Lamb Burgers with Chunky Greek Salad and Tzatziki

Did you know you can buy ground lamb at the store for $4.99? Well, you can at my store, and you should all come there and buy some. It's incredibly delicious in burger form, even if my house does still smell like it at 7:22am. I guess the only way to fix that is to make Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars, right? I'm on it.

I've tried many recipes for lamb burgers before coming up with my own. The cumin, cinnamon and lemon zest really make this superb. Superb! "You're a superb manager, Joe." (Name the movie...)

Lamb Burgers

Ground Lamb
1/2 of a red onion (save other half for salad)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup panko (or bread crumbs)
1/2 cup grated Romano
1 egg
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Salt and Pepper

Chop red onion, garlic and sun dried tomatoes (I used the kind in a jar, but bagged are fine too).


Heat olive oil in saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic for a few minutes. Then add sun dried tomatoes and saute for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.


Add balsamic vinegar and saute for one more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.


In a medium-sized bowl, combine ground lamb, egg, panko, romano, cumin, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt and pepper. You really have to use your hands to combine this well.


Add cooled onion/tomato mixture and combine.


Divide meat into 4 portions and from patties.


Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Place burgers in oil and cook for 6-8 minutes per side.



You may think this looks burnt but it's not. The balsamic and the sun dried tomatoes give it a sweet and savory crust that's just delicious. Now, vegetables...

Chunky Greek Salad with Lemon Caper Dressing

1/2 a cucumber (save other half for Tzatziki)
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
10-15 cherry tomatoes
1/2 a red onion
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
Juice of half a lemon
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T capers
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Chop cucumber, peppers, and red onion (not pictured here, oops), roughly all the same size. I like my cherry tomatoes halved.


Combine all vegetables in a bowl and toss with feta.


Toast pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat. Shake them up frequently so they don't burn. This sounds silly, but when you can start to smell them (and I think they smell like popcorn), you'll know they're done.


While those are toasting, make dressing by combining lemon juice, capers, red wine vinegar and mustard. Slowly drizzle in olive oil and whisk with fork. Season with salt and pepper.


Toss salad in dressing and top with toasted pine nuts.


Note: you can make the Tzatziki sauce well ahead of time and refrigerate. What is Tzatziki? It's THIS.

Tzatziki

1/2 of a cucumber
Juice of half a lemon
1 clove garlic
1 cup greek yogurt

Combine cucumber (remove the peel), lemon juice and garlic in Cuisinart (or blender) and pulse until smooth.


Add yogurt and salt and pepper to taste, combine. This is a wet sauce... if you prefer yours thicker add more yogurt.


There you have it people. I warm up some pita bread in the oven and serve this meal with a side of hummus. We sort of end up eating everything all together.


Opa! (I think.)