Another round of Blogger’s Choice Recipe Swap, hosted by Sarah at a Taste of Home Cooking.  I was excited to be assigned a blog I have not yet visited, Jenna’s Cooking Journey, so I had a good time sifting through all of her recipes to find something tasty!  Of course, most dishes fit that parameter, but I wanted to find something that would be good to grill.  We had another snow storm over the past weekend, some areas getting up to 8″, and another one earlier this week, with an estimated 6-10″ of snow…in April.  The end of April.

Seeing as though it’s not yet spring outside, I thought making something on the grill might make us feel like it’s spring inside.  I make a lot of turkey burgers at home, but I had yet to make a chicken burger  No real reason why, just hadn’t tried them, which is why Jenna’s chicken burgers with garlic rosemary mayonnaise was the perfect match!  I’ve never heard of putting mayonnaise in the burgers, but it really does make sense to add a little moisture and fat to the very lean chicken burger so you don’t end up with a hockey puck.  Sort of defeats the purpose, though, right?  I suppose I would say this is still on the healthy side though.

Nate and I had a busy and active Sunday morning.  We headed to the gym for an hour and a half, then we had some errands to run.  By the time we got home, I was famished, so I started in on these burgers right away.  Like I said previously, I was a bit skeptical of adding mayonnaise directly to the burgers, but thought it couldn’t hurt to try it.  The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of the mayonnaise in the burgers, but after adding only about 1/4 cup of the mayonnaise, I thought that was plenty.  The burgers actually were quite difficult to handle because they were so moist.  I decided grilling them probably wouldn’t work well, so I ended up using a skillet instead.

The result was absolutely amazing!  The mayonnaise added a lot of moisture and the rosemary added so much flavor that I almost forgot I was eating a chicken burger.  Although it’s a burger and my initial thought was that it might make us feel more spring-y, the rosemary actually made it more hearty and would be a really great burger for the wintertime.  So I guess, technically, with all the snow we are still getting, it really was the perfect match!  The arugula added just a hint of spice and freshness.  I don’t usually buy arugula and would have used spinach instead, but I’m glad I sprung for the spicier green option.  The only thing I would change for next time is a tomato slice to bring more freshness and color to the plate.  Nate and I both loved them; he ate two in one sitting, and called the third one for his lunch on Monday.  It’s definitely a keeper!

Rosemary Chicken Burgers with Garlic Rosemary Mayonnaise

Source: Adapted from Jenna’s Cooking Journey
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

For the mayonnaise:
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the burgers:
1 lb lean ground chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 hamburger buns (I used sandwich thins)
1 cup arugula

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine ingredients for mayonnaise.  Add half the mayonnaise to a larger bowl, and refrigerate remaining mayonnaise.

2. To the larger bowl with 1/2 the mayonnaise, add ground chicken, salt, pepper and rosemary.  Gently combine with fingers, being careful to not over work the meat.  The mixture should be quite moist.  Divide into four equal parts and shape into patties.

3. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.  Spray with olive oil.  Gently place patties (I had to do them two at a time) in the skillet and cook over medium low heat for 8-10 minute.  Flip and continue cooking until chicken is cooked through, about 8-10 more minutes.  Remove from pan and let rest.  Repeat with remaining patties.

4. Prepare buns with reserved garlic rosemary mayonnaise on tops and bottoms.  Divide arugula among the bottoms of the buns, place burger on top of the greens, add the top of the bun.  Enjoy!

Check out what everyone else made for the Blogger’s Choice Swap!