Saturday Dinner: Feta Burgers

It's time for another Saturday night dinner, but once again it's a special edition as we did it for lunch instead of dinner. On the menu today: Feta Burgers! Actually, it was supposed to be lamb burgers, but ground lamb isn't exactly easy to come by. (Plus I'm just not a huge fan of lamb in general; it has to be extremely fresh and cooked perfectly so that the gamey aftertaste isn't as strong.) Instead I used beef and Jade used chicken.



Other than the lamb, I followed the recipe exactly. It was super simple, took less than 15 minutes to prepare and make. I know because I had misjudged the time, and got home from the supermarket (and Starbucks) with only 15 minutes to spare until we were supposed to meet up. I mixed up the meat and slapped the patty in a cast-iron pan to cook. Instead of serving with rice or bread on the side, I decided to eat it as a real burger with a sesame bun. I sliced up a Roma tomato and spread some mustard on one side of the bun. If I'd had more time I would have lightly toasted it. Though I waited awhile, the feta cheese refused to melt on the meat. :/ I even covered it for about 30-45 seconds to encourage the steam to melt it, but it was stubborn. Finally I gave up and just took the patty out of the pan with chunks of feta cheese sitting on top. It was still tasty!



Jade was a little fancier with hers. She sauteed some spinach and added it to the ground chicken along with some marjoram, then formed patties. She also added some sliced portabello mushroom to the sandwich.



Using some spray oil, she made some corn tortilla chips to go on the side (as well as a salad). I've made my own corn tortilla chips before, but always by deep frying in oil. If just spraying the pan with a bit of oil works just as well, I might try that and save myself some calories.



Since I was in a hurry I didn't have anything to accompany my burger. Jade's plating puts mine to shame!



Feta Burger

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 500g (roughly a pound) lean ground meat (your choice of lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, etc.)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp rosemary (or 2 minced tsp if using fresh)
• pinch of ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

Method

1. Mix the meat, salt, garlic powder, rosemary, and pepper. Shape into 4 patties.
2. Cook the patties in a pan, using spray oil, until browned, for about 5 minutes. Flip once during this process so both sides get brown.
3. Sprinkle with cheese and cook until the cheese melts (or burger is done and you are tired waiting for the cheese to melt).
4. Serve on hamburger buns, or eat as a meat entree with some rice and veggies on the side.

Notes: You can jazz up the meat any way you like -- add additional herbs and spices, or even sauteed spinach as Jade did. And as with all burgers, you can add condiments to your preference. If I'd had time I might have fried up some bacon or sauteed some mushrooms and onions.