It’s early yet, so I would exactly describe the garden as “yielding.” But even if the vegetables have weeks, if not months, until we have vegetables, there are herbs, even if they’re in pots and not the ground.
On Friday night, for the first time, I cut nine or ten leaves from the sage plant to use in burgers made from ground lamb. I took about a pound of ground lamb, and combined it with the chopped sage, fresh ground pepper and kosher salt, two chopped cloves of garlic, a swig of Worcestershire sauce, and a beaten egg.
Steve grilled the burgers up, and we served them on whole grain buns spread with hummus, and topped them with some organic herb salad.
Steve also grilled some veggie kebabs that we assembled together (not from our garden, but one of these days…): summer squash, zucchini, and green and red pepper strung on bamboo skewers soaked in water. The combo was fabulous, and we enjoyed the food in camp chairs, overlooking the garden, our feet bare. We sat outside as long as we could, until the air took on an unexpected chill. Well, it is spring, after all. While it’s warmer, now, than it was over the winter, it’s not summer yet. Warm nights are coming soon enough.
Lamb Burgers with Sage
Approx. 1 lb. ground lamb
8-10 leaves fresh sage, sliced or chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1-2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1/2 Tbsp. Freshly ground pepper
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Form into four evenly-sized patties and grill or broil until cooked at least medium well. Serve on whole-grain buns topped with mixed greens and hummus.
Icon credit: Kalyn’s Kitchen
on May 21st, 2006 at 9:56 am
Lamb burgers..fantastic! Even if it was only a couple of leaves of sage, you grew it and that makes it the best sage there ever was.
on May 21st, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Steven,
I think you’re right! I was a little nervous to start taking off leaves so early in the season, but I’ve got faith that the sage plant will take off soon — and when it does, I have a sage pesto recipe with that plant’s name all over it…
:-) Genie
on May 21st, 2006 at 2:15 pm
This sounds just wonderful, and I’d love to see the recipe for sage pesto too. I love to grow sage in memory of my grandma, it was her favorite herb.
on May 21st, 2006 at 6:09 pm
We make mint pesto and basil pesto… but sage pesto! I would never have thought of that.
I’ve been afraid to touch my sage plant too. It’s just now starting to leaf. I’m waiting til we have tons of leaves so that I can make pasta with oven roasted sweet potato cubes and sage. I got the idea from Haalo’s “Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once” post for IMBB #22: Use your noodle.
Grow sage, grow!!
-Elizabeth
on Sep 30th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
[...] It also was the most successful of my herb plants, producing all summer long, growing lovely and thick, and not getting out of control like the mint. The sage was the first of my herb plants to grow large enough for me to use it, as I did in my recipe for Lamb Burgers with Sage, one of the first recipes I submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging. [...]
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
[...] Published May 31, 2006 Gettin’ Dirty , Steve Before firing up the grill the night we had lamb burgers, Steve carried trowelsful of charcoal ash over to the garden and scattered it around the base of [...]