Nigel Slater just might be my favorite chef. I am often amazed by his genius!
This recipe is from one of his books, the only improvisation I made was to add a bit of preserved lemon peel finely chopped, because I had some….and I doubled the recipe and was short a lemon. The result was even better than the original. Of course if you don’t have preserved lemon, just add an extra lemon in (zest and juice).
We have made these quite a few times, my boys love them! I usually find chicken burgers rather dry, but these with the addition of bacon, turn out something irresistably good!
With my job as a realtor, I often have mornings off to work around the house until I have to go to work, so I tend to make supper in the mornings if I can. The evenings can be crazy around here with hockey, work and a busy family schedule. I am lucky that my job is flexible that way, but these are really quick and no fuss for a quick weeknight meal as well. Just serve them up in a bun with some butter lettuce and roasted garlic mayo, or wrap them in a butter lettuce leaf if you aren’t into the carbs. Either way they are delicious! These could be made smaller as little appetizers or larger ‘burger size’ for a full course meal.
This recipe is slightly modified from Nigel’s original (the recipe is also doubled so feel free to cut in half):
Ingredients:
– 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I just whiz up in my food processor)
– 2 x 500g packages of minced chicken
– 1 lemon, zest and juice
– 1 1/2 Tbsp of preserved lemon rind finely chopped
– 12 sprigs of fresh Thyme, leaves only
– 12 pieces of bacon (I try to use a nice brand for this)
– 6 Tbsp of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (use the real stuff)!
– 1-2Tbsp Olive Oil
– Salt and Pepper
In a bowl mix together everything with the exception of the olive oil. Go a little heavier on the pepper than the salt.
Form into patties and heat up olive oil in a large non-stick pan. Fry on medium high heat for about 4 minutes on one side. Flip over and turn down the heat only slightly and fry for another 6-8 minutes until cooked through. (There’s a few things cooking in the video – stock, buns…but had to share the because of the chicken patties we are making here).
[wpvideo rh8ZfGpv]
Serve up with Roasted Garlic mayonnaise on Buns or in Lettuce Leaves.
