Kofta Burgers and Greek Potatoes

 

The Plan

Jenn and I ate at the Mediterranean Cafe in Lexington and I had the Kofta dish, and I couldn't stand that Jenn couldn't have any due to her lack of eating mammals. I decided then that I had to adapt a recipe with ground turkey for her, but I couldn't just leave it at turkey Kofta, I wanted to make a burger. I scoured the interwebs in search of something similar to my idea - a burger on flat bread or pita, maybe even a pita pocket. To no real avail. I decided that I wanted to make my own Tzataziki Sauce, Hummus, Oliveda, and instead of lettuce - shredded grape leaves.

Turkey Kofta

2 lbs Ground Turkey

2 Tablespoons Coriander

2 tablespoons Cumin

2 tablespoons Turmeric

2 tablespoons Allspice

2 tablespoons Cayenne Pepper

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Sea Salt

1 tablespoon Ginger

1 tablespoon Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Fresh Diced Parsley

1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs

Mix all ingredients together working everything together in a large bowl. Cover and allow to sit refrigerated for thirty minutes. When ready pat meat into 4 ounce thin patties (for my purposes, I used a George Foreman grill, and it only took around 4 minutes or so for them to cook). Makes eight 4 oz. servings.

Tzataziki Sauce

2 cups plain Greek Yogurt

1 cucumber seeds removed and diced

1/4 cup minced dill

1/4 minced mint

1/4 cup lemon juice

Really good, and really simple sauce. Basically, cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds with a spoon and dice it into small centimeter sized cubes, and then mix all ingredients together.

Oliveda

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata Olives minced and strained

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 dash olive oil

Dice the olives finely and strain off any additional juice with a sieve or pat dry with a paper towel and combine other ingredients.

Greek Potatoes

3 large Russet potatoes diced

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 tablespoons of paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Rinse and dice the potatoes, mix all ingredients together making sure to coat potatoes with oil and consistently with paprika, bake at 350 degrees until tender.