FoodB

I'm starting to get yelled at if I don't post around here. According to Guttermouth we should all be getting along better with food.

Sunday, Jenn made chicken spanakopita which is more than just a mouthful to say. We were watching 30 Minute Meals once (which is pretty rare because neither of us can stand Rachael Ray but enjoy her recipes) and she made up this recipe with ground chicken. Ground chicken is not something you can usually find in the store so we were curious and after she made it we just had to try it out. So I marched off to Plowboys and asked if they had ground chicken. They didn't have it on hand but were willing to grind up some boneless chicken breasts for us. I guess ground chicken doesn't have a very good shelf life so I imagine it is an item you can only get if you ask them to grind it for you. Here's the recipe that we use:

Chicken Spanakopita Burgers

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan, plus some for drizzling
1 tablespoon butter
3 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 1 crushed
1 red onion, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
1 box, 10 ounces, frozen spinach, defrosted
2 teaspoons dried oregano, lightly crushed in the palm, divided
1/4 pound feta crumbles
1 1/3 pounds ground chicken
1 tablespoon grill seasoning
1/3 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced lengthwise
Salt and pepper
1 cup Baby Spinach
4 Kaiser Rolls

Topping:
2 roasted red peppers, drained
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, a generous handful
1/4 cup 10 to 12 pitted kalamata olives

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. To one side, add a little extra-virgin olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. When butter melts, add the chopped garlic and chopped red onion and cook 5 minutes. Transfer the onions and garlic to a bowl to cool. Return pan to heat.
2. Wring the defrosted spinach dry by twisting it in a clean kitchen towel over your sink. Separate the spinach as you add it to the bowl with cool onions, garlic and season with 1 teaspoon of oregano. Add in feta crumbles then chicken, grill seasoning and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. Mix and form into 4 patties, 1-inch thick. Raise heat on pan to medium. Add patties and cook 6 minutes on each side.
3. Season the sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with salt and pepper. Toast rolls, if you prefer.
4. Place red peppers, parsley and olives in food processor, season with salt and pepper and process until a paste forms. Place cooked burgers on roll bottoms. Top the burgers with sliced cucumber, tomato, reserved red onions and baby spinach. Slather roll tops with red pepper and olive paste and serve.

The burgers are really good and I usually don't like tomatoes on anything but for some reason I think that the burgers don't taste as good without them. We also tried the recipe with ground turkey once but it didn't taste as good. As for the grilling spices it asks for you can use any pre-packaged spice rubs from the store or make your own up. Also make sure you have plenty of napkins because these are big burgers and can be very messy.