This Sunday is a dinner I made for a girls night with my sister & friend! And I felt like going with a theme: Fast Food- but more like 50’s diner style with the malt shakes! 🙂

I have to say that I’m really not a lover of fast food. I don’t know if it’s because I spoil myself with really nice home cooked food all the time, or if it was that one time I threw up on the kindergarten room floor after going to McDonalds for a birthday lunch, -but it’s really never been my thing.

Consequently I rarely eat hamburgers or fries or milkshakes- and I was thinking that it was high time that I did my own version of these things- as I am sure there is some reason for the hype.

There definitely was- it was SO GOOD!

Burger, Fries, & Malt Shakes

This is pretty straight forward – I am sure everyone knows how to make burgers…. But this is what I did and they turned out amazing!

For 3 burgers I used:

just over 1 lb medium ground beef
1/2 of large onion grated
2 tbsp dijon mustard
salt & pepper

3 chunks of medium cheddar cheese

Mix the meat, onion, mustard salt and pepper all together, then divide into 3 balls. Press the cheddar cheese into the top of the burger, smooshing it (technical term here) into the burger.

Then push the meat around the top, enclosing the cheese in the middle of your burger. MMMMMmmmm

I wrapped them in saran to wait because I made them a little early.

Then to cook the burgers I put them into my cast iron frying pan on high heat, searing them to get some good colour on both sides, then I threw them in the oven at 400 F for 15 minutes until they were cooked all the way through and oozing cheese 😀 .

This was the BEST way to cook burgers ever (unless of course you have a BBQ) – but for indoor burger cooking this was SO easy and cleared the stove top for the fry making! I got the idea for the burgers entirely from this SORTED FOOD youtube video!!  I just love them so much- they are so funny and friendly and they make good food and the accents *swoon*- they should all marry me 🙂 anyways…

For the fries:

4 large russet potatoes peeled or unpeeled (I did half and half)
enough canola oil to fill a frying pan 1″ deep

Salt to your taste

After you peel and cut your potatoes evenly into the fry shapes you want (avoid making them too thick as it will take a lot longer to cook) rinse them in cold water

then pat them dry with a paper towel before gently placing them in the HOT oil- make sure it is hot- like 350 – 375 degrees.

I did them in batches, making sure I didn’t overcrowd them, then I put them on a cooking tray into the oven (with the burgers at 400) to wait for the next batch.

For 3 Vanilla Malt Shakes:

4 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream (or any flavour you want)
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup Ovaltine (alternatively you can use actual malt syrup if you can find it)

BLEND IT ALL! and serve with a straw!

What an excellent combo- I feel so all-american right now- lol

On top of the burger I opted for a simple tomato, lettuce and pickle, along with some mayo on the bun- which was a sesame seed kaiser bun I got from a bakery. And of course some cold Heinz ketchup to go with those fries!

I hope you all had a delicious Sunday!

xo erin