Bellum Lamb Burgers a.k.a. Lambgasms

Sometimes simple recipes are perfection, and you don’t need to gild the lily. SOMETIMES. Grilled asparagus with a fried egg, Cantonese steamed fish with ginger and scallion, sizzled with some soy sauce and hot oil, or the perfect pasta tossed with pecorino-romano and piles of freshly ground pepper. Other times simple is just simple, and not in a good way. See also: Sarah Palin.

I found this recipe a couple of years ago while searching some fantastic Aussie recipe sites. The recipe made me drool, the burgers were orgasmic. The recipe is not simple, but you can make the components ahead of time so all you have to do at the last minute is butter and grill the buns and the burgers and assemble. This is one of those “You get what you pay for” moments, where the time involved really pays off. We did these for the 4^th of July and they are far and away the burgers people request most often.

Thank you Kairu Yao for making beautiful food porn while I was studiously getting my meat ready for the crowd. 

Bellum Lamb Burgers a.k.a. Slap Yo Mamma Lamb Burgers

Recipe adapted from Bellum Hotel in SA, Australia

Serves 2

Ingredients

You will need:

2 sour dough buns cut in half

Rosemary butter (see below)

100 g (3.5 oz) mixed salad leaves

6 slices oven dried tomatoes (see below)

2 lamb burger patties (see below)

4 Tbs caramelized onion (see below)

6 slices pancetta

Goats cheese aioli (see below)

Rosemary butter

150 g (5 ¼ oz.) unsalted butter softened

1 ½ Tbs fresh rosemary very finely chopped

1 tsp French mustard

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Oven dried tomatoes

2 x tomatoes

½ tsp thyme finely chopped

½ tsp parsley finely chopped

Pinch sea salt and cracked pepper 

Caramelized onion

2x large red onions

150 g (5 ¼ oz) butter

White wine

Goats cheese aioli

1 Tbs crushed garlic

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 egg yolks

200mls (6 ¾ fl. Oz.) canola oil

80 g (2 ¾ oz) goat’s cheese

1 Tbs chardonnay vinegar

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Lamb Patty

350g (12 1/3 oz) ground lamb

150g (12 1/3 oz) ground lamb sausage

¼ cup red onion diced

¼ cup bread crumbs

¼ cup grated parmesan

1 egg

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Method

Rosemary butter

1. Combine all ingredients. This butter will keep in the butter for a week and in the freezer for a month. This would also be brilliant served with a steak or melted over new potatoes.

Oven dried tomatoes

1. Preheat oven to 100*c (212 degrees Farenheit)

2. Slice each tomato into 3 slices removing both ends. Sprinkle with herbs and place on oven rack and into oven for 3-4 hours until reduced in size by 1/3. Cool and refrigerate.

Caramelized onion

1. Melt butter in heavy based saucepan. Add sliced onions and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently. When bottom of pan begins to caramelize add splash of white wine to deglaze and continue cooking, repeating wine process until onions are very soft and golden in color. Refrigerate.

Goats cheese aioli

1. In a food processor combine garlic, Dijon and egg yolks. Process for 1 minute until mix becomes pale. With processor still running slowly drizzle oil into mix then add vinegar. With a fork, break up goat’s cheese then add to processor until smooth.. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate.

Lamb Patty

1. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour then divide in half. Roll each half into a tight ball then gently flatten until 2cm (just under an inch) in thickness.

To serve

On the bottom half of sour dough buns spread a generous amount of rosemary butter. Place both tops and bottoms of buns into 180*c (350 degrees Celsius. Ok, it’s really 356 degrees, but you get my drift) oven for 5 mins. Place lamb burger on moderately hot grill and cook for 3 minutes then turn. While burger finishes cooking grill pancetta until crispy and reheat caramelized onion. To assemble, place mixed lettuce onto bottom half of burger bun and top with dried tomatoes. Place patty onto tomato and top with onion then pancetta. Spread top half of bun with goat’s cheese aioli and place on top of burger to finish. Serve with a Lipitor.

Comments

[Ruth in San Francisco]

Accompanied by fava beans and a nice chianti, no doubt.

Happy Birthday to my favorite Baketard!!!

XO

[Lorna]

I've been lucky enough to taste these---OMG, delicious!

[Debbi]

This is for dinner tonight!
Thx!