It's burger season. I don't care if it's cold out or a 100 degrees... it's time to enjoy some summery meals and eat outdoors. The weather here has been decent (knock on wood). Our summers in the Pacific Northwest often don't begin until July 5th, but I have my hopes up. We've already had our first 90-degree day....kind of amazing for these parts.
Anyway, with Father's Day coming up it's time to start getting some of my husband's favorite recipes and food together. And for him, that means lamb. The hubby couldn't be happier, it's his absolute favorite.
In order to make a juicier, more complex burger, I paired together three different types of ground meat; chuck, lamb and pork. I call it the meat trifecta and it's the perfect combination for a juicier burger. And if you love lamb, the flavor comes through nicely and doesn't disappear within the other meat.
I let the tomatoes soak in seasoned rice vinegar while I prepared the burgers. It definitely adds flavor to the larger tomatoes, which can get mealy tasting very easily. The flavor is not overwhelming, but adds something nice to the overall burger.
The Feta-Curry dressing is just a phenomenal way to top this meat off. It's bright and kind of dances in your mouth with every bite. Don't skip this addition.
Mediterranean Burger with Creamy Feta-Curry Dressing
Recipe from: Created by Cathy Pollak for NoblePig.com | Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 2 largevine-ripened tomatoes, sliced into 8 rounds
- 1 cupseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 lbground chuck
- 1/2 poundground lamb
- 1/2 poundground pork
- 1 container (5.3 oz)nonfat, plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cupmayonnaise
- 4 oz crumbled feta cheese
- 2 Tablespoonsfreshly chopped mint
- 1 Tablespoonfresh lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspooncurry powder
- 1/2 teaspoonfinely chopped garlic
- 1/2 teaspooncoarse ground black pepper
- 1 largered onion, sliced into rings
- 8poppy seed Kaiser rolls or other good quality buns
Directions
- In a large bowl, soak tomato slices in rice vinegar. Continue soaking until you are ready to build your burger.
- In a large bowl combine ground chuck, lamb and pork. Make meat into 8 (1/4 pound) burger patties. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, feta cheese, mint, lemon juice, curry powder, garlic and black pepper. Set aside.
- Cook burgers as you prefer, either on the grill or the stove to desired doneness.
- Toast buns or rolls. Build burger in this order: bottom half of bun, red onion, burger, tomato, feta-curry sauce and top half of bun.
Cathy owns a vineyard and winery in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. She is a food writer for Davis Life Magazine and blogs daily about wine, food and everyday living. She currently resides in Oregon with her husband and two sons. You can visit her at noblepig.com.