Beef and Blue Cheese Burgers

Our front deck has been the focus of construction and these beef and blue cheese burgers were brought in to feed the delightful volunteers. Dear friends and family have all offered to pitch in which makes the job not only fun, but go so much faster. Hungry workers require feeding and these burgers totally hit the spot in the middle of a hard days work.

Sauces are the vital element to every burger and for these I like to jazz up store bought aioli. We use Heinz as its flavourful, rich and at a great price point. By adding in extra mustard to a store bought aioli, you can build a beautiful creamy mustard sauce that is great with roast pork. Or you can add a herbed oil for a heady herby aioli that is beautiful with fries. For these burgers, I want to add a little touch of luxury by stirring through a splash of truffle oil to the aioli. I also like to boost the aioli by crumbling through some creamy danish blue cheese. What results is a rich, decadent sauce that you will want to slather on everything...

As for the blue cheese, you want something that is creamy and not incredibly strong. If you feel like splashing out, theKapiti Kahurangi creamy blueis divine. Alternatively, Puhoi has some great, tasty and affordable options available at most supermarkets. The apple slaw helps cuts through the richness of truffle and the cheese. These burgers are all about balance and to combat the rich sauce and meat, I like to serve these on MacKenzie's burger buns. Full of wholemeal goodness and full of great-for-you grains, they're large enough to satisfy the hungriest of crews. We served these beef and blue cheese burgers with home made herb laden potato chips; but serve these with the sides of your choice. In winter, kumara chips would be great too as would a huge spinach salad.

And last but not least; a huge thank you to all the beautiful friends and family who all helped out with the rebuilding of our deck and stairs...