Ground Beef with Onions and Herbs

After watching Julie & Julia about a million times I decided it was time to tackle some of these recipes.  Of course I was intimidated because it's Julia Child for Pete's sake!  My husband was nice enough to find me a copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" so I was looking for something easy, something I couldn't screw up.  That would have destroyed my confidence.  I learned something about making this recipe.  I learned that Julia Child and Paula Dean are keeping the dairy farmers of America in business with how much butter they use.  I love it!
I also learned that not every recipe in this GIANT cookbook is intimidating and it's actually quite user friendly.
I can't wait to try more recipes out of this book!

First thing you do is mince the onion very fine and cook it in some butter.  You're going to make sort of like a meatloaf mix and then form patties out of it.

Roll the patties in some flour and begin to cook them.

Cook the patties in the pan you used for the onions.  When they are browned and cooked how you like them you'll want to move them to a plate and make the sauce using the same pan.

The sauce is made out of any number of things; most of which you probably already have.  I used white wine in mine.

Found on page 301 of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

Bifteck Haché À La Lyonnaise

1/4 cup finely minced onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 Tbsp softened butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp thyme
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup beef stock, dry white wine, red wine, dry white vermouth, canned beef bouillon, or 1/4 cup water.
2-3 Tbsp softened butter

Add 2 Tbsp of butter to a large frying pan and then add the onions.  Cook on a low heat, you do not want the onions caramelized, just soft and transparent.

In a large bowl add ground beef, butter, salt, pepper, thyme and egg and mix well.  When the onions are done and have cooled slightly add those to the meat mixture. 

In a separate bowl put the flour so you can dip the burgers in before cooking them. Shake off the excess flour and cook until your desired doneness.

Remove the burgers to a separate dish and keep warm while you make the sauce.  Pour the fat out of the skillet.  Add the liquid of your choice to the pan and bring to a boil, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan as you go along.   Reduce the liquid to almost a syrup.  Remove from the heat and add the butter a little at a time until it is incorporated into the sauce.  Pour over the hamburger patties and serve right away.