Curry Chicken Burgers with Mango Avocado Salsa

I have been thinking about these burgers longer than is healthy I am sure.  Did I mention I am a tad obsessed with cooking and recipes in general?  I wanted the burger to be spicy and juicy and the salsa to provide a nice cooling to the heat in the burger.  I gave much thought to how i will go about getting chicken burgers to be juicy.  Then I got a message from the Gods, aka Lidia Bastinach.  My boyfriend and I were watching her cooking show when she was making meatloaf and she ground up veggies and combined it with the meat and claimed it will help keep the meatloaf juicy.  Great Idea #1.  Then I had the idea to add some sausage in with the burger mix and the fat from the sausage would help keep the burger moist, Great Idea #2.  I wanted this recipe to stay on the healthy side (New Years Resolutions in place and all), so I used turkey sausage.  And I must say, these burgers were actually juicy!  As for the heat, I added a jalepano to the ground veggies.  You can totally adjust to your taste, add some more or less peppers and do it your way!  I served these with the salsa, lime mayonaise and brioche buns.  On a cold winter day in Brooklyn, they definitely brought a little bit of the Islands home.  Enjoy!

What you need...

Burgers                                                                    
1 package of ground chicken                                  
2 links of turkey sausage (hot or sweet), removed from the casing            
1 cup of Panko bread crumbs                                  
1 egg                                                                        
1/4 of a bell pepper                                                  
1 jalapeno pepper - want more heat keep the seeds.                                                    
1/2 large carrot
1/4 medium onion
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
2 Tablespoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon each of paprika and cumin
1 lime
Large pieces of Romaine Lettuce
Burger Buns
1/2 Cup Mayonaise ( I used light mayo)

Salsa
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Lime
2-3 Tablespoons Cilantro
1/2 Red Onion, finely chopped
1 Avocado, chopped


What to do...






1. Make the salsa by chopping all the ingredients and the juice of the lime in small pieces and combine with lime juice.









2.  In a food processor combine the bell pepper, jalapeño, carrot, onion, garlic clove ginger.  Process  until very small.



3. In a mixing bowl, combine the chicken, turkey sausage, vegetable blend, curry, paprika, cumin, panko and egg.    After all the ingredients are incorporated form into four large patties or five medium size patties.

 4.  I decided to cook the burgers in a little bit of oil in a cast iron skillet.If you want to grill them you can.  About 5 minutes per side.  




5.  While the burgers are cooking take the mayonnaise, the zest and j  uice of one lime and combine.  I also warmed up the buns in the oven (but this step is optional).

6.  After the burgers are cooked, it is time to build your burger!  

                                               

             
                Lime Mayo, Curry Chicken Burger, Lettuce, Mango Avocado Salsa= Super Delicious.

Snow Day Sweet Potato Hash with Poached Eggs

Happy 2014!  

It has been quite sometime since my last post, but I promise I will be a better blogger this year.

So New York got eight inches of snow last night and I am a very happy to say today I had a snow day. I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland outside and an aching to make some eggs and hash inside.  I have never made hash before and I have never poached an egg before, so this morning was a bit of an adventure.  This was also a 'kitchen sink' sort of recipe, i used what I had around the kitchen and it turned out delicious!

What you need...

1 Sweet Potato, Peeled and Chopped
1 Small Apple, Peeled and Chopped
1 Bell Pepper, Chopped
4-5 pieces of Turkey Bacon, cut into small pieces
2 Eggs/per person
1-2 Tablespoons Butter
Olive oil
Salt + Pepper
Cinnamon
Chili Powder
Paprika
Red Pepper Flake


What to do....

1. Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan and add sweet potatoes. Cook until fork tender and then drain.

2.  In a large çast iron skillet over medium high heat, sauté peppers and turkey bacon in olive oil.  ( I added some onion powder at this point but if you have a real onion, add it now).  After these have cooked for a 3-4 minutes add the apples.  Season everything with salt and pepper.

3.  Once the potatoes are done cooking add them into the pepper, bacon, apple mix with the butter. Add  chili powder, red pepper flake, paprika and just a dash of cinnamon. Let cook for another 5 minutes and use a wooden spoon to break up the potatoes to really give it that hash texture.

5.  At this point it is time to make the eggs.  I learned from  Smitten Kitchen Poached Eggs  and it worked out great!

6.  Serve the eggs on top of the hash and Enjoy!