Greek Lamb Burgers with Scallion Tzatziki

Its not often we eat burgers, apart from when we have the odd barbecue. Even then, we rarely have barbecues as we seem to both be so busy. But, its looking like the final days of summer here in London, as it has turned a bit colder so I decided to say farewell to the sun by making lamb burgers.

A fairly simple recipe (especially if you have a hand blender and you don't have to chop everything by hand) this can be cooked up in 15 minutes and is lovely with some fries and a little side salad.

Ingredients:

500g lamb mince
1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, halved
8 black olives (kalamata ideally)
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
30g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp. tomato paste
50g feta
1 egg, beaten

In a small hand blender, finely chop the onion and garlic. Add the olives, herbs, seasoning and breadcrumbs and briefly pulse until all mixed. Put into a bowl with the lamb mince, tomato paste and egg. Crumble in the feta cheese and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Shape into burgers (makes about 7) and place a small square of greaseproof paper in between each one. Chill for an hour for the flavours to meld and to hold the shape. Either shallow fry in a tsp. or oil or grill for 8 minutes, turning once, until cooked through.

For the Scallion Tzatziki:

180g Total Greek yoghurt
1/4 cucumber
6 scallions (spring onions), chopped finely
1 tbsp. olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon

Peel the cucumber and cut in half lengthways. Use a spoon to remove the seeds from the middle and then grate coarsely. Put into the centre of a clean tea towel and holding it over the kitchen sink, squeeze as much water as you can out of the cucumber. Put into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and check the seasoning. Chill.

Serve the burgers with lettuce, tomato, sliced red onion with a good portion of tzatziki on the top. A little salad and fries and you have a lovely Greek style dinner. Delicious!

Hearty Gammon 'One Pot' Soup

This is such a comfort food recipe, to be eaten on those nights where its just getting a bit colder in the season. Its only August but the temptation to put the central heating on keeps coming into my mind. I won't yet... but I am going to make more stews and soups to warm me up.

I have been making this gammon recipe for many, many years now and the base of it doesn't change - just the added vegetables, as its more of what I happen to have - with a few staples (carrots, potatoes etc.) You can add cabbage, swede, parsnips, kale.. anything you fancy.

I tend to buy a 1kg piece of unsmoked gammon for this, as it makes loads (it freezes well). You need to soak this joint though, to remove the salt. I tend to do this overnight in the fridge in a large pot of water, ready to be drained and refreshed the next day. So we have a lovely warming soup/stew with tons of flavour. And its a one pot dish too!

Ingredients:

1kg joint of boneless unsmoked gammon
4 bay leaves
8 peppercorns
500g small new potatoes, quartered
1 onion, roughly chopped
8 carrots, cut into chunks
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
100g thin green beans, halved
100g broccoli, cut into florets, stem chopped

Method:

After soaking the gammon overnight (or up to 5 hours), put in a large pot and cover with water, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer. Cook for 90 minutes.

Add the potatoes, carrots, onion and fennel and continue to cook on the stove top for 15 minutes. Then add the green beans and broccoli along with a good grind of black pepper (you don't want any salt).

Carefully take the gammon out and put onto a chopping board. Shred the meat with two forks and add the meat back to the veg. Stir to combine.

Ten minutes later it should be ready. Serve the gammon and veg with some of the delicious stock and a spoon of English mustard on the side. With a few pieces of bread and butter - is there anything more comforting?