Pierre was a French restaurateur in New York City. His daughter, Claudine, sings cabaret and is an outstanding educator and colleague (retired).

Claudine created and performed a show about being first generation American. In her show, she tells a story about the first time her father ever made a cheeseburger for her. He ground some nice steak, grilled it, melted some nutty Gruyere on it and served it with sautéed shallots on a piece of French bread along side haricots verts.

Her description of this feast got me thinking about French cheeseburgers and I decided to replicate it.

Scott had bought some grass fed beef and put it in the freezer. He also got me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (😍 so romantic – no, really, I love it) and a grinder attachment.

We ground some chuck, shaped it into patties and seasoned it well with salt and pepper. I sautéed them in a film of olive oil and topped them with Gruyere. While that was cooking, I sautéed some shallots and freshened up some baguette from Chez Mayson Kayser. We had farmers market salad with fresh cucumbers and early tomatoes.

Le cheeseburger (say it with a French accent) tasted better than it looks.