Lamb Burgers with Pickled Onions and Jalapeno Tzatziki

Pairs well with:

Zinfandel

Bright and full-bodied, this Zinfandel wine is a curious contradiction in tastes.

Growing up as a Greek girl I’ve always loved making lamb meatballs. One night we were out of everything to make pasta sauce, so I thought I put together a burger with what we did have. I’ve been making them ever since!

Ingredients:

Pickled Onion
3/4 cups white vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Bay leaves
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
10 Black peppercorns
1 medium onion thinly sliced

Patties
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
1 cup breadcrumbs – grated baguette
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried mint
1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup Sutter Home Zinfandel
2 eggs
2 pounds ground lamb (80/20)

Jalapeno Tzatziki
4 cloves of garlic smashed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 jalapenos chopped (with seeds from 1)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley
1 cup The Greek God’s plain yogurt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Vegetable oil for brushing the grill
6 bakery wheat buns
1/4 cup butter, softened

Instructions:

Preheat a gas grill to medium-high

To prepare the pickled onions combine all ingredients except for onions in a fireproof skillet. Bring to a boil and add onions. Let simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat. Let cool for 15 minutes, pour into bowl, cover, and refridgerate until burgers are finished.

To make the patties combine the onion, breadcrumbs, cheese, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, minit, rosemary, garam masala, and garlic powder. Add in the wine, egg, and lamb and mix well with your hands. Form the mixture into 6 round patties, cover, and regfridgerate until ready to grill.

For the jalapeno tzatziki stir together the garlic and salt. Add in the jalapenos, lemon juice, parsley, yogurt and olive oil. Stir together until well-blended, cover, and refridgerate until burgers are done.

Brush the vegetable oil on the grill rack. Please the burgers on the rack, cover, and cook 4-5 minutes on both sides. Will be medium-rare when done. Butter both sides of each bun and place on the grill rack for 1 minute.

To assemble the burger spread 1 tzatzkik on both the bottom and top buns. Add 1 patty to each bottom bun and then spread the pickled onions across the top of each burger. Place the top bun over the onions and enjoy!!