Lamb burgers with Alliance amber ale

There is something seriously delicious about hashing up your own lamb burgers and pairing them with aptly selected craft beers. We whipped up this recipe for a lamb burger, that was born to be paired with a bottle of Citizen Alliance amber ale. The malt character, sweetness and subtle caramel from the beer, pairs brilliantly with the lamb. These burgers are served with homemade chips that are smothered in the best mixed spices, just to add to the flavour variety going on in this dish.

Ingredients:

For the chips
8 large potatoes, cut into chunks
100 ml canola oil
3 tsp salt
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp chilli powder
Zest of 3 limes or 2 lemons

For the burgers
500 g lamb mince
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
Handful fresh oregano, chopped
2 tbsp chutney
1 tbsp dried chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Burger buns plus bits to serve: pickles, leaves

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Toss the potatoes with the canola oil in a large roasting tray. Place them in the oven and bake for 35–40 minutes.
3. Mix the ingredients for the burgers together and form it into small rounds (four patties of about 120 g each).
4. Fry for a few minutes on each side on medium to low heat (depending on how you like your lamb).
5. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, paprika, sugar, chilli and lime zest.
6. Remove the chips from the oven and toss with the spice mix. If the spice mix gets too wet don’t worry, it will all melt into the hot chips.
7. Toast the buns under the grill for a minute or until golden.

Serve the patties with buns, pickles and bits, and a big portion of spicy chips.  Open a cold bottle of Citizen Alliance amber ale, and enjoy.

What do you think about using lamb mince to make burgers? Don’t forget to sign up here to our newsletter, to be the first one to know what we are cooking up this side.