Chicken Burgers

Directions

1. For the Mayonnaise: In a beaker (the ones that come with the immersion hand held blender) add the egg yolk, the whole egg (must be at room temperature), a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. Mix with the hand held blender. Start drizzling the vegetable oil very slowly keeping the blender on. When the cup of vegetable oil is finished the mixture should be quite thick.
2. Add the garlic and the mustard and mix well. Start mixing the olive oil, drizzle slowly with the blender on until it becomes very thick. Add the white wine and freshly ground pepper and taste for salt. When finished, transfer to a clean glass jar and keep chilled.
3. For the burgers: Ask your butcher to grind the chicken meat for you (only one grinding). IThe first ones I made I used a food processor and the meat came out like purée and really sticky so now I always use ground chicken.
4. Peel and shredd the carrot finely. Peel and shredd the sweet potato finely. Wash the sweet potato of it's startch and dry.
5. Chop the shallots finely. Remove the skin from the garlic, slice it in half and remove the green fibrous part from the middle. Chopp the garli very finely.
6. In a small pan, over moderate heat, add the olive oil. When warm add the shallots and sweat them. Add the carrot, sweet potato and garlic, stir well. Add 2 tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt, stir. Cover with lid, lower heat and let simmer for 7 minutes. Set aside and let cool completely before using.
7. In a bowl add the ground chicken, the grated ginger, the parsley, the mustard, salt and freshly ground pepper, preferably Sichuan for its lemony taste, the chopped nuts, the poppy seeds and mix well with your hands. Add the cold carrot, sweet potato and shallot mixture, and mix well. Taste for seasoning. When ready, cover and chill for 30 minutes.
8. Divide the mixture in 4 equal parts, make the burger patties and set aside. At this point you can freeze them.
9. Brush each burger pattie with olive oil on both sides. Put a skillet over moderate heat to warm up. Grill one side, keep temperature moderate, chicken needs to cook through. When nice and golden, turn and grill on the other side. Do not turn them over more then once or they will become chewy and rubbery.
10. Serve them in a bun with a lettuce leaf and a slice of tomato. Pour a good dollop of Mustard/Garlic Mayonnaise and serve immediately. They go really well with sweet potatoes home made french fries sprinkled with fleur de sel.
11. You can also serve them with a simple green salad.