Monegasque Burger

Lamb Burger with Caramelized Onions, Herbed Mayonnaise, and Goat Cheese on Herbed Fougasse

Next stop is the Principality of Monaco. This tiny country is the smallest in the UN. The total area of Monaco is 2 km² – that’s .77 miles² – to give you a sense of how small that is, the Vegas strip is 4.2 miles², so you could fit approximately 5.5 Monacos on the Vegas strip. Fortunately for the 31, 597 Monegasque people, this tiny piece of land is located at the southern end of France on the Mediterranean Sea. Location, location, location!

If I had a choice of places to be born and raised, Monaco is pretty high on my list. Importantly, I’d like to be born to a Monegasque man so that I could be a citizen of Monaco. Monegasque people enjoy the longest life expectancy in the world 89.6 years. The real GDP per capita is the second highest in the world, which is good, because in such a tiny place, real estate is extremely expensive. Fortunately (pun intended), there is zero poverty in Monaco.

I had a sense of the wealth and size of the country before I started, but still the details are impressive. My question was, how the heck did this small city become a country? Well, it started as a Genoese fortress built in 1215. Then the Grimaldi family tried to seize control in 1297, but weren’t fully successful at gaining permanent control until 1419. Since that time the Grimaldis have ruled Monaco. Today Prince Albert II is the ruling monarch of this constitutional monarchy.

As an old movie buff, I can’t really do this article without talking (briefly, I promise) about Princess Grace. Grace Kelly was a beautiful American actress in the 1950s. When Cary Grant was asked who his favorite co-star was, he said “Well, with all due respect to dear Ingrid Bergman, I much preferred Grace. She had serenity.” Grace was in the Riviera in May of 1955 and was invited to meet Prince Rainier III of Monaco. She went to the palace, they met, corresponded and announced their engagement in January 1956. Their wedding was in April 1956 and the fairy tale created a princess out of an American girl. My favorite part of the story is that during the filming of High Society, Grace sported her actual engagement ring from Prince Rainier rather than use one of the prop rings that were offered to her. There’s a wonderful scene in the moving where she lounges and admires her ring.

Ok, that’s enough about Princess Grace, back to the country. Monaco is famous for its casinos and is one of the premier luxury tourism destinations in the world. Casinos on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, can it get any better? As a matter of fact, it can. Located adjacent to Provence and close to Northern Italy, food is an important facet of the hospitality experience in Monaco. Five star dining is a must for the luxury traveller.

As a coastal country, all kinds of seafood are central to Monegasque cuisine. Bouillabaisse is a staple that can be found in the finest restaurants and in most every home. Fresh ingredients are important to the cuisine, lemons, olives, herbs, saffron, fresh cheese and of course wine are common ingredients. All of the finest ingredients from Provence and Northern Italy are available and incorporated into the dishes of Monaco.

With so much to choose from, how to decide what to do for a burger? Despite the importance of seafood, we’ve just done too much seafood lately, so I chose lamb which is one of the more common meats enjoyed by Monegasques. There is a bread that’s considered a Monegasque staple, it’s called Fougasse. Fougasse is, by all accounts, similar to focaccia, but is made in a classic leaf shape. I wanted to include this bread (cause I love focaccia), so I looked for a local bakery. Luckily I live in a town with, Clear Flour Bread, a fantastic Italian bakery that carries both focaccia and fougasse – but I didn’t know that at first.

So, I actually MADE MY OWN fougasse. It’s been a while, but just to remind y’all, I hate baking. Especially when it involves yeast. It never works right, never tastes right, never the right texture. I used Paul Hollywood’s recipe, and it turned out absolutely delicious. And, because I made it myself, I was able to eliminate the holes that are traditional, which made it a better bread for a burger bun. If you don’t want to try baking, you can just buy an herbed focaccia bread and it will work well.

Bread settled, now to tackle the toppings. Caramelized onions seemed an obvious choice, using a little wine to flavor them and cooking low and slow until the sweet goodness came out. I added some Swiss chard because it’s an ingredient I saw in many Monegasque dishes, but once the onions cooked down, the flavor of the Swiss chard was lost. For an extra zing, I added red grapes to the onions in the last 20 minutes, this was critical as it added a brightness that balanced the richness of the onions and lamb.

The last touch was the cheese. I read somewhere that goat cheese was more common than cow’s cheese in Monaco, so I went with it. And, when it comes to goat cheese, my favorite is Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog (by the way, I am not sponsored by anyone, I pay for all of my ingredients and any links or specific brands I give you are because I love them, not because I’m being paid). Humboldt Fog is hard to describe, if you married a chèvre and a triple creme, you’d be close, but you’d need just a touch of cave ripened brie to get it perfect. If you have the chance try it, you will fall in love.

The final burger was divine. The herbs in the bread and mayonnaise sing and make you think of Provence. The cheese and lamb meld into a single creation of buttery umami yumminess, and the onion grape mixture lifts the entire burger and keeps it out of the “too heavy” category and firmly in “oh my God, I must have this again”. In fact, when I made the photo version the next day, I was tempted to devour it myself, but because love conquers all, I let my husband devour it instead – I did sneak one bite for “research” purposes 😉 Since I used a Sancerre in the onions, we finished it with the burger, but it would also pair well with an Alsace Pinot Gris or a California Pinot Noir.

If you like this burger, you might enjoy my Albanian Burger. It has some similar flavors with caramelized onions and lamb, but a more garlic forward flavor overall and the feta gives it a brininess that you don’t get from Humboldt Fog.

©Copyright 2023 Linda Monach