My nephew Michael’s hamburger, complete with cheese and a bun. January remains in full swing. After a couple of weeks of holiday overindulgence, I have been back on my dietary cleaning program for a while now. I don’t understand whether I have actually been persuaded by the program (my coach is a really convincing lady!) or I much like being a little lighter, but I’m really delighting in dieting.
Like lots of Americans, I have spent much of my life on diet plans. Experience tells me that the best pitfall for the dieter is a sensation of deprivation. Virginia Willis understands that problem and addresses it remarkably in her current book Brighten Y’ all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome (10 Speed Press, 232 pages, $24.99).
Virginia is a French-trained chef who specializes in quality Southern food. She lives in Georgia but spends a great deal of time near my own corner of western Massachusetts. I have been following her writings for several years; she is a specialist in one of my preferred designs of cuisine: elegant however simple home cooking.
Virginia confesses early in the book that she has always had a weight problem and was just recently counseled by her medical professionals to “brighten.” She set out to develop a series of recipes that would lose calories and get nutrition however not compromise taste.
The book consists of much healthier variations of such perennial favorites as macaroni and cheese, fried chicken (made in sticks on the oven), biscuits, seven-layer dip, and shrimp étoufée. Virginia even uses desserts: strawberry shortcake, cream-cheese brownies, and carrot cake, among other sugary foods.
I have actually tried only one dish from the book up until now– Virginia’s chicken, apple, and cheddar burgers. My existing routine does not allow me to consume any cheese, not even the small amount required in this dish, so I needed to change the taste profile a little by serving the hamburgers without the cheese. (I did serve them with organic mustard.)
The hamburgers were a pleasure. Ground chicken has less fat than ground beef and can tend to dry out. Virginia’s dish skillfully integrates both grated apple and grated sweet onion into the chicken to add wetness and flavor. My family consumes the dish WITH the cheese and enjoys it.
I prepare to make numerous more dishes from Lighten Up, Y’ all in the near future. Virginia Willis has actually clearly striven to discover solutions that keep the taste in foods while making them much healthier.
Most importantly, I imagine using some of Virginia’s lightening-up strategies in meals of my own. I trust her as a chef, a writer, and a dieter. And I look forward to the debut of her forthcoming PBS TV series.
Virginia Willis’s Chicken Burgers Thanks To Virginia Willis and 10 Speed Press. Utilized with approval.
Note: You may prepare these on the range in a fry pan along with in the oven, but they stay together much better for me (and most likely for Virginia since she suggests doing them this way) in the oven. The ones in the photos above and below were in fact fried by my sister-in-law!
Active ingredients:
1 medium sweet-tart apple (such as Gala, Granny Smith, Cortland, or Fuji), cored and quartered
1/4 sweet onion
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
3 garlic cloves, very finely sliced
1/2 jalapeño chile, cored, seeded, and finely sliced
2 ounces (1/2 cup) sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (optional for me but yummy)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Grate the apple on the big side of a box grater. (If you grate the apple skin-side out, you can grate it without needing to peel it; a little bit of peel is alright.)
Next, grate the onion and the cheese. In a medium bowl combine the chicken, apple, onion, garlic, chile, cheese, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Divide the mix into 4 equal-size balls; each will weigh about 7 ounces. Shape each into a patty about 4 inches in size. Place the patties straight on the prepared flat pan.
Transfer the sheet to the oven and roast the burgers until they are gently browned, turning as soon as during cooking, and the temperature level determines 165 degrees when determined with an instant-read thermometer, about 18 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
My own burger, sans cheese but with mustard (and great deals of flavor!) Tags: chicken hamburgers, Healthy Eating, January diets, light foods, turkey burgers, Virginia Willis This entry was published on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016 at 4:00 am and is submitted under Book Reviews, Meat and Poultry.You can follow any reactions to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are presently closed.
After the holidays Tinky is back on her diet, with a little assistance from chef/author Virginia Willis.
