Spicy Feta Burgers

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• about 1/2 cup feta cheese

Mix spices into beef, using hands, until well-mixed. Form eight small balls of meat, then press into very flat pancake shapes. Top four with about 2 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese, then cover with the other four. Press together firmly to flatten, then crimp edges tightly to make four burgers. Chill.

Cook as regular burgers in a skillet or on the grill. Handle gently to avoid crumbling. Serve on toasted white or rye bread with spicy mustard.

Makes four burgers.

Notes: Any other cheese that doesn’t melt easily can be substituted for feta in this recipe. Some possibilities are parmesan, Swiss, and Jarlsberg. If you use a cheese that melts and becomes runny, however, it will all drip out.

If you plan to grill the burgers, you can opt to mix the feta in with the beef and simply treat as regular burgers. Don’t try this on a skillet, however, as the cheese will stick and burn.