olive oil until dark brown on both sides and then drain on a paper towel. They can be eaten more or after they’ve cooled in the fridge. They can be dipped in marinara or used in salads. Really they’re very versatile and you can do whatever with them.
FYI: these truly are a sicilian meatball. The Italians use to make fun of the Sicilians because they said they didn’t know how to make around ball that they were too stupid and they would flatten their meatballs. Personally after reading lots of different cookbooks on the history of Sicily and its food I think it was the Spanish Moors influence as well as other Middle Eastern cultures influence, it was to ensure that the meat was cooked through. A lot of Italians like to put meatballs into their sauce raw and uncooked and Sicilians don’t generally do that. We cook our meat first then it goes into the spaghetti sauce to cook for hours.
Котлеты!! I was just thinking of whether to make those. Do you prefer the edge ones or the Russian ones? And do you put dill in the Russian ones?
I prefer the “edge” ones. The regular ones get soggy and taste too dense.
Thank you so much for those recipes! Great for freezing too!
Thank you for the receip3.
We made the carnitas recipe you shared and my whole family loved it! Thank you!
Cool! Thank you for sharing, I am always happy to try new recipes.
Yum! I was looking for an alternative to our usual meatloaf for the weekend and this looks fantastic.
These sound great. How about cooking them in the oven instead of oil?
Thank you!! Looking forward to trying these.
Yummm.
What about doing any of these options and then doing a brown/mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles? And make the mashed potatoes go further by adding a batch of mashpotato flakes to 1or2 rough mashed potatoes. A little leftover creamcheese, seasonings, herbs, finely chopped other veges, can really make the flavor pop.
Dessert is a must for the kids-jello and a can of fr ui t.
Canned fruit-save water or syrup(diluted) for kids to drink instead of all your milk.
My mom would stuff the rice meat mixture into stuffed peppers or cabbage rolls. The meat bread mixture was called snitzle and is essentially individual meatloaf. She’d add some chopped parsley into hers.
Being Mexican we would have tacos a lot when we were kids. Being poor we didn’t have a lot of budget for ground beef. Mom would always grate at least one potato into our ground beef to “extend” the taco meat. Then add all your spices. I always include salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, cumin (a little goes a long way) and chili powder. I usually grate a tomato if I have fresh or put in tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes also. Best tacos ever! Even with the potato. You won’t be able to tell. 🙂
Made Edge Burgers for dinner tonight they were a huge hit! Thank you for the recipe. I’m always looking for new stuff to make. I love it when my kids think I am some genius in the kitchen.
I’ve been making a rough version of your “edge burgers” and “salad Oliver”(except I call it Salad Ilona ) for a few years now. They’re always a hit ????, my kids’ tummies thank you.
Glad to have the actual recipe for the burgers! My ratio of rice to meat was wayyy off lol I’m gonna make it your way this week. Can’t wait to try it ????
Thanks for the recipe. I made these tonight and they were a big hit!
Made these last night gluten free with ground turkey! Amazing total win. Made half fried and half air fried in instapot. Both awesome!! Are them over salad very yummy definite new recipe to do often.
I made these and my family loved them! And, it greatly helped to stretch out the meat. Our local grocery will only sell you two packages of meat and two cartons of eggs, max, right now, so stretching out the meat is important! Thanks!
What is the rice burger recipe called? I like to look up variations of recipes to see how they can be modified. I am drawing a blank when I look up Russian rice burger. I do find recipes for котлеты but nothing with rice.
Made these tonight and they were a big hit with the whole family. Thanks for posting 🙂
Growing up, we always stretched our sloppy joes with nice, cheap, instant rice. After frying the hamburger, you just throw in as much uncooked instant rice as you need to help stretch your meal, then stir in your liquids (tomato sauce, spices, however you make sloppy joes) and let the liquid soak into the rice to cook it. If your rice is still too crunchy, you just add a bit more water and let it cook in. Eat it on a bun or bread, and you would never taste anything but the meat and sauce.
Oma use to make hamburger patties. I think they were the second ones. They had just a different taste than what we normally make – they came from the Ukraine. She’d make piles of them, and we’d have them, fried dough (there’s a German word for it – they are in my Mennonite cookbook) and fresh watermelon. To your pickled onion, add fresh cucumbers. Dh loves those pickles. They just sit in a bowl in the fridge and I refill over the summer. I have the meat grinder you mentioned 🙂 It was Opa’s.
Thank you I made a ton of these and they were delicious! Much better midnight snack for me than cookies which is what I have been eating.
Do these freeze well? I made too many.
Thank you for posting this!! I tried it tonight (the Edge version) and it has become our family’s new favorite burger. 🙂