Culinary Disasters

Ok the title of this is misleading.  It really should be called huge fing lamb meatballs fit for the Jolly Green Giant.  I eyeballed the burgers when I was making them without actually looking at the bun to see if they would fit taking into consideration shrinkage.  Huh I was kind of off.  They still tasted awesome and next time I make lamb burgers this post will disappear to be replaced by the correct one. 

I like lamb but I rarely use it.  I have no clue why maybe it is because it is hard and expensive to come by around here.  However, that can’t be a good reason since I have actually driven a couple hours to buy rabbits.  Hmmmm….yeah maybe I do not have a good excuse and instead should just do more of it.

The inspiration for these burgers came from my buddy Mike over at Mike’s Table (click here to see his lamb burgers).  I had to change a couple things around of course such as adding in some crushed red pepper and removed a couple of things such as the fennel (not that I have any hatred of fennel just was not in a fennely mood).

I wanted to kind of keep a traditional theme with burger and deciding that mayo would just be nasty I decided to make a simple tzatziki sauce. 

For the sauce I just used:

• 16 ounces of plain yogurt drained (wrap the yogurt in cheesecloth and suspend it over a cup for a couple of hours).
• 1 medium cucumber peeled, deseeded, and grated
• 2 cloves of garlic finely diced
• TB of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
• TB of mint diced mint leaves
• Pinch of kosher salt and pepper
• Glug of extra virgin olive oil

Combine everything together.

For the lamb burgers you will need:

• 1.5 lb of ground lamb
• 2 TB of diced fresh oregano (if using dried cut this by 1/3)
• 2 TB of diced fresh mint (if using dried cut this by 1/3)
• 1/4 cup of diced green onion
• 1/2 cup of finely diced olives (I used kalmata)
• Pinch of kosher salt and black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper

Combine everything together and roll into patties.  Make sure to make the patty a little bit bigger than the bottom bun.

Place the burgers in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  This will help the burgers firm up and hold their shape while they are on the grill.

Place them on a medium-high grill and cook 4-5 minutes a side. 

Serve and enjoy.  I had to sprinkle some goat cheese over top of the burger (a burger without cheese is an unforgivable sin)

If you are curious about the corn I did it my favorite way which is simply soak the corn husk and all in water for a couple hours.  Throw it on the grill for 5 minutes a side.

Tags: lamb, All //