There’s nothing worse than a cheap supermarket burger mashed together from reconstituted meat. And there’s nothing better than a homemade burger. So it’s really a no-brainer.

Make huge batches for summer barbecues, or halve the recipe for a quick mid-week meal with friends…though I’d always veer on the side of making too many, so that you can individually wrap any spare ones, pop them in the freezer and have a post-work, ready-meal to enjoy with a small salad or chips.

This recipe made 8 generously-sized burgers
1 kg good lamb mince
2 red onions (finely diced)
200g feta cheese (crumbled)
5 teaspoons of Harissa paste
Chilli (to taste)
Chopped up coriander (to taste – I used about ½ of a 75g supermarket pack)
1 egg

Put all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl, and get your hands involved mixing it all together. Finally add the egg to help everything bind together.

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Divide the mince mixture into big circles, then squeeze together and squash down into a patty.

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I fried the first four burgers, but I was being too impatient moving them about in the pan, and they began to disintegrate a bit.

I put the second batch of burgers inside the oven (at 180C) for 10 minutes instead where I couldn’t fiddle around with them – this seemed to work far better, and they came out looking perfect.

Serve the burgers in a grilled bun with rocket, gherkins and paprika-chips (potato wedges boiled for 5 minutes, and then tossed in oil and paprika in a roasting tin for 40 minutes).

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Personally, I didn’t think that the burgers needed lashings of sauce because it’d detract from the subtle Harissa flavours – also, the melty feta meant that they stayed nice and moist. Enjoy!