Spice Mix Hamburgers

An interesting topic of discussion came up today at work (and is completely NOT work related, haha). For lunch, I had brought in some left over pan grilled chicken and roasted baby red potatoes. After heating my food, I walk into the office and apologize to my co-worker in case my food stinks up the room. I mean after all, it was a spice rubbed chicken breast and an equally seasons roasted potatoes. She said it was no problem, and flatteringly mentioned that is looked and smelled really good. Which reminded me--remember back in elementary school and junior high? You would never want to be caught dead being the kid that brought leftovers for lunch. In my case, left over Persian food is not pretty, nor does it smell like what the standard American child is used to. Shoot, even our spaghetti with meat sauce didn't look and smell the same! I have definitely lived through a couple instances of unforgiving children asking "What is thatttttt???" in that grossed out tone (similar to the "OMG you have coooooties" tone). While I don't remember what I usually took for lunch back then (my memory fails me, haha), I do remember that the sandwiches and pizza were probably the only cool thing a person could bring (and this was confirmed by my office mate).

Fast forward to the more recent years. I crave foods with spices, and try and add an exotic twist to even the most American of foods (i.e these hamburgers). I've learned to embrace the difference and variety and in all honesty, people are becoming more and more accustomed and familiar with the more exotic flavors thanks to the internet and the wonders of food blogs. Hopefully by the time I have kids, they will be more open to trying new things instead of hating on the unfamiliar.

These hamburgers have the basic ingredients of a hamburger, but I've added a mix of spices that bring flavors of the Mediterranean and Middle East. In fact these spices are now widely used in many different world cuisines. For this recipe I used extra lean beef to cut down a bit on the fat content, ground turkey is a good alternative too. But for those of you who would like to indulge an 80/20 lean-to-fat (80% lean beef, 20% fat) is plenty.

Spice Mix Hamburgers
Serves 5-6 depending on size of hamburgers.

Ingredients

• 1 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion grated finely
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
• 1 Tbs ground meat seasoning (I bought this from my local Middle Eastern food market, but you can use whatever go to ground beef spice you have, or purchase this online--Sadaf has some great food items!)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Combine beef with spices, mix thoroughly (get in there with your hands... fear not...just make sure to wash them after touching anything else--you don't want to contaminate anything else) 
• Heat electric skillet or pan--spray lightly with oil (I heated a skillet to 375)
• Shape beef into patties (Size up to you) 
• Cook patties on skillet for about 3-4 minutes each side or until juices run clear (I like my burgers well done, adjust time accordingly for anything medium) 
• 2 minutes after flipping the burger, top with cheese of choice and allow cheese to melt while the other side finishes cooking. 
• Spray buns lightly with oil and place on skillet while burgers are cooking.
• I also sauteed some onions to top the burgers with (cut 1/2 onion into rings, spray pan lightly with oil, sautee until browned and starting to caramelize, add a 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce, cook a minute longer and set aside) 

We topped our burgers with tomatoes, middle eastern pickles in brine (found at local middle eastern food market or here), a bit of the saffron aioli I had made earlier that day, pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions and romaine lettuce. This was definitely an indulgence meal. I had one burger, the hubs had 2 (so they were good I guess?). If you try them out, let me know what you think! 

Also, in the comments below, answer this--what are your lunch time memories/nightmares as a child?