Chicken Adobo Burger With Spinach Tomato Salad

Pairs well with:

White Zinfandel

With strawberry and melon essences, this American original is perfectly at home with however you like to unwind.

Ingredients

Spinach-Tomato Salad:
1 quart water for boiling 1 bunch spinach leaves, well rinsed, stems trimmed off about 1 1/2"
1 cup tomato, seeded and chopped
1 tbs. grated ginger
2 tbs. fish sauce
Adobo Sauce:
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp. salt
Patties:
2 lbs. ground chicken
2 tsp. salt
Vegetable oil for brushing on grill rack
6 onion burger buns

 

Instructions

Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to medium high. Prepare the Spinach-Tomato Salad: Place a 2-quart fireproof pot 1/2 full of water onto grill rack until water comes to a boil. Remove pot from heat, stir in spinach leaves into hot water and cover for one minute. Drain and rinse leaves under cool water then gently squeeze excess water from spinach leaves and cut in 1/2" pieces. Place cut spinach leaves in a glass bowl and with clean hands, separate the leaves as much as possible. Add the chopped tomato, ginger and fish sauce. Toss lightly until well mixed. Cover with foil and refrigerate. Prepare Adobo Sauce: Place an 8" fireproof sauce pan onto hot grill and add the vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns and salt. Boil sauce until reduced by half. Remove sauce pan from grill and strain the adobo sauce discarding the solids. Set aside the strained sauce. Prepare patties: In a large mixing bowl, add the ground chicken, salt and 1/2 of the adobo sauce, reserving the remaining sauce for basting the patties later. Handling the mixture as little as possible to avoid compacting it, mix well. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions and form the portion into patties to fit the buns. Brush the grill rack with oil. Place the patties onto the grill rack until brown on bottoms about 7-8 minutes basting the patties with the reserved adobo sauce 2 times, turn patties over and continue grilling until well done, about 8-9 minutes, basting with the reserved sauce 2 times. During the last few minutes of cooking, split open the burger buns and place them cut sides down on the outer edges of the grill to toast lightly. Assemble the burgers: On each bottom bun, place one patty and top with approximately 1/4 cup of the spinach-tomato salad, cover with bun tops and serve.