Week 10, Recipe 1: Jerk Chicken Burgers with Mango Salsa

I've been so busy in the lab I honestly don't know whether I made this this week or last week... I think last week but we'll just go with this week.  Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray.

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus some for drizzling
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/4 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• Spicy potato chips, any brand you like

---

Yields: 4 servings

---

Preparation

Heat a large nonstick skillet with EVOO over medium-high heat.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine chicken with spices and sugar. Drizzle in EVOO and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix to combine. Score the meat into 4 equal parts and then form 4 patties, each about 1 1/2-inch thick. Add the burgers to the skillet and cook about 5 minutes on both sides or until cooked all the way through, there shouldn'’t be any pink in the middle.

While the burgers cook, make the mango salsa. In a small bowl, combine the mango, red pepper, jalapeño, cucumber and lime juice.

When the burgers are done, transfer them to a serving platter with the mango salsa and spicy chips alongside.

Results: I needed to mix the spices better because I got a mouthful of allspice when I bit into this.  Not cool.  I don't know why I made this burger.  I was not in the mood for it and therefore didn't really enjoy it.   Ah well.

---