Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sliders

Sorry ... do to an error on Google+, all of my photos from my earlier blogs have disappeared.  

I had a bunch of leftover fresh herbs from Thanksgiving and didn't want them to go to waste.  There was thyme, parsley and sage.  The parsley and thyme I use frequently, but not so much with the sage.  So I thought "What to do with all the fresh herbs I have leftover from Thanksgiving?"  And it dawned on me "Make chicken sausage patties, of course! Duh!"  I made them smaller, topped them with egg and cheese and zip zap zoom, yummiest breakfast sliders ever!

You could use chicken or turkey for this.  I had about a pound of ground chicken leftover from a 3-pound package.  I used about 2/3 of the package making chicken lettuce wraps as an appetizer for Thanksgiving.  I thought I would use it to make pasta sauce later in the week but my kids woke up starving the day after the biggest eating night of the year and didn't quite want turkey leftovers.  Now that I think about it, we didn't make turkey sandwiches until Monday morning to take to school and work.  Anyway, here's the recipe, feel free to use any herb or mix of herbs you have on hand.

Here's what you need:

For the sausage
1 pound ground chicken
1 tablespoon finely chopped sage (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (I don't recommend using dried parsley.  I think it smells like fish food.)
2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika (to add a little color and heat - optional)
1 tablespoon of or cooking spray

For the eggs
4 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp oil or cooking spray

Other:
Small rolls (I use Kings Hawaiian which is found in most supermarkets)
Cheese for topping.  Use any kind you like.  For this I used regular American slices that I cut into four squares each.

Here's what you do:

Here are the herbs I used.  (Left to right) sage, thyme and parsley

Place your ground chicken in a stainless steel  or glass bowl.  Wanna know why?  I'll tell you at the end.

Finely chop all of your herbs.  If you're using dried herbs, move on to the next step.

Add the herbs, salt, pepper, garlic and chili flakes and  paprika (if you're using them).

Mix well until all of the ingredients have been well blended.  Do not over work the meat.  The patties will taste like rubber.

Here's my fancy slider maker.  I took the infamous red beverage cup and cut the bottom off.  About 3/4 inch will work.  Just trim it so that the patties aren't lopsided.  If you don't have any of these laying around, you can just form the patties by hand.  I use this as a mold so that all of the patties are uniform in size and thickness.

Line the mold with a piece of plastic wrap.  This will keep the meat from sticking inside of the cup and  will make it easy to lift the slider out of the mold.

Add the chicken mixture to the mold and pack down to form.

Make all of the patties and set aside.  

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil or a couple spritzes of  cooking spray into a large nonstick skillet.  When the pan is hot, but not smoking, add the sliders to the pan.  Cook the patties for about 4 minutes on each side.  Do not press down on the patties with your spatula.  All that does is squeeze the moisture out, leaving behind a dry hockey puck.  

While the patties are cooking, crack four eggs into a stainless steel or glass bowl.

Add the heavy cream.

By now it should be time to give your sliders a flip.

Beat the eggs until well mixed.  Pour the eggs into a nonstick skillet that has been sprayed well with cooking spray or coated with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil.  

Get your buns on a plate ... Your slider buns that is.  Split them open so that'll be easy to assemble once everything is ready.

Drain the cooked sausage patties on a paper towel.

Then place them on your rolls.

Cook the eggs slowly and gently on a medium flame.  Pull the cooked eggs away from the  sides of the pan allowing the liquid eggs to flow under.  Continue doing this until all of the egg is set.  When all of it is set, you can turn the whole thing over and turn off the flame.  

Continue cooking all of the sliders and placing on the rolls.

Here's what the egg looks like after its set completely.

Top each slider with a piece of egg

Then top with the cheese of your choice. (Sorry about the blurry picture)

Here's the final product.  My husband added the sandwich picks to hold it all together.

This is Maurice.  He's not part of the recipe, but he was patiently waiting to get some!

These sliders were proof that big things really do come in small packages.  I was only able to eat one plus a piece left behind by my son.  Somehow my husband was able to put away three of them, but then he was full for the rest of the day.  You can leave out the egg, of course and just have chicken cheese sliders.

Bon Apetit!

BTW, the reason you should use a stainless steel or glass bowl when working with eggs or blood based proteins in a nutshell is that they're both essentially organic polymers.  Birds of a feather flock together, meaning the polymers attach to each other.  The protein that you place into the plastic bowl with become "attached" to the bowl and even after you've washed the bowl, trace amounts of the protein will linger.  If all you have is plastic, then use it but be sure to scrub with lots of soap and hot water and even a drop or two of bleach.