Chicken, Feta and Spinach Sausage

I've had in mind for a while now to make some chicken, feta and spinach sausage and finally made the time. They could have been stuffed into casings, but I opted for patties since I don't like the casings I ordered.

I boned the thighs and legs from 4 free-range birds and ran the meat, fat (there wasn't much) and some of the skin through the grinder. I ended up with just over 2.5 pounds.

To the ground chicken I added a half pound of fresh spinach very lightly steamed, then squeezed almost dry, and chopped. Frozen chopped spinach would have worked also, as long as it was squeezed of most of the liquid.

Then a couple of garlic cloves finely minced, some tarragon, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and about a quarter-cup of homemade goat feta, crumbled.

Mix it all together, put some parchment paper squares on the scale, and weigh out patties. I chose quarter-pound patties because I don't eat a lot of food at any one meal.

They look pretty well mixed. My feta was a tad salty from the refrigerated brine so I hope the added salt (reduced amount) and pepper distributed evenly. I should have fried a test patty for seasonings but I'd just had lunch.

Patties on a baking sheet, ready for a quick freeze. I did end up with one small patty but I'll use that one along with a full patty sometime when I'm especially hungry. 

Once frozen, I'll vac-pak them in serving size bags. It will be a nice addition to variety of my main meals. I hope I don't regret not adding more feta, or that I ground up some of the skin with the meat!!

I also hope they hold together when cooking. In retrospect, I should have made and added a panade, or added a couple of egg whites as I do with one of my venison sausage recipes.