Lamb Merguez Sausage Patties

Lamb Merguez Sausage Patties

Merguez sausage is not commonly stocked at the grocery store, so I decided to come up with an easy home version.

Ingredients :

• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons harissa, or to taste (see ingredient note)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Combine salt and fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle and pound until fine. Stir cumin, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and garlic cloves into the salt mixture and continue grinding to form a thick paste. Stir in harissa sauce and tomato paste until combined.
2. Combine ground lamb and the spice paste together with a fork in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours to overnight.
3. Form sausage into patties. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook patties until no longer pink inside, 5 to 8 minutes per side, depending on the size of the patties.