French Burgers for Bastille Day! Béarnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

Bastille Burgers – Bearnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

French Burgers for Bastille Day!

Béarnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

Today, the 14th July,  is France’s National Day ~ Bastille Day ~ we usually go to watch the fireworks at St Georges de Didonne near Royan; they always have an amazing show right on the beach by the Gironde Estuary, however, I think they have been cancelled this year, due to the heavy rain we have been having…….so, we’ll have to wait and see what this evening brings. I have managed to dash outside in-between showers however, to cook some FRENCH style burgers on the BBQ…..my very own Bastille Burgers, or, Béarnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers, served with a BIG bowl of salad and my Fantastique Jam Jar French Dressing. I DO love a good burger, and these are as good as they get……..plus, they are great fun for an informal party of when you are entertaining a crowd.

This home-made burger contains three of my favourite French elements included in the ingredients, Béarnaise sauce, French blue cheese and sliced red onions.  As I made these for a quick lunch today, I have named them Bastille Burgers, and why not – I think it sounds quite catchy! I used some excellent local Charolaise minced beef – a salt marsh beef which is superb, with a good fat to muscle ratio, and a slight tang of herbs and salt. If you want to cut down on the carbs, just have this burger “Naked” without the bun. Likewise for low-fat – omit the Béarnaise sauce and chop some fresh tarragon up and mix it with the minced/ground beef. I am not a great lover of commercial burgers, but I do like home-made burgers – and these are now a firm favourite with all my family & friends! This recipe is for four people – just increase the ingredients for a crowd…..

French Burgers for Bastille Day! Bearnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

Last year I made Très Rapide French Summer Tarragon Chicken, which is also a fabulously easy and quick recipe, but this year the hankering for a good burger took over and so it was a beefy lunch! That’s it for today, excuse my rapid post, but I have LOTS of things to do in the kitchen still……see you later and have a wonderful weekend! OH yes, I am sharing the burger recipe below, so if you fancy these REVOLUTIONARY burgers, you’ll know how to make them now! Karen

Bearnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

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Serves	4
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	10 minutes
Total time	15 minutes
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Occasion	Barbecue, Birthday Party, Casual Party, Halloween
Region	French
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

A home-made burger with three of my favourite French elements included in the ingredients, Bearnaise sauce, French blue cheese and sliced red onions! I made these for a quick lunch on Bastille Day - 14th July, hence the name! I used our excellent local Charolaise beef, a salt marsh beef which is superb, with a good fat to muscle ratio, and a slight tang of herbs and salt. If you want to cut down on the carbs, just have this burger "Naked" without the bun! Likewise for low fat - omit the Bearnaise sauce and chop some fresh tarragon up and mix it with the minced/ground beef. I am not a great lover of commercial burgers, but I do like home-made burgers - and these are now a firm favourite with all my family & friends! This recipe is for 4 people - just increase the ingredients for more people.

Ingredients

• 450g good quality minced beef
• cornichons, sliced
• tomatoes, sliced
• lettuce, washed and shredded
• 1/2 red onion, peeled and sliced into rings
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 4 tablespoons bearnaise sauce
• 4 hamburger buns or 4 pieces French bread, halved
• 100g French blue cheese
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Note

This recipe is for 4 people - just increase the ingredients for a crowd.

Directions

Step 1	Heat/light up your barbeque and allow the flames to die down.
Step 2	Season the beef with pepper, but NO salt - salt draws out the juices and toughens the meat! (You can add salt if you need it at the end)
Step 3	With damp hands - shape the minced beef into four patties/burgers.
Step 4	Cook the burgers to your liking - remember to place your blue cheese on top of the burgers to melt just before serving; then toast the burger buns or French bread.
Step 5	Assemble your burger like so: bottom bun: lettuce, tomatoes, Bearnaise sauce and burger with melted blue cheese. Spread the Dijon mustard on the top bun, then place the onions and cornichons on top of the burger, with an extra dollop of Bearnaise sauce if you wish - then add the top bun.
Step 6	If making these for a crowd - have all the condiments and salad ingredients handy and on a platter - and people can help themselves, as soon as the burgers are cooked.
Step 7	You could fry your onion - but I like the taste of raw red onion in these burgers!

Bastille Burgers – Bearnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers

As my Bastille Burger recipe has TOMATOES in it, I am entering this into Laura (how to cook good food) and Nazima’s (working London mummy) One Ingredient event for July, as the ingredient is, TOMATOES! 

About Bastille Day:

The Bastille is a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. Many people in France associated it with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy in the late 1700s. On July 14, 1789, troops stormed the Bastille. This was a pivotal event at the beginning of the French Revolution. Fête de la Fédération was held on July 14, 1790. This was a way to celebrate the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in France.

Official celebrations were held in Paris on June 30, 1878, to honor the Republic of France. On July 14, 1879, more official celebrations were held. These included a military review in Longchamp near Paris and celebrations all over the country. A politician named Benjamin Raspail proposed that July 14 should become a holiday in France in 1880. The law was enacted on July 6, 1880. Bastille Day was a public holiday for the first time on July 14, 1880.

The military parade in Paris has been held every year since 1880, except during World War II. The Free French Forces paraded on this date in London, England from 1940 until 1944. Jean Michel Jarre held a concert in Paris that attracted one million people, then the largest recorded crowd at an outdoor concert, in 1979. Special celebrations were held for the 200th anniversary of the French revolution in 1989. The French football team became world champions on July 12, 1998. This sparked celebrations throughout France on Bastille Day.

Bastille Day celebrations are held in French communities and the Institut de France around the world. There are festivals of French culture in Franschhoek, South Africa, and Hungary also.