Crunchy Croque Monsieur

A Croque Monsieur is an inside-out grilled cheese!

I've been chowing down on this famous French sandwich since we moved here and I'm so pumped to share it during Grilled Cheese Month 2015.

Viola Le Croque Monsieur: an inside-out grilled cheese!

Croquer means 'to crunch' and the loud crunch it should make when you bite into it is how it got its name. Like the other great French sandwiches I've enjoyed, it has super simple ingredients: bread, ham, emmental cheese, for the inside, and melted Gruyere cheese on top.  

The tricky part of making this at home was finding the right bread. The beautiful artisan breads I love are also very holey, which isn't ideal for a grilled sandwich. Luckily, bakers are like pharmacists, since there are as many pharmacies here as there are bakeries, and if you go to one with a question, they can help you get what you need. So I went to the new bakery that just opened behind our house for some expert advice. The result was a very small, square loaf of bread, plucked fresh from the shelf. The slices were no bigger than small ceramic tiles in a bathroom, so I knew it would be a multiple Croque Monsieur meal.

Small bread makes a tasty, crunchy Croque Monsieur.

To create your own Croque Monsieur, you will need:

-Non-holey bread
-Ham
-Emmental cheese
-Mustard (optional, but you know how I feel about my spicy mustard!)
-Gruyere cheese for the top

Prep:

1. Spread mustard on one slice of bread.
2. Top with ham and slices of emmental.
3. Assemble the other piece of bread.
4. Sprinkle a thick layer of grated Gruyere on top.
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven or toaster oven for 10 minutes/until the top is nicely melted and golden.  

Any kind of grilled cheese, inside and out, is a big favorite of mine but I can't deny that all that melted cheese alone is not super healthy. So I paired my Croque Monsieurs with another crunchy dish, a fresh Broccoli Salad, for a tasty serving of veggies and sweet fruit. 

Equally crunchy Broccoli Salad with apples and dried cranberries.

Prep for the Broccoli Salad:

1. Rinse the broccoli and chop into bite-sized florerets.
2. Chop up an apple and toss in a big handful of dried cranberries.
3. Sprinkle with some grated cheese and toss in a cream dressing (to make a quick one, add some milk, white sugar and ground pepper to a big dollop of mayo and mix until thin.)

Mmm..crunch! What a lovely sound! The spicy mustard really made this Croque Monsieur pop! 

My stack of Croque Monsieurs was a great opportunity to break in my new sandwich tray! I found it in a fun gift shop on a recent trip to Brussels, Belgium. That shop reminded me of one of my favorite shops in Edmonton that closed last year, The Tin Box. I knew as soon as I saw the tray, it needed to come home with me and fulfill its purpose of serving up delicious sandwich meals. 

How awesome is this tray?! 

Happy Sandwich Making! Crunch!

Micky's Deli or The Best Pastrami Sandwich in Paris

You’d think that after living in France for over 7 months, I would have learned by now not to go exploring on an empty stomach.

Alas, I must be a slow learner! Poor me…#firstworldproblems

But with its countless boulangeries, crêperie-carts, and sandwich shops, it’s not hard to find something to eat while out and about in the City of Lights. Plus, being hungry can lead to discovering some pretty fun places that one wouldn’t normally find when already fed and watered.

Micky's Deli, 23 bis Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris

Such as Micky’s Deli, a bustling little Kosher deli-restaurant in the Jewish Quarter of Paris in Le Marais, one of my favorite areas in the city because of the amazing, medieval architecture, the windy, uneven cobblestone streets, and its fascinating history. 

It's home to the incredible Centre de Danse du Marais, the Musée Picasso, and countless boutiques, shops, cafes and restaurants, like our spontaneous find, Micky's Deli. The first time I went there, it was after exploring the nearby Musée Carnavalet, which is “dedicated to the history of Paris and its inhabitants…from the prehistoric times to the present.” It’s a fascinating place and well-worth your time to explore, especially if you’re feeling a bit ‘gallery-ed out’ by all the other amazing museums Paris has to offer. While looking for a place to eat, I was starting to get a bit impatient…okay, hangry…but I’m glad I hung in there while Mike and I wandered down Rue des Rosiers and stumbled upon this fun place to eat.

One sandwich, two plates. Perfect for sharing!

It was already packed with the late-lunch crowd when our server squeezed us in, but a busy place is often the sign of a good restaurant and we didn’t mind the tight fit one bit. The air was warm and thick with delicious smells, animated conversations and laughter in multiple languages and North American pop-music. We perused the menu and decided to split the pastrami sandwich and fries.

