Chicken Recipes, Please?

I like ground beef hamburgers, but I don’t often make them on the grill. I think hamburgers taste better when cooked on a griddle. I suppose it’s because of my bad luck when cooking them on the grill that brings me to that conclusion. When I used to cook burgers on the grill, I always made the patties more than twice the diameter of the bun to allow for shrinkage, but sometimes that didn’t even do the trick—they always ended up resembling hockey pucks in both size and texture.

I have much better luck cooking any type of chicken dish on the grill, including chicken burgers. Maybe it’s my partiality to chicken that allows for this success, and so, with that said, here’s a favorite chicken burger recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com a long time ago. It’s called simply, “Grilled Chicken Burgers,” and was submitted by Teri. It’s one of the best grilled chicken sandwich recipes I’ve ever tasted. The burger features a combination of ground chicken; sautéed onions, garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes, and carrots; eggs; and breadcrumbs. There’s also some Old Bay™ seasoning added to the mixture. The recipe makes about eight patties, which grill up moist and flavorful. This chicken burger reminds me of a crab cake—it isn’t quite as rich as a crab cake, but it isn’t exactly a low-cal dish either. It is, however, a truly delicious chicken burger, and it’s one that I make quite often.

Last night, I tried another fantastic marinade for grilled chicken. Citrus juices and a variety of herbs and spices provided the chicken with a tropical flavor. In addition, the chicken was as tender and moist as any grilled chicken I’ve ever had. I think the pineapple juice in the marinade was the reason for this. I have heard that pineapple juice is one of the best natural tenderizers for any type of meat.

Here are the ingredients that I used for this marinade:

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• ¼ cup fresh pineapple juice
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• The juice of one lime
• 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cumin

This marinade recipe was enough for four boneless and skinless chicken breasts, but I needed eight servings, so I doubled the amounts listed. After grilling the chicken breasts to the proper doneness (the juices were clear), the meat became flavorful and moist. I served it with two of my favorites: grilled bread slices and a selection of grilled vegetables, including eggplant slices, bell pepper strips, onions, and summer squash. Try this great-tasting chicken and let me know what you think.