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!

Grilled Brie, Raspberries and Chocolate Chips

It’s the week after Easter and I still have a hankering for chocolate.

This year's haul from the Easter Bunny. 

 Chocolate kisses, Kinder-Surprises, chocolate cupcakes - this was a chocolate-filled weekend! I’m usually more of  a salty than sweet snacker but I do love a chunk of  chocolate bunny with a tall, cold glass of milk. 

 I’m not quite ready to put it away yet, so I consulted the  Internet orbs and found a way have my chocolate and eat  it too – in a whole new kind of grilled cheese sandwich,  combined  with some silky, creamy brie and sweet  raspberry jam.

 Chocolate and Grilled Cheese?!

 The only thing crazier than the idea of this sandwich would  be not to try it.

 So try it I did.  A delicate balance between the sweet  chocolate and creamy cheese needs to be struck in order  to make this sandwich work and it took me two tries to get  it right. I know...life is rough when I have to eat this sandwich twice. Sigh.

I had never made such a sweet sandwich before and I went big with my first attempt. Very big and very, very sweet. It was basically a chocolate fondue sandwich, and that may not be an issue for you, but for this sandwich to really shine, the brie deserves equal time in the spotlight. I toned it down for Version 2 and the result was nothing short of grilled cheese and chocolate miracle.

It's hard to go wrong with good brie.

You will need: 

Sourdough or rye bread

Triple Crème Brie, sliced thickly

Raspberry Jam

Chipits’ Baking Chocolate, broken into pieces or Milk Chocolate Chips (or you could sacrifice bits of your Chocolate Bunny to this delicious cause)

Butter (2-3 Tbsp)

How to:

1-Spread one slice of bread with a thick layer of raspberry jam. Cover the entire piece of bread, right up to the crust.

2-Add your chosen chocolate to the jam side: either the shards of baking chocolate or the chips. For best results, use just one kind of chocolate.

3-Arrange the slices of brie on the other piece of bread and combine the two.

4-Pre-heat your skillet on low and melt the butter before grilling the sandwich 3-4 minutes per side.

5-Flip and grill until the outsides are golden brown and the insides are melted. Some oozing of chocolate or brie is to be expected.

6-Slice and enjoy!

Don't go crazy with the chocolate! Less really is more.

The result: rich, sweet, velvety and ridiculously decadent!

The chocolate and brie melt so well, they are barely contained within the bread. The raspberry jam adds a pinch of tartness and I love brie with anything.  When I just used the chocolate chips, I could actually taste all the flavours of all the ingredients instead of just tasting melted chocolate and grilled buttery bread.  The toned-down version is still plenty sweet but doesn’t overdo it.  It’s still a grilled cheese sandwich at heart.

A grilled cheese and chocolate miracle.

That said, this grilled cheese gives you permission to skip the dinner sandwich and go straight for desert. Just add a tall, cold glass of milk.

Trust me, you’ll need it. 

National Grilled Cheese Month - A Teaser

Grilled Cheese is sheer sandwich excellence.

The concept of cheese – any cheese – on beautiful bread, grilled to buttery, golden, melted, oozing perfection is simple and brilliant.  It’s messy, melted goodness is appealing to even the most picky of eaters, like I was as a kid.  It’s still a favorite among grown-ups – especially when fancy grown-up cheeses like Brie or Gruyere are the ones to be grilled.

A grilled cheese sandwich comforts, satisfies,  delights and inspires creativity like no other kind of sandwich. In my research, I've  bookmarked countless pages of grilled  cheese recipes, utterly mesmerized by  beautiful images of the melted cheese spilling  forth from the crispy, golden bread, like a  welcome banner, each more mouth-watering  than the last. It’s exciting,
overwhelming and  absolutely impossible to do justice to this  idolized sandwich in one or two
blog posts.

A good skillet is a must for stove-top grilled cheese.

A great tool to invest in is a small panini grill.

Seriously – it’s hard to even know where to begin!

So I’m beginning at the start of the month, which is fitting since April has actually been declared National Grilled Cheese Month. No, it’s not an April Fools thing, it’s true! There’s even a Grilled Cheese Invitational in Los Angeles on April 12, also known as National Grilled Cheese Day, where amateur and professional chefs come together to battle it out for bragging rights and Grilled Cheese Supremacy. Who knew this little sandwich could evoke so much in so many?

