Roasted Red Pepper Lamb Burgers and Tzatziki

I came home to Houston and one of the first things that my sister asked me is, would I please make lamb burgers. It's so bizarre, I made them last summer and I completely forgot about them, but apparently they made quite an impression on her and she's been thinking about them ever since. I think this might be born out of her love for tzatziki, the Greek cucumber, garlic, and yogurt sauce. I started making Greek food at home for the Summer Olympics in 2004 because I love a good theme and the Olympics are a good excuse for a theme dinner party. I think that, in that respect, I never lost my inner sorority girl; I love theme parties, theme dinners, you name it I am not too old or too cool to take part. And, I don't hesitate to appropriate the themes of other people if I feel the need for a festive occasion and I lack one to call my own.

At any rate, my sister's request for lamb burgers couldn't have come at a better time because I was actually given a bunch of coupons for free Oikos yogurt from Stoneyfield Farms -- huzza! I love Greek yogurt and I always, always have it in my fridge. I eat it every morning for breakfast and I constantly sub it for butter in recipes. Free things . . . yummy things . . . sign me up! And tzatziki sauce is one of my favorite ways to eat Greek yogurt but I'm soooo lazy and I hate grating and squeezing the cucumbers so I don't usually make it unless it's requested. But then it's so darn light and refreshing and delicious.

Now, the lamb burgers are fun, too. Last summer I made them with ground lamb that I got at Central Market. This time I couldn't find ground lamb so I decided that I'd have to make my own. In my mother's oh-so-wonderful kitchen there are all sorts of goodies, among which happens to be the grinding attachment for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. So, one shoulder of lamb plus some herbs and spices and roasted red peppers, et voila, ground lamb burgers.

Ingredients:
(you'll really have to adjust the measurements for personal taste and the amount of lamb that you're using)
One lamb shoulder (mine was about 4 pounds) cubed
2 - 3 roasted red peppers, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon round black pepper

Some things to note about grinding meat (as I understand it):
1. It's important to have some fat on the meat so don't use an expensive cut and don't go crazy trimming up the fat. Just cut uniform pieces in about 1 - 2" strips/cubes.
2. You don't want any of the pieces to be too big.
3. It's very, very important that the meat be cold when it gets ground so I put mine in the freezer for about 30 minutes before grinding.

It's really actually a fairly painless process. You put the meat in the hopper and you force the meat down and it comes out ground on the other side. I actually took pictures of the meat coming out of the grinder but I really wanted to avoid any and all Sweeny Todd references (hate that movie) so I didn't use them. I think that this is a great way to make ground meat (when you're not short on time obviously) if you're anything like me and you get a little skeeved out by ground beef if you think about it for too long (and because people told you that Sweeny Todd was a great movie). It's a ton of fun to use. I never really pondered all of the fun involved in making sausage or ground meat but there's potential. I might just have to sneak this toy back to Washington with me.

See the lovely and seasoned ground lamb that was the result of all this fun with meat grinding? I grilled the burgers and I was a little worried that they might fall apart but they stayed intact -- success. I usually serve these in homemade pita bread but this time they ended up on the Anadama rolls that the BBA group made this week. More about those on Monday but I thought that they were a great choice for the lamb burgers. So, the verdict? These were a big hit around here and I'll definitely make this meal again when I have some time to kill. The tzatziki is 100% essential to the success of these burgers, that's the general consensus in my family, and we eat them as pictured, with tzatziki in place of your usual condiments.

Tzatziki
From The Food and Wine of Greece by Diane Kochilas
1 16 oz container Greek yogurt (such as Oikos) or 32 oz container of plain yogurt, drained through cheesecloth overnight
1 large cucumber
3 garlic cloves, minced (yup, this is not for the faint of heart -- or of breath but it's so delcious!)
1 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped dill or mint (I always use mint)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt to taste

Place yogurt in a bowl. Peel and grate cucumber. Taking a little at a time between the palms of your hands, squeeze as hard as possible until the water is removed. (So, I hate to grate things by hand, and I hate squeezing things out but these steps are very necessary. I usually salt the cucumber after I grate it and let it sit for a little bit in an effort to get as much water out as possible. Watery cucmber = watery tzatziki and that's just yucky). Add to yogurt.

Mix in garlic, mint (or dill), olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Combine all ingredients well. Refrigerate until ready to use.