Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Tzatziki (cucumber sauce)
- 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated
- 1/2 c. plain yogurt
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- handful fresh mint, chopped
- small garlic clove, pressed
- salt and pepper to taste
Mix together, cover, and chill.
Lamb Burgers
- 1 lb. ground lamb
- 1 small onion, chopped
- handful fresh parsley, chopped
- leaves from a few stems fresh oregano, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- pita bread
- lettuce, washed and dried and torn into pieces
Heat grill to high. Mix ingredients gently. Form into 8 small patties. Grill until medium rare, about 5 minutes a side.
Warm pitas on grill and tear in half. Put one burger in each pita half and garnish with lettuce and tzatziki.
Comments
Would I make this again? Probably not. But I will definitely keep looking for a good lamb burger recipe. This was my first time cooking with lamb, and it came out reasonably well. Next time I might try this on crusty rolls, a la Rachael Ray’s Middle Eastern Lamb Burgers. Pita bread falls apart and fails to satisfy.
The burgers were good, though lacking in flavor. I didn’t realize lamb was so rich — the fire flared as I turned over the patties.
I didn’t mince the onion finely enough, making me think I ought to get out my food processor and mince a bunch of onions, then save them in cupfuls in quart-size freezer bags.
2 Comments
Cook’s Illustrated just had a good lamb burger recipe–they mixed in some pita crumbs (just whizz part of a pita in the food processor with lemon juice & onion), and mixed it with the meat. It helps the little patties stay together and keeps them moist. The sugar in the onions makes them stick like crazy, though. But they were good.
I had a weirdly good lamb burger at The Blue Javelina in Marga, TX. It was fun to eat, but I dunno if I’d want it again. I like lamb on it’s own, but there seemed to be the temptation to make a middle-eastern burger instead of a lamb burger, if that makes sense. The spices were all whacky.
I’ll have to try and make some lamb burger “American style” and see how they come out.