Beef and Blue Cheese Sliders

These sliders (mini burgers) are great for serving alongside other barbecue food, not as filling as a normal sized burger and they are quicker to cook too.  You can leave the blue cheese out if you prefer or substitute it with good mature cheddar.

Makes 8 Sliders or 4 Large Burgers

Ingredients

400g Minced Beef (the best you can get)

1 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup

a couple of splashes of Worcestershire Sauce

A small bunch of Chives

1 medium Egg, beaten

Sea Salt and Black Pepper

Approx. 100g Blue Cheese (such as Saint Agur or Stilton)

• Put the minced beef into a large bowl.  Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and the beaten egg.  Using a sharp pair of kitchen scissors, snip the chives into the bowl then season generously with salt and black pepper.
• Use your hand or a fork to thoroughly mix it, incorporating all of the ingredients into the beef, it will be a bit wet at first then come together after a minute or so of working.
• Cut the cheese into slices about 1cm thick then cut those into 2x2cm squares.
• To make the burgers, take a piece of the beef mixture and form into a ball with your hands, it needs to be a bit bigger than a golf ball (60g if you want to be precise).  Squash the ball lightly between your hands to flatten, then put a piece of cheese into the centre of the meat and bring the edges over to completely encase it.  Repeat this until you have used all of the mixture and you have 8 mini, cheese-filled burgers.  These can then be covered and refrigerated until needed (you can make them the day before).
• The sliders can be cooked on a barbecue or in a frying or griddle pan.  They will need about 5 minutes each side on a medium to high heat then transfer to a warm plate to rest for a few minutes.
• These are good served in cut-up focaccia bread or small rolls (like the picture) then topped with caramelised onions and any other accompaniment you like.  It helps to secure them with a cocktail stick.