Recipes

Chicken Sausage

I have been having great fun with a little recipe that I call "Chicken Sausage",  it could be a sausage, or it could be a patty, but actually I call it "Quick and Good."

You can usually find two kinds of ground chicken at your local supermarket, "Ground Chicken" and "Ground Chicken Breast." If you are fat-conscious, use the breast. I like the whole chicken because it is juicier.

Ingredients
  - Ground Chicken - 1lb
  - Small to medium onion - small dice
  - 4-5 scallions - small dice
  - Garlic cloves - 3-5, chopped fine
  - Spinach - a big hand full, chopped coarse.
  - Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) - 1⁄2 cup
  - Heavy cream OR Sour cream OR Greek Yogurt - 1⁄2 cup
(Low fat yogurt will not do)
 
1. Put the spinach in a microwavable container with the garlic. Sprinkle a little water with your fingers, cover tightly with saran wrap. Microwave for about 45 seconds. Take off the plastic and let cool.

2. Dry sauté the onion (that means hot pan, no fat) until it begins to almost brown.

3. Put everything into a mixing bowl, mix well with a fork.

TIP:  I like to reuse a package before I toss it away.   Rinse off the Styrofoam container the chicken came in and use it to dredge the patties in the Panko.

Now comes the fun part - You get to choose the flavor:
  •     For a smoky tone, use a teaspoon of Sweet Smoked Spanish paprika and for a little kick, add a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
  •     For an Italian tone, put a teaspoon of fennel in the hot pan before the onions go in, when they start to pop, add the onions, a touch of rosemary if you like and of course the red pepper flakes. You can use Italian bread crumbs instead of the plain Panko.
  •     For the Jimmy Dean fans with out the pork - a few fresh sage leaves, thyme and black pepper.
  •     For Tex/Mex, a teaspoon of cumin and chipotle adobo to taste (definitely serve with black beans and guacamole).
4. Now, fluff it all up with the fork, make patties with a spoon or your hand (make sure you wash your hands before and after).

5. Sprinkle about a cup of Panko in the washed chicken container, the chicken is sticky enough for it to stick.

6. Pop the amount you want to have in a medium hot pan with a little olive oil.

7. Flip them over in 3-4 minutes, careful not to burn. Drizzle a little more oil if needed on the edges of the pan.

While you are cooking up a chicken storm, make a spinach salad with the rest of the bag (I had some lovely blueberries in mine ).

If you have to have a starch, some sticky rice dressed with a little rice wine vinegar and a teensy bit of sugar would be good ( I save my starch allowance for a cupcake -Yumo)!
   
You can also make these into little chicken dumplings. Just add some capers to the mixture, forget rolling them in crumbs and poach them in some good chicken broth. Doesn't that sound good?
     
Have fun!!