I went to the grocery store yesterday for a major shopping. We were out of just about everything and it made everything seem appealing to me. They happened to have some great looking ground lamb. I immediately thought of this lamb kebab recipe that I had seen on Jamie at Home. J gave me the cookbook of the same name for Christmas. I just love his show, and I never thought Jamie was hot until I saw his amazing garden…yeah, I have issues. I love when he randomly cooks over a small fire in his yard. Anyway, when I got home, I realized that I actually didn’t have many of the ingredients for this particular recipe (including skewers). So, I turned the meat into burgers with a spice blend. I am not sure how the flavor of these compares to the original (I have never had sumac), but these were delicious. I cooked them in a cast iron pan on high until they were about medium, and they developed a perfect crispness to the outside. Although I added a good amount of seasoning to these, the flavor of the lamb really came through.
I served these with a light lemon sauce and roasted red peppers on a whole wheat flatbread with a wedge of lemon. The lamb is very rich, and I found the squeeze of fresh lemon juice was really essential. I think that next time a make these I will add a bit a bit of fresh greens dressed in lemon juice.
Spiced Lamb Burgers (inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Lamb Kebabs)
Ingredients
1 pound ground Lamb
½ tsp chili powder
½ cumin
1 tsp Kosher salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
1 finely minced garlic clove
Zest of one lemon
½ tsp paprika
1 tbsp fresh thyme
¼ finely chopped rosemary
Combine the ingredients using your hands and shape into four burgers. Heat a dry cast iron skillet on high. (I covered the pan when I flipped the burgers to help speed the cooking time). After removing from the pan, cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
Lemon Yogurt Sauce
¼ tsp finely minced garlic
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of finely chopped rosemary
¼ cup plain yogurt
Salt and fresh pepper