The Lamb And The Ham

We had a quiet, but nice Easter. Son Donald came over, as he does most Sundays, and helped prepare dinner.

Instead of serving a traditional ham, Donald suggested barbecuing.  (Hubby Tony's always up for cooking outside, so it didn't take much to convince him.) Yesterday Tony and I went to the store to buy meat.  Our plan was to serve hamburgers and lamb skewers, but when the first store we stopped at didn't have any boneless lamb we went to the Whole Foods across the street.

Our dinner plans changed when we discovered Whole Foods had ground lamb on sale; our main dish turned into lamb burgers and hamburgers.  The butcher weighed out and wrapped a pound of the lamb, and we selected a family-sized package of ground beef from the cooler. We also got whole wheat hamburger buns and good Swiss cheese to add to the burgers.

 I volunteered to make the lamb burgers, and the men put together the beef patties. Everything came out great!  I don't often cook with lamb, but the simple recipe I used was quite tasty.  We accompanied the burgers with grilled onions, peppers, and pineapple, green salad, and potato salad. Tony made all three pounds of hamburger into patties and cooked them.  We'll have leftovers for dinner tomorrow.  I'll freeze the rest of them, and have several quick meals waiting ready to go.

Lamb Burgers (yield 4 burgers) 

1 pound ground lamb
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
½ Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of parsley, chopped
2/3 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

Gently mix together all ingredients.  Divide meat into four portions, and form each portion into a patty about 1/2 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter. 

Cook on the grill over medium heat until the internal temperature reaches 160° (10-16 minutes).