Lamb Burgers with Houmous, Courgettes & Mozzarella Salad

This is a great easy-to-prepare and healthy-ish dinner, perfect at this time of year when courgettes and tomatoes are filling the weekly veg box. Lamb is also at its best in autumn, after spending a whole summer fattening up on rich pastureland and frolicking about in the outdoors.

If you're a veggie then this would work just as beautifully with my homemade veggie burgers. 

The Lamb Burgers

Just in case plain lamb-and-mint doesn't tickle your fancy, I have a more summery recipe with redcurrants here.
These burgers are very simple, you just need 250g minced lamb, a small onion diced very small, a crushed garlic clove, some chopped mint and parsley, salt and pepper. Squish together in a bowl until thoroughly mixed and then form into two patties.
Grill or pan-fry until cooked through, although if the meat is very fresh these are lovely served a little bit rare in the middle.

The Houmous

Homemade houmous is so wonderful because you can tweak it according to your own tastes - extra lemony if you like that, a super hit of garlicky goodness if that's your thing, spicy or cool, smooth or textured; whatever you like best.

You need a tin of chickpeas, rinsed under the tap, and plonked into a food processor. Add to this a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, a couple of tablespoons of tahini (sesame seed paste) plenty of salt and the juice of a lemon. 

Whizz these up and then, with the processor still running, start to pour olive oil through the "chimney" in the lid. Try a couple of glugs to begin with and keep stopping to taste the mixture, adding more seasoning, lemon and olive oil until it's exactly how you want it. Spoon out into a bowl and top with paprika.

The Courgettes

You need to thinly slice your courgettes, approximately one small courgette per person, using a mandolin or sharp knife.

Melt some butter and a little oil in a large frying pan and gently saute the courgettes until they have softened but still retain some bite. Season well with salt and lots of fresh ground pepper.

The Salad

Easiest recipe there is! Slice some ripe tomatoes and a ball of buffalo mozzarella, drizzle with olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.