Good thing we agreed to split it because it’s huge!

It’s least 2.5 inches thick of warm, melt-in-your-mouth slices of pastrami, barely contained by two slices of fresh bread. The fries were great too – just the right balance of crispy and greasy – classic diner fries. I alternated plain bites with bites spread with a layer of spicy, sinus-clearing mustard (the best kind!) and enjoyed, what I believe is, the best pastrami sandwich in Paris.

But sometimes when you’re ridiculously hungry/hangry, things can taste better than they actually are. That’s when I decided I owed it to myself to go back, test it again, and make sure it really is as good as my satiated appetite decided it was. So I returned a few weeks later with a friend and promised her an excellent sandwich experience.

Salmon Bagel and Fries

Micky’s did not disappoint either of us. She ordered the salmon bagel, which even when cut in half was as big as my head, and I got the pastrami sandwich all to myself.

Yup – still huge, still melt-in-your-mouth, bulgingly-thick and super filling. But I should have been hungrier, since then I probably could have finished the whole thing by myself.

Alas, I’m a slow learner when it comes to the correct empty-stomach/fed-and-watered balance. I just have to keep trying to get it right!

#firstworldsandwichproblems 

The Best Pastrami Sandwich in Paris

For more about pastrami sandwiches, check out one of my earliest posts, The Mighty Pastrami.

Bridges, Poulet Crudités and Being in the Moment

One day during my ESL Teacher training course in January, I bought a baguette sandwich from the bakery two doors down on Rue Dauphine (right in the heart of the Latin Quarter, such a cool area!) and walked a few blocks north to Pont Neuf and ate my lunch right there on the bridge, overlooking the Seine.

Lunch on Pont Neuf: Poulet Crudité, jus de pomme et pain au chocolat.

Pont Neuf, contrary to its name, is not a ‘new bridge’. It was actually built in 1578 and it has two parts that span the right and left banks of Ile-de-la-Cite. It’s a beautiful place and I was needing a few minutes of calm during a very busy and intensive course. I remember planting myself firmly in the moment, taking a deep, yogic breath, and deliberately acknowledging: “This is my lunch break. I’m eating on Pont Neuf. In Paris. Wow!”

Because life gets busy sometimes. And we often forget to just take a moment and acknowledge where we are and what we’re doing. Sometimes, the scenery of everyday, anywhere, can start to blend together and we can lose track of calm, lovely moments that make life interesting.

So I chose to make that moment count and to enjoy every single bite of my delicious sandwich, there on one of the oldest bridges in Paris.

The sandwich I bought from that bakery was a Poulet Crudité, a chicken sandwich with vegetables and a salad dressing sauce on a crusty baguette. It was tasty and filling and kept me going through the busy afternoons of teaching, observing and planning during my course. Recently, I had some lovely leftover roast chicken and I was inspired to gather the ingredients and make my own version of the Poulet Crudité, right at home. And now, you can too!

Cheese and eggs

You will need:

-one baguette

-Mayo or salad dressing sauce, like ranch

-roast chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces or thin slices

-some cheese of your choice; we used some nice Bleu des Neiges, a combination brie/blue type cheese

-hard boiled eggs, sliced (1 egg per sandwich)

-tomato slices

-lettuce/salad greens

Chicken and Tomatoes

Prep:

1-Slice the baguette in half, lengthwise.

2-Drizzle the mayo/salad dressing on each half of the bread loaf.

3-Boil the eggs, using the method from the Colourful Egg Salad post.

4-Layer the bottom half of the bread with cheese, chicken, egg slices, tomato and lettuce.

5-Assemble the top half of the baguette, slice and serve. Makes two big, dinner-sized sandwiches!

Poulet Crudité: Pret a Manger!

This particular sandwich was eaten for dinner in the comfort of my own home, with the company of my husband. It may not be as exciting as a bridge in Paris, but it’s home and I enjoyed every bite of this sandwich just as much as I enjoyed the other one.

I want to mention that the first time I ate lunch on Pont Neuf, it was Friday, January 9 2015, the day there was a hostage situation underway in Porte de Vincennes. I didn’t know it was happening at the time and where I was in Paris, it was business as usual. The Paris attacks shocked me and my husband, as it shocked the rest of the world and we were quick to reassure our friends and family that we were safe.

Shocked though we were, we still went to the ballet at Palais Garnier that weekend, because life must continue. And the following week, I made a point to buy my lunch again (a different kind of  sandwich from the same bakery) and eat it on Pont Neuf. Because I refuse to live in fear and I want to keep looking for the good in my life, in the people around me, and in my surroundings.

