I found this new recipe on the Rachael Ray TV show. It was a Chicken burger with Caesar pesto. Since I'm on the 'Eat Better' eating plan and I'm trying to stay away from or at least limit my bread intake I didn't want to use the chiabatta roll. At first I decided to use a Romaine leaf as the bun but the homemade 'Sour Sam' sourdough bread I made that morning took over so instead I decided to do an open faced burger to spoil myself a bit without going overboard.
As for the pesto recipe, when I cut up Romaine for salads I cut off the root end, slice the head and when I get to the end I toss the tops of the leaves. Now I can save these and make pesto, great use of what use to be garbage. I always have shredded Parmigiano Reggiano from Costco on hand so I changed up the cheese. Pine nuts are very expensive and since I also always have walnuts in the freezer I used these. I reduced the amount of lemon to 1/2 a lemon (2 T.) and it was still lemony so next time I'll add 1T, taste and see how much more I may want to add. Unfortunately I forgot the garlic. It was still good but next time I will add it.
For the sandwich I basically followed the same recipe but I only used a pound of ground chicken because most of the time ground meat is packaged in one pound packages. It made three burgers The other small changes I made were as follows: I reduced was the amount of Worcestershire in the meat, I measured out the S&P, I used my homemade sourdough bread which has a long shape so I shaped the burgers to fit the bread, and instead of making the garlic butter I spread butter on the bread and then spread on a clove of roasted garlic that I had in the fridge. If you were to use raw garlic I would probably saute it a bit to take off some of the harshness. To finish it off I topped the toasted bread with the burger, the pesto, shredded romaine and another dollop of pesto. Next time I'll also sprinkle the bread and the top of the lettuce with a touch of Parmesan.
I took a picture of the meal but it didn't turn out great because I didn't plan ahead for the picture, there is too much green and the sandwich isn't show cased. I'll retake the picture next time I make this and I will make it again since I froze 12 cubes of pesto by making a double batch.
CHICKEN CAESAR SANDWICHES
1 lb. ground chicken
¼ t. pepper
¼ t. salt
½ T. ground coriander
½ T. ground poultry seasoning
½ T. Worcestershire sauce
1 lg. clove garlic, grated
3 slices homemade sour dough bread
¾ T. butter
3 garlic cloves, roasted
-Parmigiano/Reggiano, shredded
CAESAR PESTO
1 C. packed dark leafy romaine leaves
1 t. (heaping) anchovy paste
¼ C. Parmigiano/Reggiano, shredded
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
Juice from ½ lemon (2 T.)
1 clove garlic, grated
½ t. coarse black pepper
⅓ C. walnuts
¼ C. EVOO
Pesto: Cut the darker tops off of a head of Romaine lettuce. Put all ingredients in food processor and process 10 seconds. While running drizzle in EVOO and blend till mixed.
Burgers: Preheat oven to 400˚F. Mix first 7 ingredients. Shape into 3 patties. Spray grill pan with nonstick spray. Heat pan, over medium heat, cook burgers for 10-12 minutes, flipping half way through. Spread bread with butter, a roasted clove of garlic and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Place in oven to toast for 2-3 minutes, watch carefully so it does not burn. Top with burger, Caesar Pesto (see sauce section for recipe), shredded Romaine lettuce and another dollop of pesto. Serve open face with a knife and fork.
Note: The best part about this recipe is it takes advantage of the tops of the Romaine head that I use to throw away. My newest obsession using what I use to discard. The bread I used was "Sour Sam" my homemade sourdough in the bread section.
Do Ahead: Remember pesto freezes perfectly so make a double batch and freeze the leftover in an ice cube tray. When frozen transfer cubes to a zip top bag. an ice cube tray of pesto for a later use. Each ice cube is about 1 T.
Serving Suggestion: Serve with roasted asparagus and broccoli.
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