Ever since Susan Mello won the 2003 Build a Better Burger contest in 2003 with her
"My Big Fat Greco-Inspired Burger" I wanted to make this. I have taken several liberties with her original recipe. First of all I could not find good lamb to save my life today in my local grocery store so I resigned myself to making my Greco burger out of ground beef. Regardless, it turned out really good. I also wanted something more substantial than a pita to serve it on so I opted for a thicker ciabatta roll. The meat is flavored with mint and cumin. It is layered on top of some chopped lettuce, topped with a feta tzatziki sauce and a lemon and oregano grilled eggplant. I also served it with a grilled vidalia onion.
Tzatziki Sauce with Feta
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced finely
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup non-fat yogurt
1 tbsp dried dill
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Ingredients mixed well and chilled for at least one hour.
Grilled Eggplant
1 eggplant
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
2 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
Eggplant was sliced into half inch slices. The remaining ingredients were whisked together. The eggplant was tossed with the marinade and allowed to sit for one hour. Eggplant was grilled on a hot grill until soft.
Burgers
2/3 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup chopped chives
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt and pepper
When it's too hot to fire up the kitchen I opt for easy to prepare food on the grill outside. Nothing can beat a grilled burger. This one had some extra flavor though. I mixed into the meat some chopped up pepperoncinis, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and some dijon mustard. They were flavorful and juicy.
Ever since Susan Mello won the 2003 Build a Better Burger contest in 2003 with her "My Big Fat Greco-Inspired Burger" I wanted to make this. I have taken several liberties with her original recipe. First of all I could not find good lamb to save my life today in my local grocery store so I resigned myself to making my Greco burger out of ground beef. Regardless, it turned out really good. I also wanted something more substantial than a pita to serve it on so I opted for a thicker ciabatta roll. The meat is flavored with mint and cumin. It is layered on top of some chopped lettuce, topped with a feta tzatziki sauce and a lemon and oregano grilled eggplant. I also served it with a grilled vidalia onion.
