In my earliest days of hosting my friends for dinner, I made A LOT of mistakes. There was one time we invited Matt’s boss and his wife over to our house for brunch, and I decided to make baked French toast (first mistake: I’d never made baked French toast before!) I distinctly remember opening the oven door to smoking, burnt French toast. I literally shut the oven door, turned off the oven and scrambled eggs for us to eat instead. I’m pretty sure I haven’t made French toast for guests since then!

My next blunder was when we had friends over for dinner and for the main course I made homemade mushroom soup from wild mushrooms I bought at the Farmer’s Market. I didn’t realize this friend hated mushrooms! He was very kind, but I’ll never forget the dejected look on his face as he munched a piece of bread with a bowl of plain noodles tossed in butter…I actually feel stressed just thinking about it!

Every time you host, you learn. I’ve learned from these and many, many (many, many) more mistakes. From the French toast debacle, I learned that trying a brand new recipe for guests is probably not the best idea. From the sad mushroom soup tale I learned that I need to know my audience before deciding my menu. Mostly I’ve gotten better at just straight up telling guests when the cake stuck to the pan, and having them come to the kitchen and help me rip it up and throw it into a bowl with some whipped cream for a trifle instead. Because isn’t a meal just so much better when there’s a real person on the other end of it?

Onto this burger. I’ve never made this burger and not had someone ask for the recipe. There’s just something about it that’s approachable (it’s just a burger!) but also, special (but you serve it on naan!) And it truly is the easiest burger you will ever make. But before you serve it to company…make sure they aren’t vegetarian, ok?

Recipe

Tandoori-Spiced Chicken Burgers

For the chicken burgers:

1 - 500 g package of ground chicken
1/4 c red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp each of paprika, salt, turmeric, cumin

To serve:

Naan or hamburger buns
Fresh dill
Sliced cucumber
Thinly sliced red onion
Tzatziki
Chopped lettuce

Directions

Combine all the ingredients for the burgers and mix together by hand until ingredients are well-distributed throughout the meat.
Form into about 6 burger patties. They will be a bit sticky…that’s ok. Put on a tray or plate lined with parchment and chill until ready to grill. Don’t skip the chilling!!
Heat grill to medium heat, line grill with a non-stick grill mat or greased aluminum foil. Remove burgers from the fridge and cook for about 3-4 minutes per side or until the burger is no longer pink in the centre
When ready to serve, wrap burgers in naan (like a bun) and dress with tzatziki, fresh dill, cucumber, lettuce and thinly sliced red onion.