The main course for our Greek-inspired menu (see Watermelon and Feta Salad post below) was some truly inspired lamb burgers. Lamb provokes polarizing views, people tend to love it or hate, but even for those of you who don’t care for lamb, you should give these burgers a try sometime. With the addition of toasted pine nuts, lemon zest, feta cheese and a pinch of allspice, they don’t taste gamey at all; they just taste darn good!
When I went looking for a recipe, I knew I had cut one out of magazine and put it in my bulging black food folder but it eluded my filing system apparently and was no where to be found. Lucky me because I stumbled on this awesome lamb burger recipe on a blog called bluejeangourmet. I wasn’t aware of the blog, but I am now a devotee after making these burgers. Not only is this an excellent recipe, the girl can write. Her blog post was so funny I laughed out loud, and trust me, it is not easy to make a food blog funny.
What makes these burgers unique is the toasted pine nuts and lemon zest; don’t skip those! I added a mock tzatziki sauce and put them in pita pockets with some tomato cucumber and served it with the Watermelon salad below. Yummmmm. These are not your grandmother’s lamb burgers!
Lamb Burgers
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 lb. pound ground lamb
½ cup feta, crumbled
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ fresh mint & flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 red onion, minced
1 pinch allspice
Zest of one lemon
Olive oil
Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup light sour cream
1 lemon, juiced
1 small garlic clove, minced
3-5 dashes Tabasco sauce
Preparation
Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil over medium-low heat until translucent. Allow to cool a bit before combining with the other ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and hamburger-style patties. Heat a pan on the stovetop to medium high. Add 2 tbls olive oil. Cook burgers until crispy brown on one side (about 4 minutes), turn and cook another 4 minutes.
For the Tzatzki sauce, puree all ingredients in a blender; refrigerate until ready to use.
Maggie Canon is a nationally recognized magazine, website and book editor. She founded InfoWorld magazine and was the editor in chief of several other leading technology publications. She has since focused her career on consumer content including developing and launching the leading lifestyle website Glam.com and producing the best-selling book series America 24/7.
In addition, she was the co-host of HGTV’s 21st Century Home television series. She is an avid traveler, cook and entertainer.
