Lamb Burger with Tzatziki

I have many food favourites. Grilled Prawns with loads of home-made chilli sauce and garlic butter, Risotto, Fresh oysters with a drizzle of lemon, tobasco and black pepper. But when I want something fast, delicious and satisfying, I turn to a burger. I think it’s got to do with my love of sandwiches. And a burger is just that, a glorified sandwich.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t shy away from a McD’s Spicy Cajun Chicken burger but there is just nothing like the satisfaction you get from making and building your own burgers. In our household we do ‘Burger night’ regularly where my dad grills some beef patties, we have sliced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, fried onions and too many sauces to mention. There is a 2 burger minimum and it’s amazing to experience the silence that falls over the table as everyone is thinking of the combination’s they are going to try out today. With most of my family Mayo, Chilli sauce and onions are a must. I don’t like tomato on my burger but I love cheese and lettuce. And my dad always says “If your burger wasn’t nice, you have no-one to blame but yourself!” And he really does say it EVERY time we have burger night.

Last night I decided to venture away from the traditional burgers we usually have and I made the patties with lamb mince. I made them exactly the same as the Greek Meatballs I made a while ago and since I was going Greek, I thought I would pair them up with tzatziki to go the whole mile. It was delicious and although the good ‘ol beef burger will never be replaced, this was a nice variation! I served the burgers with some oven-roasted wedges (out of pure laziness on my side. I love thin cut chips but it’s much easier to just roast some thick wedges than fry thin chips!)

This mixture makes 6 large patties or 8 medium ones

1kg Lamb mince
2 Feta Rounds (1/2 cup) Feta Crumbled
2 cups Fresh Breadcrumbs
5 Garlic cloves, Crushed
Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
1tbsn Oregano
1 egg
Salt & Black pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients well ( I use my hands to smoosh it all together). Take handfulls (depending on the size you are after) and form patties. Place on a baking tray and place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

For the Tzatziki

1 medium cucumber, halved and seeds removed then grated
2tsp Salt
1 cup Fat free, plain yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, Crushed
Pinch of Paprika
2tbsn Fresh, chopped Mint
Squeeze of Lemon juice
Salt & Black pepper to taste

Combine the grated cucumber and the salt in a colander and allow to sit for 10 minutes to draw out most of the moisture. This is optional but if you are going to be making the tzatziki in advance, I would recommend it. Squeeze the rest of the moisture out with the back of a spoon. Combine the rest of the ingredients and serve.

I used Ciabatta rolls for the burgers for some variety but feel free to use whichever rolls you want. I also added some sweet chilli sauce and some sliced cheese.

This is a photo I dug out of the archives of our trip in 2007 to Malaysia. Who would’ve thought the best burger I’ve ever had (also the largest) would have come from Malaysia? Ok, it’s a bit of a cheat because it’s from Planet Hollywood, but still!! Look at the size of this portion!!