Lamb Burger (Recipe)
Who says eating cute furry animals is a sin
Baaah Burger for the win…!
Well things have shifted quickly didn't they from my initial food post. I'm doing a hard transition from something sweet (and nutritious) all the way to savory (and uh, nutritious). Not just anything savory, meat kinda savory. Why? Well despite the fact that non-meat diets are becoming ever more popular these days, the majority of humans still enjoy the consumption of slaughtered fury animals. So yeah, the cute factor seems to wain when we are hungry for sure.
As time will go on in this newsletter I will continually stress the importance of protein, one of the three macronutrients a body needs to function properly. Eating meat is the most convenient way to get many essential amino and fatty acids. These are the sub elements of meats that make eating them so important. Without, our health will greatly suffer. So protein intake is very important. Vegan/vegetarian practitioners can get all these essentials elements sans meat, but in a more roundabout way. In other words, it is more difficult and supplementation may be necessary to acquire them. Food for thought…literally.
So what is going on with this lamb stuff in the title anyway…? Well, as I began to plan out this post I started to think about red meat. Much maligned by some who want to watch their weight for some reason, I think it is not something to skip. In reality, as humans, we should be consuming a little bit of every type of food. Red meat is good to consume not only because it is an excellent source of protein (and all those essential acids mentioned), but also because it is a great source of iron as well. I was just having a conversation with someone last week about how she, mysteriously, is anemic all of a sudden. And it was discovered that she is deficient in iron. So now, she has to take iron supplements. I am not sure how keen on red meat she was, but my guess is not so much.
Oh yeah, the baaah (lamb) stuff. I had in mind LAMB burgers that I used to make all the time and wanted to share this simple recipe with everyone. Lamb is a great alternative to ground beef, is somewhat affordable, and provides a slightly different nutrition profile. Below are the nutrition values of 4oz of ground lamb, and 90% lean ground beef (Ground Lamb is on the right).
Let's dive into a comparison. The 90/10 lean beef obviously is less in calories than the ground lamb. However, the most important difference to me is the fat profile. So the fat that does remain in the ground beef is all saturated fat (which is bad for you to an extent). Ground lamb has roughly 50% more saturated fat in terms of grams, but, the interesting bit is that it actually contains poly and monounsaturated fats as well. Something ground beef has none of. In fact if you look, it has nearly just as much polyunsaturated fats.
Mono and polyunsaturated fats play a critical role in your cellular health and thus have been dubbed healthy fats. Previously I mentioned how they help lower LDL (or bad) cholesterol (see link below). These healthy fats are rare to get in a protein, so ground lamb is worth a shot. During the cooking process, a lot of the saturated fat (and some good fats) will evacuate the meat anyway so when all is said and done the caloric value of 4oz of ground lamb will likely be close to the 90/10 ground beef.
OK, enough health talk. Here is the recipe. It's simple and tasty.
Whisk together the juice of a fresh lemon, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried oregano. And I mean whisk, whisk, whisk. If the solution is too green, there is too much olive oil. To avoid this I add a little at a time. Ideally, I like to shoot for a slightly opaque white on the verge of green. Once you reach this color consistency, taste to make sure the level of seasoning is to your liking. If needed, whisk in more.
From here the idea is to thoroughly mix together the ground lamb and lemon/olive oil mixture (you can add in dried rosemary at this stage if you like as well). Use your judgment to determine how much of this mixture to produce based on how much ground lamb you have. I like to get it so that the liquid just about permeates the raw meat without leaving a pool at the bottom of the bowl I mix it in.
Next form into equally sized patties (4 - 5oz per should do ya). You can let these sit in the fridge for a while, or overnight if you like. Or, just cook them from the jump. You can broil them, grill them with some burning wood chips to get a smokier flavor, or pan cook them. The pan method will be the messiest since the lamb will shed a lot of excess fat, and olive oil/lemon juice mixture.
Once cooked, allow to rest for five minutes or so and then it's ready.
Stay tuned in the future and I will tell you what you can pair this protein with…!
BAAAAH…
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