Hugh's North-African Spiced Lamb Burgers

By Chris
Main Ingredients:

• 1kg lamb mince
• Cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, cayenne and garlic
• 200g Greek yoghurt
• Green salad

After pointing out that I've done a Jamie Oliver 30 Minute Meals recipe every week so far, Helen insisted that I try another chef and I'm glad I did. Hugh's approach is much slower and more measured, and while it isn't really best suited to midweek cooking, it does yield pretty decent results.

This recipe is not dissimilar to Hugh's Chorizo meatballs, a personal favourite - mix a broad range of spices (cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, garlic, salt and pepper) with some meat and leave for an hour for the flavours to infuse. 

The main difference with this was he also suggested toasting some fennel and coriander seeds as well as some black peppercorns on the hob first, before grinding them up with a pestle and mortar. I'm not sure how much of a difference it made to the end result, but it certainly made the kitchen smell amazing. The burgers were fried and gave off quite a lot of fat, but after resting on some kitchen paper for a few minutes, they were succulent and juicy.

These creations were served with jewelled cous cous and a jazzed up Greek yoghurt with mint, salt, cumin and some more toasted seeds - coriander and sesame this time. The final flourish was some homemade flatbreads, which required kneading, and were pretty tricky to cook. After a genius intervention from Helen, who decided to cook them directly on the ceramic hob, these turned out to a serious upgrade on a bun or wrap.

Overall, quite a classy, yet thrifty meal at just over £2 per head, and one I will definitely be replicating come barbecue season.

Best for... A super snazzy summer barbecue, when you're not pushed for time.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Helen says... A big improvement on some ready-made lamb burgers, fragrant and not greasy. Plus I felt pretty good flipping flatbreads on two hobs like a pro!