The French Burger
I must say, Pierre is really having fun creating fillings to put between sliced bread! We’ve been working on a holiday photo shoot at my home, which will appear in Living next year. Unfortunately, I can’t share much of those ‘behind the scenes’ because Eric Pike, Father Christmas and Creative Director at Living, begged us not to give away any of his new finds for next season. However, I can share with you what Pierre made for lunch to feed the crew. He called it the French burger.
He started with really nice ground beef chuck and added carrots, celery, and onion that he chopped finely in the food processor and lightly sautéed in a bit of olive oil. He added that mixture to the meat along with some Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, and salt and freshly ground pepper.
Pierre also sautéed a generous amount of thinly sliced onions in olive oil and red wine until they were tender and golden brown. He then made rösti, which is a large potato pancake, cooked in a sauté pan. His batter consisted of grated potatoes, sautéed onions, chopped parsley, spinach, watercress, some eggs, a bit of Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper.
Pierre sliced baguettes lengthwise and brushed the insides with some more Dijon. He formed the meat into oblong patties to fit the baguettes and sautéed them in a large pan until rare. Meanwhile, he spread the sautéed onions on the baguette. Next came the cooked burgers, slices of the crisp rösti , a liberal sprinkling of grated Comté, which is similar to Gruyere cheese, and finally, sliced tomatoes. He placed the top of the baguette on and put the whole thing in a hot oven, for a few minutes, to melt the cheese. Pierre then served his creation by slicing the baguettes between each burger, making perfect individual portions. Pierre said that even though it was a French burger, American ketchup is highly recommended!
To mix with the chuck
The chuck, ready to be molded into oblong patties 
The Rösti components , this will be mixed all together and placed in sauté pan
Oblong Patties, ready for the next stage
Rösti, ready to slice up and place in sandwich
The onions, being prepped
Brushing the toasted Baguettes with mustard
Cooking the burgers French style (not on the grill)
This will feed five!
A close up of this mouth watering French burger!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
