Some days, we have no idea what we want for dinner. When that happens, we'll grab a few of our favorite cookbooks and do a quick flip through to see if anything strikes our fancy. With Matthew having only one night left home before leaving for tour, we wanted to make this dinner count, but at the same time, didn't want to spend hours in the kitchen with a pile of dishes in the sink.

We are both into robust, heavily-spiced dishes -- we aren't typically excited about delicate flavors. Our spice cabinet isn't to be joked about (really, we have an entire cabinet filled only with spices). We opted for an Ottolenghi/Tamimi recipe from Jerusalem -- Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onion and Cumin. For a side, we opted for Lebovitz Lemon-pistachio Israeli Couscous, also in My Paris Kitchen.

Of course, when I was in a hurry to run to the market because we made a last minute dinner decision, I skimmed the recipes. This is always a formula for disaster -- I read lemon, but not preserved lemon (which couldn't be more different). I will definitely be making this again with preserved lemon, and making some to keep on standby as David does, but it was still absolutely beautiful and tasted great. I compensated with extra salt and a hefty squeeze of lemon juice. I'll report back when I make it correctly, although, this was still fabulous. I love everything about pistachios -- I'm even making pistachio ice cream this weekend! And the dried fruit was an unexpected sweetness in a typically savory dish.

Turkey burgers can be dry and tasteless -- these have to be the absolute best recipe for turkey burgers. Moist, well-spiced, with a sumac-lemon-yogurt-sour cream sauce that we basically want to put on all meat from now on.

This is going to be one of our weeknight go-to's from now on.

Middle East Inspired Dinner | metalandhoney.com

Dried Cherries, Cranberries, and Apricots

Nuts, fruits, herbs, and spices for the couscous.

Turkey burgers brimming with herbs and spices.

Greek yogurt, sour cream, sumac, salt, garlic, pepper, and olive oil for the creamy sauce.

Colorful, and deliciously balanced couscous.

We have leaps and bounds to go when it comes to beautiful plating, but what matters most is that it was absolutely delicious.