Feta Oregano Burgers

Ingredients:

½ pound lean ground beef
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh oregano
¼ tsp chili powder
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

Muck it all together: sorry, gotta use your hands for this. Yeah, it’s a mess, but it’s worth it.

Shape it into two patties and fry it in a good old fashioned cast iron skillet.

Serve on a whole wheat hamburger bun with the usual condimental accessories.

Serves two.

I love the mix of flavors in this. This is a small recipe: two modest, quarter-pound burgers, but the flavors really pop here. This is one time where dried oregano just won't do as a substitute for the fresh: it isn't a spice, it's an ingredient. I served this with fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice and it was a big hit.

Roast Beast Hash

Serves one hungry guy, or two gentle ladies, though this is probably not really “lady food.”

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of roast beef, sliced shoestring style.
• 1 medium potato, shredded with a coarse cheese shredder.
• ¼ yellow onion, thin sliced.
• 1 egg.

Spices:

• Salt & pepper, generously.
• Cajun spice mix.
• ¾ tsp dried oregano.
• ½ tsp dried basil.
• ¼ tsp dried garlic.
• 1½ tsp chipotle pepper sauce

Directions:

Slice it all up thin. Stir it up in a large mixing bowl. Add spices. Stir it up some more.

Pre-heat a good ol' cast iron frying pan. (Lesser frypans are acceptable if you don't have a well-seasoned black iron pan. Save up your nickels and get one at Goodwill for two bucks.)

Get the pan nice and hot; heat up a TBSP or so of olive oil, and add a little butter for flavor, and turn the heat down to medium. Pour in the whole concoction, and press it down firmly. Cover and let it cook until it’s medium brown on that side.

Flip it once, recover, and brown the opposite side.

When it’s done – and it should be one firm piece, like a large pancake – then add a bit of butter to the frying pan, and fry an egg to go on top of the hash.

This is pretty good if you don’t make bland. This needs to be kind of spicy. The egg on top is optional, but highly recommended.