And I’m happy to report that the view was just as picturesque and my sandwich was just as tasty as it was before! Paris is a beautiful and a tough city, having withstood a lot in her history, and I will continue to look for the good in it and take the time to deliberately acknowledge that I’m lucky and happy to be here.

One of my favorite lunch spots in a beautiful and tough city.

I hope you find the time to be in the moment and appreciate where you are, what you're doing and to find the good in it.

Thanks for your support and Happy Sandwich Making!

Ciabatta Goodness

Can you pronounce ciabatta?

It’s a tricky one – the ‘ci’ is actually pronounced like ‘chi’, so to say the name of this lovely bread correctly, try ‘chi-batta’. I actually looked up how to pronounce it – thank you Macmillan Dictionary and your audio clips for pronunciation!

Fresh Ciabatta Goodness!

This sudden attention to the pronunciation of foreign words is a result of the intensive English Teacher training course I recently completed at the International Language Center in Paris. I can now apply for English teaching positions and the world is wide open to me once again!

During my course, I brought my lunch from home as much as possible. This was helpful to save money, since buying lunch everyday can be expensive, and to save time, especially on those afternoons when I was teaching. I often brought homemade sandwiches made with ciabatta bread and stuffed with my favorite sandwich innards: multiple types of meat and cheese, veggies and mustard.

Stacked and Packed!

I can get fresh ciabatta bread  at my local grocery store and one loaf can make multiple sandwiches, depending on the size of my appetite: 3 small or 2 large. Ciabatta is lovely bread, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, with lots of nice little nooks and crannies to hold reserves of mustard. It’s a worthy alternative to the baguette and it makes some pretty amazing sandwiches, both fresh and toasted.

A medley of goodness and ingredients

Possible ingredients for some Ciabatta Goodness include:

Meat: Ham, salami, sausage, roast beef, roast chicken or turkey

Cheese: Emmental, gouda, camembert (so good!)

Veggies: Feuilles de chêne (salad greens), arugula, spinach, avocado, red pepper, tomato, etc.

Condiments: Butter, mustard (multiple kinds in the same sandwich!), mayo

Prep:

1-Cut a fresh ciabatta loaf in half, length wise.

2-Spread butter and/or mustard on the halves, alternating or combining as per your tastes.

3-Pile on your choice(s) of meat(s) and cheese(s).

4-Top with veggies.

5-Assemble the top half of the loaf.

6-Cut to your desired size and number of sandwiches.

7-Serve and enjoy!

One Ciabatta Loaf = Multiple Sandwiches!

To create a tasty toasted ciabatta sandwich, place both halves of the bread (after the meat and cheese are in place, but before adding the veggies) in the oven under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, top with veggies, cut and serve!

Tasty and Toasty Ciabatta Sandwich

This sandwich was a conversation starter among my new classmates during my course and it was extremely filling to eat for lunch. It also works well at sandwich parties or potlucks, where there are lot of fun ingredient combinations to play with. We brought some ciabatta to a recent gathering of sandwich lovers (friends) and they were a big hit there too.

So give it a try with your favorite ingredients and when someone asks you about your sandwich, because they will, tell them it’s all in the ciabatta bread and help them pronounce it correctly.

Just don’t talk with your mouth full!

Upside-down Ciabatta Goodness.

The 9 Hour Beef Dip

It’s been over a year since I’ve started blogging about the beautiful world of sandwiches and this next creation wins the award for having the longest cooking-time – 9 hours!

This is all thanks to an amazing kitchen appliance: The Slow Cooker, or Crock-Pot, whichever name you prefer.

A must-have for any busy household!

My slow-cooker is on my Top 3 Best Kitchen Appliances List along with the coffeemaker and the Bosch Mixer. I've had one ever since I moved out on my own and needed to learn how to cook for myself. When my husband and I first moved in together, we each had a slow-cooker and sometimes, used both of them at the same time! It was hard to decide which one to take with us to France. His won out, being slightly bigger, so I sent mine home to my parents; there was no way I could give it away to a stranger after all the lovely meals it provided over the years.

Slow-cooker meals are nearly impossible to mess up and when life gets busy, as it always does, it makes cooking good, hearty meals practically effortless. What better thing is there than coming home after a busy day to a delicious smell wafting through the house and your dinner nearly ready? 

The 9 Hour Beef Dip is my first slow-cooker sandwich creation and I was thrilled with how it turned out. After roasting the beef all day, it only took ten minutes to assemble and even less time to wolf down!

Quick prep for some slow cooking!

