Croque Monsieur s’il vous plaise

The name alone, Croque Monsieur, just sounds decadent. Honestly. More fun to say than ham and cheese sandwich. Calling it ham and cheese doesn’t do it justice.

It is more than just a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. It’s toasted buttery bread with sandwiching layers of melting cheese and ham that is lastly topped with a creamy béchamel sauce and more melted cheese. See… the name fits.

Croque monsieur s’il vous plaise!

Croque Monsieur

A friend of mine just recently had a birthday to celebrate. What did she ask from me? Honey lavender ice cream (see previous post). Well, I obliged, but took it a few steps further. I decided that I would cook dinner for her and some friends.

So, there is this movie with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin called “It’s Complicated”. If you’ve seen it, then you know the part I’m about to mention. Yeah, that scene where Meryl’s character is preparing a dinner for a guest… Croque monsieur. I was watching this movie with my previous mentioned birthday friend, and at that part she said, “Oooo. That looks good! Can you make that?” I just laughed because that isn’t an unfamiliar question I’m asked when food is in a movie or on TV (this is where I got the idea for what to make for dinner).

I got to “work” on the dinner most of the day. Why? Well. It was on a Saturday and I went to the famers market and decided to make a day of it. Got up “early”… well, I should’ve woken up earlier b/c I would have been able to get everything at the market… I slept till 8 so by the time I got downtown… you know how the story goes.  

Note to self: get up earlier than usual to go to the farmers market so not to have slim pickings. Farmers markets are THE place to be on Saturday mornings. 

I did get some great cherry tomatoes (made some bruschetta as an app) and lettuce (for a simple salad) from one vendor, and then got some challah bread for the croques and French baguette for the bruschetta app. Lastly got the eggs and honey. Just had to pop over to the store and get the ham and other dairy.

When I got back to the house from my Saturday morning food adventure, I got right to work on all the food prep… got the ice cream mix started right away so it could chill, then moved on to quartering up the cherry tomatoes and tossing them in some olive oil, basil, garlic and salt and pepper. Grating cheese for the croques. The kitchen was coming to life as the smells were swirling around.

Getting everything together and ready went by swiftly, and the guest started to arrive. I pulled out the ice cream from earlier and put it in my trusty ice cream maker (love my kitchen aide ice cream maker).

As the guest snacked on the bruchetta and chatted, I was able to get the croques started. Sliced the challah bread and spread them on a sheet pan. Slipped the bread into the oven under the broiler to toast. As the bread was toasting away, I started on the béchamel sauce. The smell of butter was now taking over the kitchen. My dance began.

The following paragraph is insight of my train of thought during the whole process…

Ok, slice the bread. Get it even. Under the broiler. OK. Start sauce. Butter into the pot… melt, add flour. Stir. Stir. Stir. The bread is turning golden brown, time to flip. I need both hands for this. Back to the sauce… keep stirring. Add warmed milk, keep stirring. (Was I just asked a question? “Hmm? What was that? Oh no. I got it. Not too much longer.”) What was I doing? Oh, right, the sauce… still stirring. The bread. Bread is ready to pull out of the oven. Back to sauce, add cheese and stir (oh man this smells amazing); remove from heat; add salt and pepper and taste (This is going to be sooo good). Set aside… Focus on nothing but assembly: Spread Dijon mustard on bread slices, top half of bread slices with ham, then add cheese, pour béchamel sauce over cheese, top with other bread slice (Dijon side down), pour more béchamel sauce, top with more cheese, back under broiler to melt. Remove from oven… Dinner is ready! (I didn’t make as big of a mess as I thought I would. What’s that humming?) Oh the ice cream. Put in a container and put in freezer. Now time to eat.

Like I said. It was a dance. The kitchen smelled of butter and cheese. I was so focused on “my partner” (the oven and cook-top) I didn’t notice that everybody was glancing their eyes into the kitchen watching my dance.   

Mmmm... Croques under the broiler

The most rewarding part of the whole day was the silence I heard when dinner was being consumed.

My favorite moment is that silence when the first bites are taken.

The only noise was the faint background music and the knives on the plates cutting the Croques in half. After the first few bites were down did any talking start back up again.  I served up the ice cream after everybody became members of the clean plate club. Chattering was to a minimum again as they ate their Lavender and honey ice cream. 

The dinner was a hit and the food was well received.... There weren't any leftovers. This is a crowd pleaser. The simple side salad paired nicely with the Croques. Served the salad with different choices of vinaigrettes and the leftover quaraterings of cherry tomatoes. I highly recommend this to anybody. The ingredients are easy to come by and cheap. 

Another great thing about this recipe for Croques is that they can be altered by one ingredient and the name changes... Croques Madames. All you have to add is an egg. The egg is either fried or poached. Whatever your fancy, it will be a hit. Happy eating/cooking/baking!!!

The Fried egg for the Madame

The Monsieur and the Madame

Cutting into the Madame

Honey and Lavender Please!

I’ve always been weary of using floral; more so rose than lavender, in foods. Why? Well, because, to me, the uses of rose in deserts taste more like the potpourri in my grandparents’ bathroom than a dessert. Not really something I want to ingest, but I do brave the waters and experiment. Yes, I braved the road of florals and I’m really happy I did.

Now I have recipes that have lavender or rose in them, I’ll either substitute other ingredients or when I do go by the recipe I have to reduce the amount of rose or lavender because it is always overwhelming.

The  first recipe…

Honey and Lavender Ice Cream… it was delicious! I used the recipe from David Lebovitz. His recipes are all so amazing! (If you haven’t checked his stuff out it is a must!) I’ve made this recipe many times before and it is always a hit. The only thing I did differently was to not put more dried lavender at the finish; I’m not a fan of the texture of the dried lavender at the end. (I’ve done it both ways and still a hit with or without the additional dried lavender). The lavender is very subtle and you still have the flavor of the honey. It tastes like a light and refreshing ice cream. This ice cream does remind me of the ice creams I would eat in France. There were always a variety of flavors that were more interesting than just vanilla, chocolate and mint chocolate chip (not bashing those flavors, I just loved the variety I had). Some flavors that I remember most are Nutella, cassis, and Basil strawberry. 

Group shot of all the ice cream cones (Anncey, France 2011)

Flavor L to R: Lemon, Browned Butter, Nutella (Anncey, France 2011)

Another recipe I have is a Honey and Lavender Shortbread cookie. I made these to send my niece for her first birthday. This recipe originally didn’t have honey in it… I decided to bring it into the mix to add another layer of flavor (the honey I like to use is an orange blossom honey. I was able to find some locally, which I prefer to use as much local produce and products as possible). Lets just say that the first few batches of cookies didn’t make the cut… but I finally got the recipe right. They were a hit with my niece and my sister and brother-in-law.

For Honey Lavender cookies: Reduced the powder sugar to half a cup and added 1 tablespoons (TBS) of honey

The ingredients 

So what I did for this recipe is creamed the room temp butter with the powder sugar and honey then added 3 TBS of dried lavender. This was when the kitchen smelled amazing with all the butter, sugar and lavender. Once all ingredients are incorporated, I dropped a tablespoon and half sized cookies onto a greased cookie sheet and baked them till they were golden brown. When they are baking your kitchen will be flooded with the smell of lavender and butter cookie goodness. The cookie itself had subtle lavender taste and the honey flavor also shared the spotlight. It is the perfect little cookie to have with tea or as a little snack that you don’t feel so guilty about eating.

The dough when it comes together

The finished product... too bad scent-o-vision hasn't been invented