1 lb ground lamb
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
1 tablespoon minced dill
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic, grated
zest of one lemon
salt
freshly ground black pepper
tzatziki:
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup finely diced, seeded cucumber*
1 tablespoon minced dill
salt
freshly ground black pepper
toppings:
1 large red onion, thickly sliced
1 small eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 buns
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the burger ingredients until evenly distributed. Form into 4 equal patties.
for the sauce:
Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Prepare your grill to medium heat. Meanwhile, brush the onion, burgers and eggplant slices with olive oil. Place on the grill next to the burgers. Cook until everything is cooked through, flipping once. Cover as needed.
Place a slice of eggplant on each bun. Top with a burger then onion slices and drizzle with sauce.
*You can salt and drain them if you want but I just left them chopped on
My thoughts:
This is seriously the best lamb burger I have ever had. Better than the much lauded lamb burgers at Breslin. More than just juicy, this burger has a lot of flavor. I thought the cumin in the Breslin burger brought out a gamey flavor to the burger which was a little overpowering. I picked seasonings that I hoped would enhance the fresh taste that lamb can have and it paid off. The burger tasted amazingly fresh and light. I honestly can’t wait to make it again and I rarely remake a recipe! The cucumber-yogurt sauce, eggplant and onions are really just gilding the lily but they do make the burger more fun to eat without overpowering the lamb. The flavors of the tzatziki really tie in with the flavors of the burger.
Oh my! I love, love, love the idea of the grilled onion and the tzatziki! It seems fresh/raw red onion is always included in any of my Greek inspired meals, I can’t imagine how incredible the rich grilled sweet onion would play against the fresh tzatziki!
This looks wonderful. I haven't had a lamb burger in a long time. Love the tzatzki.
This sounds amazing and I think my husband would polish off an entire tray!! Hmmm…may make these for a cookout with my cuzins!
~kristin
Well, this was the first thing we grilled on the new BBQ! Thanks for the recipe, it was delicious. I wil definitely be using that tzaziki recipe again.
-Kerry
I made this a few nights ago and it was WONDERFUL!! great recipe…very moist and tons of flavor. My husband was drooling just from the title, and it really was a great burger (he actually ate eggplant AND liked it!!)
Thanks for the awesome recipe! I posted a review with a link to your post over on my blog, too. Yum 🙂