Chicken-Apple Burgers

Some days, the cooking mood just strikes me. I said to my husband this morning, "I want to go to the farmer's market and then the grocery store and then just cook all day." He said, "OK," being the accomadating and wonderful guy that he is. And cook all day I did. First, I made a white chicken stock. Then I made a brown chicken stock using the white chicken stock (a tip I picked up from Tom Colicchio's book Think Like a Chef.) Then onto some homemade granola, and finally to my dinner, these chicken-apple burgers.

All of the recipes on this site are original unless specified otherwise. It is the reason that sometimes there is a week or even a two-week lapse between recipe posts. I have to not only have time, come up with a recipe, and try it-- but I have to like it so much that I put my Haute Health seal of approval on it so that my readers will never try one of my recipes and think, "Well, that was so-so." Of course our tastes might differ, but for me to post a recipe, I have to think, "YES. This is a good one."

A couple weeks ago, I tried a butterflied turkey breast, stuffed with blanched asparagus, lemon rind, and goat cheese. Sounds good, right? Yeahhhh....not so much.

Anyway, the point of this story is that when I tried this out tonight, I did a little dance around the kitchen after my first taste. And then after my first burger, I had another one. They're that good.

Note: I use 1 Tablespoon of butter to cook 4 turkey burgers, so I still qualify this as an 'angelic' recipe. If you are really watching your saturated fat, though, you can use just olive oil or even just cooking spray.

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 shallot, minced

1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced

2 stalks celery, minced

salt and pepper

1/2 cup white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc (could use chicken stock here)

1 lb. ground chicken

1 container fat-free plain yogurt

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 whole wheat buns (optional)

1. In a nonstick skillet, heat teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot, apple, and celery. Sweat for 3-4 four minutes, stirring often. Add wine (or broth) and reduce heat to medium-low until wine is evaporated and mixture is soft. Scrape contents onto a small plate and let cool completely.

2. Combine chicken, yogurt, and cooled apple mixture. Stir until combined. Score with fingers into four equal sections. Wipe out pan with paper towel and return to skillet. Turn on stove to medium-high heat and add butter and teaspoon oil. Working quickly, make four patties. Salt and pepper one side and then add that side to the skillet. Salt and pepper the other side in the skillet. When one side is browned, flip carefully (they will be loose). Turn heat to medium-low and cover to finish cooking, 5-7 minutes or until juices run clear.

Serve on whole wheat buns or over lettuce, as shown in the picture above.

Serves 4.

Enjoy!!!

Printable version here.