SW Chicken Patties and Summer Freezer Meals

Summer is fast approaching and we have finally finished eating our hearty, winter meals.  The freezer is almost empty, and I have been cooking for summer this week.  Summer is tough for freezer meals.  Most of my initial ideas for freezer meals were thick soups, stews and heavy casseroles.  All of those things are perfect for the cold days of winter, but I prefer lighter fare in the summer.  I also avoid turning on the oven as much as possible.  I have come up with some summer freezer meals, so stay tuned.  I'll be posting those recipes in the weeks to come.

First up is Southwest Chicken Patties.  I used to make these fairly regularly, but they are a little labor intensive as there is a fair amount of chopping involved and then the forming of the patties.  They fell out of my regular rotation.  I happy to say that these are back in the rotation due to the fact that they freezer very well and can be cooked straight from the freezer, making them very convenient.

This meal was a major freezer meal win today!  Like I said I am doing the bulk of my freezer cooking this week and it is always a large undertaking.  I've also had other stuff going on, so today I didn't cook at all.  My kitchen was a complete disaster, so as dinner approached I really didn't feel like making anything.  I hadn't thawed anything either, and I was on the verge of packing up my kids and heading for a drive-thru.  As I was considering getting ready to leave, I decided that I really need to eat what we have on hand instead of paying for fast food and decided on these since they can be cooked straight from the freezer.  We had some spring mix on hand for a salad.  I am so glad I did.  These were so easy to cook up.  They just required one pan and a few minutes.  They were delicious, and they ended up being so much easier and cheaper than taking my kids out for fast food.  This is why I do the freezer meals.

Adapted from: El Presidio Pan-Fried Chicken in Becoming a Chef
Difficulty:  Moderate
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: BQ

Yield: 34 small patties

4 lbs ground chicken

4 eggs

3 poblano peppers

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 tomatoes, small diced

12 green onions, sliced

3 tbsp minced garlic

6 tbsp minced cilantro

1 cup bread crumbs

2 tsp salt

1. Roast the poblano peppers.  If you have a gas stove, place the peppers directly on the flame until the skin is charred and loose.  Turn the peppers until all sides are roasted.  If you don't have a gas stove, like me, place the peppers on a sheet pan and place under your oven broiler until the skin is loose.  Turn occasionally so they are evenly roasted.  They won't get as dark in the oven, but that's okay. Once the peppers are roasted, place them in a plastic bag and set aside to cool.  When the peppers are cool enough to handle, rinse them under cool water to remove the skin.  Open the peppers, remove the stem and rinse the seed out.  Dice the peppers.
2. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. 
3. Shape the mixture into patties and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper in a single layer.  I like to use a large round cookie cutter as a mold, to make all the patties uniform size and thickness.

To freeze:

Freeze the raw patties on the sheet tray.  Once they are are solid, transfer to a container or bag for long-term storage.

To serve:

Pour enough oil into a frying pan to thinly coat the bottom.  Heat over medium heat.  Once the oil is hot, put the frozen patties into the pan being careful not to overcrowd the pan.  Cover the pan with a lid or another pan turned upside down to help the patties cook all the way through.  Once the patties are brown on the first side, flip them and cook on the other side until brown.  Check the internal temperature to ensure that they have reached 165 degrees.  They will still feel a little squishy even when fully cooked.  That's okay.

Serve with a salad.  I think they would be particularly good with this Avocado Cucumber Salad or some roasted corn on the cob.

Update: 5/23/2016 I suggested serving these with Avocado Cucumber salad above.  It seemed like a good combination even though I hadn't had a chance to try them together yet.  Well, we had the salad with the chicken patties this past weekend and they were incredibly good together, even better than I had thought.  They just make a great pair, especially if you have some of the salad and the patty together in the same bite.  My husband mentioned multiple times how much he liked that combination.  We highly recommend it!