You will need:

1 Small beef roast

1 ½ Tsp each of thyme and rosemary

3 Garlic cloves, minced

2 Cups beef broth

2 Tsp teriyaki sauce

1 Small onion, chopped

Red and green bell peppers, one of each

Edam cheese

Baguette-style loaf of bread

Small bowls or ramekins for the dipping sauce

Prep:

1-Work backwards 9 hours from when you want to eat and get your roast in early.

2-Mix all the spices together and sprinkle on your roast, covering it entirely.

3-Place roast in the slow-cooker and cover with chopped onions and beef broth.

4-Cover with the lid and cook on low for 9 hours

5-No peeking! It’ll smell amazing and you’ll be tempted to lift the lid but according to my Fix-It and Forget It Cookbook, “every time you take the lid off, the cooker loses steam…and it takes 20 minutes to regain lost steam and temperature.” Just relax and let it do its thing uninterrupted.

Gorgeous colours and softened just enough.

Sandwich Assembly:

1-About 10 minutes before you take the meat out, sauté the peppers in some olive until soft.

2-Remove the roast from the slow-cooker and carefully cut it into thin slices.

3-Slice the bread loaf and arrange beef slices, peppers and cheese inside.

4-Ladle some of the beef juice into the small bowls/ramekins for dipping.

5-Serve warm and enjoy!

Quick and easy sandwich assembly.

A note about dipping technique:

Submerge the sandwich into the dipping sauce as far as you can. The bread acts like a sponge and absorbs the tasty liquid, which softens the crust ever so slightly. The result is a tasty, hearty,savory, effortlessly made, beef dip sandwich.

Definitely worth every hour of waiting!

   

The 9 Hour Beef Dip

Cajun Chicken, Chèvre and Veggie Flute

Did you know there are laws in France that dictate where, when and how bread is made and sold?

I didn’t either, until one of my fellow ex-pat friends told me.

Apparently, the law was passed in 1993 and dictates:

“traditional baguettes have to be made on the premises they're sold and can only be made with four ingredients: wheat flour, water, salt and yeast. They can't be frozen at any stage or contain additives or preservatives.” (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/)

Once I knew this, it made a lot more sense that the ‘baguettes’ in our local grocery store look, feel and taste slightly different than the ones from the bakery near our house. They’re not made at the store, they’re bigger and much crunchier and they (gasp!) may have been frozen at one point. For these reasons, they’re not actually baguettes, they’re called flutes.

I know – my mind was all quoi?! too.

But a wise playwright once wrote: That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Hence French bread, by any name, is still French bread and that means they make très beaux sandwiches.

Of course, it takes more than just beautiful bread to make a beautiful sandwich, hence the fun I had assembling the ingredients for a warm, juicy, spicy, strong, crunchy concoction that became the Cajun Chicken, Chèvre and Veggie Flute.

Beautiful fresh ingredients make a beautiful sandwich.

It requires:

-chicken breasts, one for as each sandwiches you make

-Flute (or other such loaf-y bread)

-red and green bell peppers

- Chèvre (which literally means goat, so basically goat cheese)

-greens, such as baby spinach, arugula, mizuna, lettuce, etc.

 -Cajun spice

A flute is a bigger, thicker French loaf. Perfect for this sandwich!

-Olive oil

-fresh ground pepper

Prep:

1-Saute the chicken in olive oil over medium heat.

2-While chicken is cooking, chop up the peppers, slice the chèvre and cut the bread in half lengthwise.

3-Add some Cajun spice to the chicken in the last few minutes of cooking. To check for doneness, cut into the breasts at their thickest. The meat should be white, not pink.

4-Remove chicken from heat and slice lengthwise to thin the meat; it fits better in the loaf this way.

5-Place chicken on the bread, top with chèvre and veggies.

6-Assemble the sandwich and cut in half, if you like.

7-Mangez le sandwich!

Veggies and cheese ready for meat and bread.

What I really enjoy about this sandwich is the variety of flavours and textures: the crunchy, crusty bread, the warm, yet spicy chicken, the strong and smooth cheese and the fresh vegetables. You could also sauté the peppers for another flavour layer; I actually used leftover sautéed peppers and they tasted great.

A word about chèvre: I really love this cheese but it’s strong smelling and has a crumbly texture that’s not for everyone. It really pairs nicely with the Cajun spice on this sandwich but you could substitute it for a mellower cheese, like emmental, if you like.

The Cajun spice is a special blend we picked up at the local market and truth be told, I don’t actually know what’s in it, but the spice man said it’s great for poultry and gives it a Cajun/Louisiana style seasoning. He was right.

