Your lazy weekend lunch sorted!

Matt Williamson’s The Lazy Weekend Cookbook is full of over 100 easy-to-follow recipes that are packed with flavour.

These burger patties have all the delicious flavours of spicy North African merguez sausages. You could cook them in a frying pan, but a bit of smoky flavour from the barbecue really gives them the edge. While you’ve got the barbecue fired up, it’s worth slinging some extra veg on the hot grill to accompany these spicy patties: try courgettes and peppers cut into broad batons and/or aubergine cut into 2cm slices, drizzled with a little olive oil and given a good pinch of salt.

Merguez-Spiced Patties

600g minced lamb or beef

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

120g Greek yogurt

6 dates, pitted and chopped

12 mint leaves, finely chopped

½ lemon

½ cucumber, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped

½ red onion, finely chopped

2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped

4 burger buns or 4 flatbreads, split open

Quick harissa

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½–1 tsp chilli powder

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1–2 fresh red chillies (seeds removed if you don’t want it too hot)

To make the harissa, blend the spices, lemon juice, the garlic and chillies to a coarse paste.

Stir 2 tablespoons of the harissa paste into the minced meat, along with 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper, and mix until evenly distributed.

Shape the meat into four patties (slightly larger in diameter than the burger buns, if using).

Mix the remaining harissa paste with the yogurt, dates, mint and a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the cucumber, onion and tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the grill or barbecue to hot.

Grill the patties until cooked to your liking (about 5–8 minutes for medium), turning once.

Warm the flatbreads or burger buns lightly on the grill. Spread the yogurt mix inside, insert the burgers and spoon in the cucumber salad.

The featured recipe is from Matt Williamson’s The Lazy Weekend Cookbook