Lamb And Beetroot Burgers With Feta And Garlic Sauce

It is an incredibly tasty combination - juicy lamb and beetroot burgers with a feta cheese and garlic sauce. These are a few of my favourite things – lamb, beetroot and above all, feta cheese…

I won’t go as far as calling it an addiction but I do love this type of cheese and I use it quite a lot both in hot and cold dishes. This love of feta blossomed unhindered the winter I lived in Greece, on the island of Crete.

I lived in a small village up in the hills and in the little village shop, behind the counter, stood two massive tins each containing a huge block of feta cheese. The owners would happily allow you to try each one to see which one you preferred and once you had chosen one, they’d cut as big a piece as you wanted out of the block.

Those were my feta days! I loved eating nothing but some bread and a piece of feta with some local olive oil drizzled over it and scattered with some dried herbs like thyme, oregano and rosemary (which all grow wild on the island).

Tip! When buying feta cheese, make sure it says that it’s made from sheep and goat’s milk – there are some bad imitations out there made from cow’s milk.

I serve these lamb and beetroot burgers with the feta cheese and garlic sauce and oven-roasted sweet potatoes on the side.

Add a salad with different green leaves and juicy tomatoes sprinkled with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you’ve got a super-tasty and healthy meal in front of you.

For 4 people:

4 small sweet potatoes cut into wedges

Olive oil

Burgers:

500g,1lb 2oz, 2¼ cups (firmly packed), lamb mince

1 medium-sized red onion, finely grated

1 large raw beetroot, finely grated

1½ teaspoon ground coriander

1½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Feta and garlic sauce:

100ml, 3½fl oz, ½ cup, natural Greek-style yogurt

1 large garlic clove, crushed

100g, 3½oz, ¾ cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

pinch of sea salt

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/400F/gas mark 6. Toss the sweet potato wedges with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place the wedges on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until tender.

2. Mix together all the ingredients for the feta and garlic sauce and leave it to mature.

3. Mix together all the ingredients for the lamb burgers in a bowl. With your hands, mould the mixture into 4 patties. Brush the patties with oil and heat a frying pan. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.

Serve the lamb and beetroot burgers with some feta cheese and garlic sauce, sweet potato wedges and a large salad on the side.

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” Franz Kafka

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