For a sandwich that covers all four major French food groups: bread, cheese, meat and veggies, give this one a try! It doesn’t matter if you use a baguette, a flute or a sub, just pack it full of fresh, tasty ingredients and it’s sure to please.

Cajun Chicken, Chèvre and Veggie Flute

Special thanks and credit for this sandwich go out to my fellow Canadian friend Kellen. It's great to have a new friend to talk sandwiches with! 

For more information about French bread, check out these great websites!

http://about-france.com/french-bread.htm

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-buy-bread-french-way

Fall evenings with Gouda Grilled Cheese and Spicy Carrot Soup

It’s fall everywhere and it’s a beautiful time of year!

I love finally getting to wear my favorite fall jacket: a dark green corduroy blazer, with matching green leather gloves. It’s time for sweaters, boots and scarves. Fall means mornings with a slight misty chill that turn into sunny afternoons that are still nice enough to be outside for a walk or a coffee on a patio. It’s beautiful colours and smells and it’s time for warm, gooey, spicy comfort food: grilled cheese and spicy carrot soup!

Sizzling and simmering! My Mom made the Bon Appetit needlepoint.
It's perfect for a French kitchen!

A simple soup and sandwich night has been long overdue, especially after such a crazy/busy summer of traveling, moving and living out of suitcases. But no more of that! I have my own kitchen again and all the knives, gadgets and appliances I’ve missed since they were packed up and shipped out, so the time for a lovely comfort meal is here!

I could have gone the easy route with regular grilled cheese and tomato soup and although it’s tasty, we've been there, done that. I like this spicy soup as a beautiful and unique alternative to tomato soup, since it’s still fairly simple, but that also has a touch of the new and blog-worthy. A distinct soup needs a distinct sandwich, so this particular grilled cheese uses special Gouda seasoned with cumin. This soup and sandwich meal may be comfort food, but it’s definitely not ordinary.

Gorgeous fall-colored ingredients.

To make Spicy Carrot Soup, you will need: 

1 kg of carrots, peeled and chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 knob of ginger, around the size of your thumb, peeled and chopped

3-4 cloves of garlic, either minced or chopped

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups of vegetable broth or the equivalent in instant vegetable stock

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp* red pepper paste, found with Cajun/Creole ingredients (It won’t look like much, but trust me – it’s enough! You can add more but only if you want it really, really spicy! You can substitute the paste for red pepper flakes)

Blender method is worth a try.

Prep:

1-In your soup pot, sauté the ginger, garlic and red pepper paste/flakes in the olive oil for a few minutes.

2-Add the carrots and red pepper and keep sautéing, until everything is slightly softened.

3-Add the broth.

4-Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer on low for around 20 minutes.

5-Carefully scoop out small portions to puree in a blender until the whole soup is pureed. Let simmer on low while you make the sandwiches.

6-Enjoy with a side of sandwich!

To make the Gouda Grilled Cheese, you will need:

-sliced sandwich bread, in this instance, I used a Boule, a type of French bread that’s round, like a ‘boule’

-slices of cumin-seasoned Gouda

-butter

Bread, Gouda and Butter.

Prep:

1-While the soup is simmering, heat some butter in your skillet and assemble the sandwiches.

2-Keep the heat on low and press the sandwiches into the skillet with your spatula.

3-Carefully flip each sandwich until the bread is grilled golden.

4-Remove from heat, slice and enjoy with a side of soup!

Zing! This is not a bland vegetable soup!

Its bright orange color might seem mellow and soothing but look out – the combination of ginger and red pepper paste makes this soup nice, hot and spicy! As I mentioned before, be careful with your quantities, unless of course, you like it that hot. A generous dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt also adds a cooling sensation, without taking away from the overall taste. All spiciness aside, this is one of my favorite soups because it’s so flavorful and simple to make. Plus, it’s ridiculously healthy! This was the first time I used the blender method, as opposed to an immersion blender, and although slightly less convenient, it worked out just fine.  

As for the sandwich, I really liked the cumin in the Gouda and I’m glad I tried it for a new twist on an old classic. It adds a rustic, slightly smoky flavor to the sandwich. It was a nice, relaxed touch to a spicy and satisfying fall meal.

Gouda Grilled Cheese and Spicy Carrot Soup

For a meal that’s as healthy as it is hearty and warm, it’s hard to beat the soup and sandwich combo. Play with the flavor combinations to find one that’s comfort food without being boring. Then enjoy those chilly fall nights, listening to the wind while you’re curled up with your hot bowl of soup and gooey grilled cheese sandwich.

Bon appétit!