Weekend Cooking: Spiced Lamb Burgers

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After my success with the Bon Appetit's spatchcocked chicken, I decided to look for other interesting grilling recipes. In the July issue, I found this for grilled lamb burgers. Even though Mr. BFR had his doubts, we went ahead and gave this recipe a try.

Because there are only two of us, I cut the recipe in half and made only four burgers. The leftovers were delicious cold the next day. Note too, that I weighed the meat mixture so that each pita pocket would have the exact same amount of meat. I used Wegman's brand whole wheat pitas.

By the way, you could use any ground meat, of course, and any spice mixture. Next time we're going to make Cajun-spiced burgers and tuck in a bit of blue cheese with the meat. Yum! The photos are mine.

Spiced Lamb Burgers
Makes 8 burgers
From Bon Appetit (July 2014)

• 2½ pounds ground lamb, preferably shoulder
• 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
• ¾ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus more for grilling
• 8 thick medium pita breads with pockets

Using a fork, mix lamb, onion, parsley, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and ¼ cup oil in a large bowl. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

Prepare grill for medium heat and oil grate. Working one at a time, open each pita pocket by cutting along seam, halfway around perimeter. Spoon filling into pitas, spreading to edges. (I used my hand to fill the pitas.) Close, pressing on filling to seal.

Grill pitas until filling is cooked through and bread is crisp, about 5 minutes per side. (At 400F, our pitas were perfectly medium rare after 5 minutes a side.)

Notes from Bon Appetit: Filling can be made 8 hours ahead; keep chilled. Pita breads can be stuffed 1 hour ahead; cover and chill.