[Generic New Years greetings message paired with inspirational speal about resolutions etc etc]
My New Years resolutions are as follows:
1. Be nicer to my parents. They do a metric shit tonne for me and I should express my gratitude to them in a way that isn't sprinkled with finely ground cranky bitch.
2. Figure out and do what I love not because of money or because that is what everyone else is doing and because it is what I am supposed to do. Give it my best and don't be afraid of failing.
3. Take photos with my mind not my iPhone.
4. Be less of a slave to my phone. Rather than snap chatting everything I see, remember it, save it up and tell the person either over the phone or in person. Best served with a big dollop of facial expression, a slosh of hand gesture and sprinkling of verbal enthusiasm.
5. Channel my inner Beyonce.
Right so now that is written down and out of the way I can get down to business, aka resolution 2.
I just spent the last two weeks hanging out with friends in Dunedin. During that two weeks, Alex and I took a day trip to Queenstown. Yes a day trip. We drove just under 3 hours there and 3 hours back. We left at 6am and returned at 10.30pm. It was an excellent day.
We climbed a great big hill (because we had zero dollars for the gondola), ate my favouite ice cream from Patagonia, dropped my $2 faux Ray Bans in the lake, crawled under a tourist platform on the lake and waded in dodging massive trout and horrendous long black eel to retrieve said faux Ray Bans, drove over to Arrowtown to geocache and then finished the day with a lakeside picnic of Fergburger.
In all my trips to Queenstown I had never once had Fergburger before. Probably because the lines are always massive, for good reason too! Amongst all the burgers was a chicken and bacon burger. It was amazeballs. It was this excellent example of sandwich artistry that inspired out dinner feast the following night.
Making the most of the semi alright Dunedin Summer evening (alright is defined as not bucketing down with rain or resembling a wind tunnel) the kettle charcoal barbecue was fired up and our version of the Fergburger classic was made for the first time.
To prep the chicken for this all I did was cut two breasts lengthways to form two thinner breast fillets, slosh over some olive oil then rub in three teaspoons of the chipotle salt. I also added a teaspoon to the
I made to serve the burgers with. You could substitute in ground dried chipotles and a teaspoon of salt or a couple of splashes of chipotle sauce. Bottom line, all you really want is a bit of that flavour glued to the chicken.
The second time around making these it is for my parents. Sans charcoal barbecue,sans beersies and sans handsome bearded man at the barbecue, it does not seem quite the same but they were still delicious regardless.
Chipotle Chicken and Bacon Burgers
Makes 4
2 chicken breasts cut into two thinner breasts
3 teaspoons of chipotle salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large slices of bacon
4 ciabatta buns
tomato
avocado
red onion, thinly sliced
lettuce of your choice
tomato chutney
A few hours prior to cooking, rub the chicken breasts in the olive oil and chipotle salt, making sure they are well covered. Cover and keep chilled until cooking.
Fire up the barbecue and grill the chicken breasts and the bacon until cooked through and the bacon is almost crunchy. I think this took about 15-20 minutes, but again it depends on the temp of your barbie.
Slice open the buns, smother in mayo and chutney then assemble the burger with all the ingredients. Secure with a skewer if you wish.
Enjoy by stuffing into your mouth before it all falls apart!