Greek Lamb Burger

Ingredients
 
Lamb Burgers

• 1 lb package of ground lamb
• ¼ red onion (minced)
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 10-15 leaves fresh spearmint leaves/ ¼ tsp dried mint/ dash of the inside of a peppermint tea bag
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp sweet paprika
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• Dash of Italian seasoning
• Salt & Pepper

Directions
 

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Note: All of the measurement above are guesstimations, I really do the proportions of ingredients by eye. Easy on salt and pepper inside the burgers as they will be salted and peppered before going on the grill or in the pan.
2. Using your hands, mix together all the ingredients so that they are all evenly dispersed throughout the burger meat.
3. Form into 3-4 patties. Place on a plate.
4. Put on Pink Himalayan Salt and Cracked Black pepper on both sides of the burger patties, pat the salt and pepper lightly into the meat with hand.
5. Heat a seasoned cast iron pan on med-high heat. Or prime a grill or BBQ.
6. Once pan or grill is hot, place burger patties on. They should sizzle immediately.
7. Ideally you want to only flip once. It is not the end of the world if you flip an extra time or two, but try to be patient and let it cook well on both sides only once.
8. When burgers are done to your liking, remove from heat, and onto a toasted bun with Tzatziki sauce on it.

 
The Fixins

• Toasted burger bun of choice
• Garden fresh sliced Tomatoes
• Garden fresh Arugula
• Perfectly ripe Avocado
• Tzatziki Sauce (homemade)

 
Note: I like to display all of the fixings on the plate and allow each person to construct their own burger.
 
Tzatziki Sauce

• Goat cheese
• Labneh – Fermented kefir cheese (sold at Trader Joes)
• Goat Yogurt
• 1 Small – med Cucumber
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 8-10 leaves fresh spearmint/ dash dried mint/ dash of leaves from a peppermint tea bag
• Salt & Pepper

 
Directions

1. Combine Goat Cheese,  Labneh, and Yogurt and whip together until it is creamy. I try to make a bowl full of the finished tzatziki sauce, left over always gets eaten.
2. Add parsley and mint
3. Finely mince the cucumber, and add into the cheese and herbs. The consistency should be runny, but not watery. The cucumber adds a lot of water naturally, so add it in carefully so as to not make the sauce too watery.
4. I use goat cheese and not feta, because you can add salt at the end and control the amount of salt in the sauce. Pepper too. I generally put just a pinch of black pepper in the sauce.
5. Any small bits of garlic or onion that may be on my cutting board from making the burgers, I am not too worried if they get into the sauce. Not a lot, just a piece here and there.