Small Kitchen Cook author shares kangaroo burger recipe

From The Small Kitchen Cook by Ashleigh Butler

Kangaroo is one of Australia’s most sustainable meats. They’re a natural part of the environment, and ’roo is wild-caught rather than farmed. It is a meat that we regularly consume as a family. Kangaroo is a very lean meat and high in iron, but it is also easy to overcook. Fortunately, it can be served quite rare and that way it’ll be the most tender. So, keep the cooking to a minimum.

Serves: 2

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 10 min

Ingredients

• A couple of 100g kangaroo fillets
• 1 and a 1/2 teaspoons of sumac, separated
• Flakey sea salt
• 1/2 a teaspoon of allspice
• 1/2 a small fennel, thinly sliced
• Handful fresh parsley leaves (save stalks for stock)
• A handful of beetroot leaf or rocket
• Juice of half a lemon
• A drizzle of olive oil
• 2 burger buns of choice
• 3 tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise
• 2 cucumber pickles, sliced
• Cracked pepper

Method:

Lace kangaroo in a bowl with half a teaspoon of sumac, allspice and two pinches of salt and stir to coat. Feel free to use your hands and rub the spices into the meat. Set it aside in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the burger.

Combine the fennel, parsley, leafy greens, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Give the salad a toss to ensure the oil and lemon juice have evenly coated the greens and fennel.

Pan-fry the kangaroo for two minutes on each side on medium heat. Once it’s seared on both sides, allow it to rest for a few minutes. Resting meat allows the juices to resettle and prevents the cut of meat from drying out.

While the meat is resting, toast the buns on the inside under a grill or pan-fry them on the same pan or barbecue you used for the kangaroo.

Mix the mayonnaise and a teaspoon of sumac and spread it on the bun’s base.

Add the kangaroo, salad, pickles, and more mayo on the top.

Serve them on their own or with Fried Potatoes.

This recipe is an extract from The Small Kitchen Cook by Ashleigh Butler, published by Exploring Eden Books (also on Facebook and Instagram). For each book sold, Exploring Eden Books has committed to removing at least 25kg of CO₂ from the atmosphere. Read more here.