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Provencal Beef Burger -

PROVENCAL BEEF BURGER

I discovered this recipe when I was 21 whilst visiting my French Grandmother in Toulon in the South of France. On the beach at Le Mourillon was a burger van serving food in the evening. Though I haven't visited recently I understand from my cousins the van is still just as popular as it was over 40 years ago. What makes this burger are the provencal herbs and the North African flavour of chilli. 

I love a good burger, however most are disappointing with no real flavour. Try this as I'm certain you will enjoy and they are so good to pop on a barbecue. The burgers can be served the traditional way in a bun with salad etc. or as the van would do, take a 12 inch/30cm length of French baguette, cut cooked burger in to slices and lay along the length of the bread. Add what takes your fancy - cheese, salad, tomatoes, dried oregano etc. Then flatten the bread and burger in a griddle press to about 1 inch/3cm thickness. Wrap in grease proof paper and enjoy. I remember many an evening playing football on the beach with my cousins friends, then enjoying these burgers with a very cold beer. 

Ingredients - 4 burgers.

500gm minced beef

1 egg

Bowl of Stale bread crumbs

2 Tsp Dijon smooth mustard 

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 Tsp chilli flakes

6 slices of sun dried tomato (from a jar of tomatoes soaked in olive oil) 

Fresh Herbs - Sage, mint, rosemary, chives, oregano, parsley

Salt and pepper seasoning

Using an electric blender, blend stale bread to create bread crumbs and put to one side. In stages blend the minced beef with a selection of herbs and the sun dried tomatoes. In a bowl add the blended minced beef, adding the Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, the egg, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 the bowl of bread crumbs and using your hands mix it all together. If it feels a bit wet add more of the bread crumbs. Once all blended together create one large ball of the mixture. Cut the ball of beef into quarters and again using your hands create 4x tennis size balls of beef and press the ingredients tightly together before patting into the shape of your burger. Refrigerate or good to freeze for another day.

To cook - Pan fry to colour the outside then 10 minutes in an oven at 200c. To barbecue, place over coals to colour then place a bit higher to continue cooking for a few minutes. The burger should be moist (slightly pink) inside to get the flavour of the all the herbs and flavourings.