Lamb Burgers

Lamb Burgers:
(serves 3)

- 1 pound ground lamb
- 1/4 cup fresh mint, minced, and packed tightly (or more, you can't really over-do it)
- 2 large clove garlic, minced
- 1 egg
- cinnamon (liberally sprinkle over meat to cover)
- kosher salt (liberally sprinkle over meat to cover)
- pepper (liberally sprinkle, but about 1/2 as much as the salt)

- buns: I used olive rolls from Whole foods, which were great.
- Tzatziki
- 1 tomato, sliced
- sliced red onion (don't slice too thin, just slightly less than 1/4")
- greens, e.g. arugula
- optional, a few strips of julienned hot pepper (serrano, jalapño, etc.)
- optional, quick-pickled cucumbers (sliced cukes marinated in salt and white wine vinegar for about 20 minutes)
- optional, sliced feta (easy to do, if you serve this with Greek salad)

Combine mixture. Don't knead the meat too much. The key to tenderness in ground meat (as with breads) is not working it to much. Work it to the point where you're sure you've evenly incorporated everything, then make the patties, either 3 medium, or two large, and one small.

Bring a cast iron skillet to smoking (no oil), then place burgers on high heat. Around 4" each side. Basically, watch the burgers and flip when it has browned to nearly half way up. Do the same on the other side. This should yield a medium burger, pink on the inside. If you see them burning, rather than browning, reduce the heat to medium.

Assemble. Spread Tzatziki liberally on buns. Place cooked burgers followed by feta, tomato, onion, greens and optional cukes on top.

Very good. Serve with Greek Salad