Lamb and pistachio patties with sumac yogurt sauce

#meals/dinner #cuisines/middle-eastern #dishes/main #dietary/gluten-free #scalable #active-time/30-to-60mins
Ottolenghi Simple
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Sumac yogurt sauce

• 1 cup / 250g Greek-style yogurt
• 1 tbsp sumac
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Patties

• 1/2 cup / 60g shelled pistachios
• 1 1/4 cups / 25g arugula
• 1 onion, quartered (150g)
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled
• 18 oz / 500g ground lamb
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper

Instructions

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the sumac yogurt sauce and keep in the fridge until needed.
2. To make the patties, put the pistachios into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz for a few seconds, to roughly chop, then put into a medium bowl. Add the arugula to the processor, blitz for a few seconds to roughly chop, then add to the bowl of pistachios. Continue with the onion and garlic, to form a smooth paste, and add to the bowl. Add the lamb, 1 tbsp of oil, 3/4 tsp salt, and a good grind of pepper. Mix well to combine, then, with wet hands, shape the mix into about twenty patties. They should be about 5cm wide, 2cm thick, and weigh about 40g.
3. Put 1 tbsp of oil into a large nonstick frying pan and place over medium heat. Once hot, add the patties - as many as you can fit without crowding the pan - and cook for 7 minutes, turning halfway, until golden brown and just cooked through. Keep warm while you repeat with the remaining patties. If you need to, add another tbsp oil to the pan during the process. When the patties are all cooked, pile them onto a large platter and serve with the sumac yogurt sauce.
   Notes: To make into a more substantial meal, serve with some arugula tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, and shaved Parmesan. The yogurt sauce can be made the day before. The patties will keep in the fridge for 1 day uncooked, or can be cooked up to 6 hours in advance, ready to be warmed through for 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers are also good the next day, at room temperature or warmed through.

Journal

• 2023-12-31: Made with Maria on NYE with Cucumber and lamb's lettuce salad and Carrot salad with yogurt and cinnamon. Delicious! The patties were very moist, probably from the onion, but still cooked well in the cast iron once the heat was high enough. Pistachios didn't come through that much - might be better if they were toasted? Wallaby yogurt would probably work better than Fage in the yogurt sauce.