Throughout the next few weeks, I will be sharing my favorite grilled cheese finds - some old, some new, some weird but all wonderful.  I have lots of ideas but I’m also extremely open to hearing from you, my fellow Grilled-Cheese Connoisseurs.  Feel free to comment or message me any of your ideas, tips or feedback and we will celebrate this amazing sandwich together!

Here’s a tease of some of what’s to come:

Brie...Cheddar...Bacon...Sourdough...Apples...Mozzarella...Potatoes...Jalapenos...Gouda...Tomatoes...Baguette...Raspberries...Onions...Classic...

April is shaping up to be a great month.

Grilled Cheddar, Turkey and Apples. 

Two Tasty Tunas and Some Grilled Pear Topped with Brie!

Tuna is the kind of sandwich ingredient that you can really play and experiment with to suit your taste at any given moment.  It’s like the black cardigan of sandwiches: it pairs well with other elements and is very hard to mess up.  I had a hard time deciding what kind of tuna sandwich to share, so I picked my two top favorites and threw in a desert/appetizer/side sandwich as a bonus, grilled pear and brie.  I also couldn’t help but have a lot of fun coming up with this post’s title, a funny play on the 12 Days of Christmas Song.  Enjoy!

Tasty Tuna #1: The Veggie Tuna

This sandwich is packed full of fresh, crunchy veggies piled thickly on some artisan bread.  I also went light on the mayo since I don’t like my tuna drowning in excessive sauce and I wanted to be able to taste each vegetable in the mix.

You will need:

-Sandwich Bread; I used Black Pepper and Swiss Cheese Bread from the Save-On-Foods bakery for all three sandwiches and it worked beautifully!

-One 170 g can of Clover Leaf Solid White Tuna, drained and flaked (one can makes 2-3 sandwiches, depending on how thick you make each one)

-Grated Carrot

-Chopped Red Pepper (one half to a whole pepper, depending on its size)

-Chopped pickles or ½ tbsp of sweet relish

-One heaping tablespoon of Hellmann’s Light Mayonnaise

-Cheese; I tried Saputo’s Monterey Jack for something a little different

-Dill sprinkled on top

Assembly tips:

1-Mix the carrot, chopped pepper, pickles/relish, mayo and tuna together.

2-Spread on bread.

3-Add cheese.

4-Serve with leftover red pepper strips or carrot sticks.

5-Enjoy!

Some popular add-on's for veggies: celery (normally a tuna classic but individual stalks were short on hand at the store), green pepper, red onion, spicy banana peppers (could also be a very interesting addition; try it!)

Tasty Tuna #2: The Spicy Tuna 

I was really excited to try this spicy sandwich because of its unusual ingredient: horseradish!  I was inspired by a salmon spread of my Mom's because she always uses a generous helping of hot horseradish and I wondered how it would taste with tuna.  It was so good that this sandwich completely forgoes the mayo in favor of the horseradish for a full and spicy tuna mix that's sure to surprise and satisfy.

You will need:

-Sandwich bread (see above)

-One 170 g can of Clover Leaf Solid White Tuna, drained and flaked

-Two tablespoons of Woodman’s Extra Hot Creamed Horseradish

-Chopped Red Pepper

-A mellow cheese, like Swiss or the Monterey Jack I tried with Tasty Tuna #1

-Paprika, sprinkled to taste

-Fresh Ground Pepper

Assembly tip:

1-While you mix the tuna with the horseradish and red peppers, keep tasting a little bit until you've reached your desired spiciness, along with the paprika and ground pepper.  I think this sandwich would pair well with a mixed green salad or a tomato vegetable soup.

Desert/Appetizer/Side-Sandwich: Grilled Pear and Brie

This bite-sized sandwich of grilled pear and brie sizzled happily on my go-to tool for grilled sandwiches: George Foreman's Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine.  Just plug it in, let it heat up and grill away! The creamy, decadent brie oozes apologetically when heated, wrapping snuggly around the pear, still sweet and juicy.

You will need:

-Sandwich Bread (see above)

-One pear, cut into thin slices

-Belle-Creme, Triple Cream Brie, cut into thin slices

Assembly Tips:

1-Put a slice of pear between two slices of brie, like a sandwich within a sandwich. ;)  This ensures the sandwich will melt together.

2-Check for melted cheese on each side of the pear and remove when it starts to melt out to avoid burning.

It would make a lovely appetizer sandwich at a holiday party - any excuse to eat good brie! 

I feasted on a half of each of these lovely sandwiches tonight, as I hope you do whenever you make your favorite kind of tasty tuna sandwich.  

Cheers!