Gyro Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves: 1 – 4 (depending how much people can eat)

Description
So, you like gyros. But you just don't want to create an awkward processed meat in your own kitchen. Or maybe you just don't have a food processor. Or maybe you just want to serve burgers. Or you want something different? I don't know what you're thinking. But, in any case, this is a great recipe. I take the standard "Gyro" meat seasoning and sauce and turn it into a burger. What better way to melt the Mediterranean and America together? Plus, the sauce is great on just about anything!

Ingredients

 * 3 lbs of ground lamb
 * 1 red or white (your choice) onion
 * 3½ cloves of garlic
 * dried marjoram
 * rosemary
 * salt and pepper (to taste)
 * 16 oz of Greek yogurt
 * 1 cucumber
 * olive oil
 * tomato
 * lettuce
 * feta cheese
 * buns of your choice

Burger preparation

 * 1) Dice the onion.
 * 2) Dice ½ clove of garlic.
 * 3) Knead the onion and garlic into the lamb meet.
 * 4) Add 1 – 2 tablespoons of marjoram and rosemary into the meet.
 * 5) Add salt and pepper to taste.
 * 6) Slice the tomato and prepare enough leaves of lettuce for the burgers.

Tzatziki sauce

 * 1) Cut the cucumber into as small of pieces as you can. But don't use a food processor. They need to retain their juices.
 * 2) Use a food processor or dice the other 3 cloves of garlic (or less, depending on how you want it to taste. For me, this was more than enough garlic).
 * 3) Mix the cucumber and garlic into the Greek yogurt with just a tiny bit of olive oil. Some people like to add mint leaves to ad a bit of freshness to the taste of the sauce. I've found that this only helps if you're using older or less than stellar cucumbers. If you have a good cucumber, the mint doesn't add much. It's up to you, though.
 * 4) Cover the sauce and put it in the fridge for now.

Cooking
Now comes the tricky part. You gotta do this just right.
 * 1) Roll the lamb into 4 patties (should be about ¾ lbs a piece, unless i did the math wrong).
 * 2) Cook it in a skillet, griddle, frying pan or on a grill.
 * 3) You gotta make sure that you don't over cook it.
 * 4) It needs to retain its juices.
 * 5) Once you flip it (which i do when it begins to loose its raw color about halfway up the side) place some feta cheese on the already cooked side.
 * 6) You have to keep poking the meat with a knife or fork to find the perfect point to take it off.
 * 7) Once it's no long raw in the middle, but still juicy: that's it.

Serving

 * 1) Now's the good part.
 * 2) Put the burgers on buns (I love whole wheat for this, myself) and place some lettuce and tomato on top of the melted feta and smother it in the tzatziki sauce.
 * 3) These burgers are almost guaranteed to impress people you cook it for.