#305 Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Burgers, By: V

Earlier this week S and I went to dinner at Farmers Fishers Bakers down by the Georgetown waterfront.  It was a rare day with gorgeous weather, so we had to take advantage.  And, it was a good thing too, because two days later we'd see the first snow of the season.  S ordered the Crab Cake Sandwich and I had the Cioppino which was filled with shrimp, squid, fish and mussels.  Both were delicious!

On Friday night we went to the Washington Wizards vs. Denver Nuggets game.  The Wizards won!  I've been to two games this season, and the Wizards won both, can't say I'm not thinking I could be a good luck charm (just kidding!).

The following morning, a close college friend of mine and her husband hosted S and I for a nice brunch.  It was a great spread! She served us croissants (Trader Joe's has delicious frozen ones that you can pop in the oven) with nutella and mixed berry jam, turkey bacon, a delicious pancetta basil quiche, yogurt mixed berry parfaits, and potato latkes.  Everything was washed down with mimosas and pumpkin spiced coffees.

After brunch in Rockville we drove out to Reston for my annual work holiday party.  The catering at the holiday party was delicious.  I won't get into all of the food details, but the charred swordfish and chive creamed potatoes were my favorites.  So, after a long weekend, I made these chicken burgers for lunch this week.  

And, thennn I got really sick....

This should explain why there was no post yesterday.  I called out of work today and laid in bed nursing myself to the point where all I have is a throaty deep voice.  Hopefully I'll be back to 100% soon! 

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Burgers - Serves 4 

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground chicken 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 cup chopped yellow onion (or red onion)

1 tbsp goat cheese per patty (so, 4 tbsps total)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp coconut oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the ground chicken in a large bowl.  Add the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, parsley and onion to the bowl.  Incoporate these ingredients into the meat, but do not over work the meat (this can lead to some pretty dry and tough burgers). 
2. Form the meat into four patties.  Place on a plate.  Take 1 tbsp of goat cheese and place on the middle of a patty. Do this for all four patties.
3. Press the cheese into the burger.  You can do also re-form the patty into a ball with the cheese in the middle and press back out into a patty shape.  
4. Melt the coconut oil in a pan on high heat.  Place the patties into the pan and cook for two minutes on one side.  Flip over and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side.  Lower the cover to medium heat and cover with a lid.  Keep like this for about 4 minutes until the patties are cooked through.  

These can be placed on a whole wheat bun and topped with sliced avocado, tomato, lettuce or spinach, whatever you like.

Often burger recipes involve adding breadcrumbs, eggs, or milk soaked bread to the meat mixture to act as a binder.  I prefer to avoid any of these fillers, and I've found that the burgers will stay together fine, as long as you gently flip them over and take care to form the patties so that they are tight.