Mary Had A Little Lamb (And It Was Good On Bread)

Before I even get to today’s post, I want to say thank you to everybody who commented on yesterdays post or sent me emails. You have no idea how much your support means to me… to US. We still don’t know what will happen but after talking to Jordans therapist yesterday, I am still scared but not AS scared. He was charged with assault when he was 12 in a very similar situation (over reacting school administration in that case) & was eventually found to be incompetent to stand trial and she (his therapist) feels that this one will end the same way. When he gets violent, he is so not aware of his surroundings or his own mind. So all we can do now is wait and see. And pray. I will keep you all updated. Again; thank you so so much. I adore you all!

Moving on…  When I was a kid, up until I was about 13, I thought meat consisted of hot dogs, my mothers garbage soup (don’t ask… it is something I prefer to forget), chicken and dumplings (that was one she cooked wonderfully!) and hamburgers. Then, a magical day occurred. One weekend, I went to visit my dad as usual. He had lamb chops for dinner and he convinced me to take a bite (not sure what I had been having for dinner). Well, it was love at first bite. My dad spoiled me rotten so even though I can’t remember it as fact, I am willing to bet that he didn’t get anymore of his lamb chops hehe. Medium rare… juicy… seasoned perfectly. My dad wasn’t a major cook but oh man could he do meat right! He is the one who taught me that meat shouldn’t be leather…aka well done.

We don’t have lamb often because it costs more than a mortgage payment but every once in a while, I can find ground lamb in the reduced bin. It’s not very popular in this part of Kentucky I guess (lamb in general isn’t except around the holidays) but the stores keep buying it. That’s fine with me cause then I get it when it’s cheap. πŸ˜€

Now we all know my love for curry… and spice…and cheese. Add in my love for lamb and some cranberry sauce (yes, I know that last part sounds weird; just trust me on this one. I promise… delicious!) and I had one fantastic burger for dinner tonight! And it was easy as could be. Mix everything together, toss it on the grill or fry pan (ok, so maybe don’t toss… if you miss, it could be messy. Make that set it gently on the grill πŸ˜› ), cook to medium well (I like my whole lamb, like chops, leg of lamb, etc, medium rare but ground lamb does better if cooked more well done.), shove it into a pita (see instructions for tossing onto the grill πŸ˜› ) garnish and eat. Easy huh? So if you like lamb or have just been wanting to broaden your horizons, give this a try. You’ll love it! The mix of the Greek Seasoning with it’s flavors with the subtle flavor of the curry is interesting.

Curried Lamb, Feta & Parmesan Burger In A Pita

  • 1 pound ground lamb
  • 1/3 cup crumbled feta (I used the garlic and herb kind)
  • 1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese)
  • 2 teaspoons McCormicks Greek Seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon red curry paste
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs (will be far too wet to grill if you don’t use this)
  • 3 pita halves
  • Romaine or butter lettuce (I used red leaf butter lettuce)
  • half of a medium onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  1. Get your charcoal grill going to medium high heat. If you have a gas grill, you would know better than I what temp to cook burgers at because I’ve never used a gas grill before.
  2. Mix the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. Don’t over mix because 1) you’ll have tougher burgers and 2) it breaks up the feta too much & the nice pieces of cheese in this is one of the yummy things about it)
  3. Shape into 3 large patties. Don’t over handle.
  4. Grill over medium hot coals until the meat is medium well;  150 – 155 degrees F. When grilling, please please please refrain from flipping burgers every two minutes. You really only want to flip ONCE. Get the first side done and when the meat releases easily, it’s ready to flip. If it sticks, leave it for a few more minutes.
  5. Take some of your lettuce and push it down into the pitas. Add a burger to each pita then add a few slices of onion. Red onion tastes best but I also know that’s subjective. Either way, I had to use yellow because my red one had gone bad. Grrr… grrr I say.
  6. Mix your cranberry sauce with the 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes then spoon about 1/4 cup of it onto each burger. Again; trust me on this. The fruity sauce with the burgers is outstanding. But you could also sub mango chutney if you want.
  7. Eat. Enjoy. πŸ™‚

 

You Call It Burger, I Call It Boiger

But only because I have a thing for talking in fake accents and that’s my very bad take on a Brooklyn one.

I think I mentioned before that I have a weird quirk and love talking in different accents. Luckily for me, my husband shares my quirk and hasn’t attempted to  get me into therapy yet (well, not for THAT anyway) and if he did try, he would probably do it in a Russian accent so I’m not sure the therapist would take him seriously. We are a sight to behold…or would that be behear? when we walk through the grocery store talking loudly to each other in either a Russian, Indian or Scottich accent (our favorites). We get some interesting looks. I’m still waiting for someone to ask us where we are from because I just know I wouldn’t get through the answer without cracking up. Is it possible to laugh in a Russian accent? Hmmm.  But when we do this, he is Boris and I am Natasha and we use the names out loud but so far no one has caught on to the background of the names. Did nobody else watch Rocky and Bullwinkle when they were kids? That or they are scared to approach the crazy couple perusing the peanut butter. Clean up in aisle nutso!

With those two (and an American Southern accent and an upper crust British accent) I can voice them with no help. But strangely, with other accents, I have to have visual or oral help such as reading a book that portrays a character speaking with an accent or hearing it. Yes, I am just weird enough that I have a method for speaking in fake accents. Hey! We all need a hobby right? Mine is …is…is… ok, so mine is just generally being strange but that’s a hobby too! Not everyone can knit!

Where is this all leading you ask? Well, hell if I know! You’re expecting logic and a nice path to a recipe here? You soooo must be new to my blog. πŸ˜€ My blog is all about nonsense and trying to get a laugh any way I can. Wait. That doesn’t make me sound very good does it? My blog is a place for logical stories and essays, linear thought processes and recipes that are the envy of five star restaurants and yes, I’m looking into that therapy now.

Today I’m posting (please to be imagining all of theese in a a Russian accent.) a recipe I came up with for a nice spicy (yes, more spice. If you don’t like spice you may need to check out www.blandfood.com. Now I am going to have to check to see if there is a web site with that name. I’d be willing to bet there is lol) southwestern style burger. I thought about making a mayo or relish to go with this and may do that in future incarnations but this time I wanted the burger to be the centerpiece, not the toppings. So I just used the typical ones to add crunch and cheesy goodness. This is very quickly put together and very flavorful and you can vary the toppings. Salsa, pepper jack, a yummy chipotle mayo maybe.

Southwestern Chorizo Burgers

  • 1 pound ground chuck
  • 1 pound chorizo sausage (if links, just take off the casing)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
  • 3 Tablespoons Salsa of choice
  • Buns of choice (no, not buns of steel)
  1. Mix all ingredients together, handling as little possible or the burger will be tough. You can’t totally mix the meats together so don’t bother trying.
  2. Shape into four to six burgers depending on what type of pigginess you are feeding. I made five good sized burgers.
  3. Cook by preferred method I grilled them) until no longer pink in the middle. You can’t cook these medium rare (my usual donenes…mmmmm, e-coli!) or medium because of the chorizo.
  4. Top as desired (I topped mine with a fried egg because that is one current trend I can soooo get behind) and enjoy the yumminess.

Ignore the cat hair on my background please πŸ˜€