I’ve been a bit lazy busy with uni lately, thus the lack of posts, but I thought it was definitely time to write up this post! In my recent trip to Daylesford, Cam and I went to a local smoke-house in Musk called Istra Smallgoods. The smell upon entry of the place was just phenomenal, it took me back to my childhood days of being dragged along to continental butchers and the like! We bought a few things from Istra, some of their Salami (can’t remember the type, but it was the plain, non-spicy version), prosciutto, and raw chorizo sausages. I wish we had have bought more, but we were saving our money for other decadent things on our little holiday. 
We had been gradually munching on the Salami and prosciutto, however I thought I should do them some justice and make them into something equally as tasty!
That’s when I thought of a genius idea – burgers! How is that genius you ask? Well, I have fantastic meatball recipe which I cook quite regularly, however I felt like something a bit different (and the rare occasion of having a nice sunny day made me crave summery foods… I.e. Barbecues!). I thought – why not make the meatball recipe into a hamburger recipe!? So that is just what I did. So, if you’re not overly fond of burgers (really?), you could simply use this recipe for meatballs as I usually do. Make small ones and serve with pasta, or make them larger and serve on their own with a rich tomato sauce. Mmm The great thing about this recipe is that it’s packed with flavour, which means you don’t have to be overly creative about how you go about serving it!
Ingredients
- 500g minced beef
- 25g sliced salami, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 2 tsp dried mixed herbs (I used oregano and fresh thyme)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 50g parmesan, finely grated
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup (35g) dried breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients.
- Form into burger patties.
- Heat oil in pan, cook patties until brown on both sides and cooked through.
- Construct the burger with your favourite fillings and you're done!
I constructed our burgers with baby cos lettuce, melted cheese (some fancy tasty-type cheese which I can’t remember the name of!), tomato, gerkins, fried prosciutto, and tomato relish! Mmmm
Omg! It looks just like a bought one. Very nice.
Aw, thanks Agnes!
It was alright for a rushed attempt at a knock-up dinner! It was extremely tasty though and I’d love to find other new ways to use the recipe 
That looks like a Grilled burger
I make a similar one with Lamb. I like making my own burger patties as I can put anything I like in them and it tastes so much better!
Thanks!
Oooh lamb would be tasty! I love making my own too, as like you said, you can put anything in them!
They look fantastic! I was hoping to make it to Istra but they were closed when we were visiting Daylesford!
Thanks Lorraine! Ooh, how unfortunate! Istra was fantastic, I hope you can visit them some day! The store was full of European delicacies from jars of sauerkraut to chocolates and the like
The general packaged products they sold there weren’t anything out of the ordinary (you would be able to find everything at a normal continental deli), however their smoked goods were phenomenal! When I go back there maybe I can grab a few things for you and ship them to you somehow! Hehe 
omg these sound delicious! i love to make meatballs with chopped up salami mixed with the mince, but never thought to do it for burges! yum!
Give it a try one day! It definitely makes them into something quite different