Croque Monsieur- Dinner And A Movie

How many of you remember the movie It’s Complicated?  The movie starred Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  Meryl Streep’s character owns a bakery and she did her culinary apprenticeship in Paris.  So as it turns out she has some skills in the kitchen.  Throughout the movie she is serving up these wonderfully, amazing, make you salivate, delicious looking meals, pastries and desserts to her friends and family.  In my opinion these incredible dishes were the true stars of this movie.  All of my fellow foodies out there who have seen this movie already know what I am talking about…am I right?  You found yourself wishing you knew how to make those chocolate croissants or wishing you knew exactly what that sandwich thing was that she served Steve Martin’s character.  They said the name more than once but you just couldn’t catch it.  Well my friends, after a little research I managed to figure out exactly what that was and found a wonderful recipe that I think you will be very, VERY, pleased with.

This wonderful little sandwich is called Croque Monsieur.  It is so much more than an ordinary sandwich.  It is made with thick crusty bread and it has a wonderful bechamel sauce and cheeses poured over it.   It is truly incredible.  I imagined (or wished) I was sitting outside a Parisian bistro with this and a glass of wine and when done I would then be heading to the nearest Parisian flea market or sorry, les puces, to walk off all of those crazy calories…..okay, one can dream can’t she?

I hope you will make this for someone special and possibly watch the movie too so you can have the total food experience that I had.  ENJOY my friends!!!

With Love,

Donna

CROQUE MONSIEUR

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups milk or half-and-half

a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg

6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup gratred Parmesan cheese

8 slices French or Italian loaf bread

12 ounces ham, sliced

dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2.  Make the bechamel sauce.  Melt butter in a saucepan on med/low heat until it just starts to bubble.  Add the flour and cook, stirring until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously, cooking until thick.  Remove from heat.  Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in the Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup Gruyere cheese.  Set aside.

3.  Lay out the bread slices on a baking sheet and lightly toast them on each side.

4.  Lightly brush half of the slices with the mustard.  Add the ham slices and about 1 cup of the Gruyere cheese.  Top with the other bread slices.

5.  Spoon on the bechamel sauce to the tops of the sandwiches.  Sprinkle with the remaining Gruyere cheese.  Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the cheese topping is bubbly and lightly browned.  Serve this with a fresh green salad.

If you top this sandwich with a fried egg it becomes a Croque Madame.

This recipe adapted from Ina Garten.

Tags: croque monsieur, french food, paris, sandwich, bechamel sauce, It's Complicated, croque madame

One Lovely Blog Award

I am so pleased and so thrilled that my little blog has been been recognized once again and nominated for the One Lovely Blog award.  I am sending out a big THANK YOU over to Nina at Tabkhet el yom for presenting me with this wonderful award.  If you haven’t visited Nina’s blog then you must do so!  She offers up some wonderful dishes.  Thanks again Nina!

Now I must tell you 7 things about myself and pass on this lovely award to 15 of my fellow bloggers.

1. I love to paint.

2. I collect vintage handkerchiefs and butter pats.

3. I am terrible at math and always have been.

4. I love movie night at home.

5. I would go barefoot all of the time if I could.

6. Red wine is my favorite.

7. I love thrift stores, flea markets and antique shops.

15 wonderful blogs that you should check out:

1.   Becoming Madame

2.   Dust With Flour

3.   Mama’s Gotta Bake

4.   The Foodie Affair

5.   Sweet And Crumby

6.   Grazing In The City

7.   Penny’s Food Blog

8.   Sweet Samsations

9.   Comforting With Food

10.  Ang Sarap

11.  (Mis)Adventures In Cooking

12.  Tiny Kitchen Stories

13.  Rock Salt

14.  Savory Simple

15.  Just A Smidgen

Congratulations my friends!

Tags: one lovely blog award, blog award

Fresh Strawberry Scones

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a lovely weekend!  We are planning a quiet weekend at home since my nineteen year old son had his wisdom teeth removed yesterday.  They recommended low activity for a few days and of course he needs me close by to take care of him.  He has to have a soft diet for a few days.  Things like pudding, oatmeal, ice cream and mashed potatoes.  Last night I made one of his favorites, homemade macaroni-n-cheese.  It turned out really good….maybe I should take a picture and do a post…..what do you think?  Anyway, he is doing very well and I am enjoying spending some time with him.

For now, I am finishing up my posts on our Mother’s Day brunch.  This is the last one.  I decided to make scones for my mom on her special day.  She had the opportunity to visit Australia on two seperate occasions in the last few years where she was served scones with tea and learned that she liked them very much!  She has mentioned them on more than one occasion so I thought it would be a perfect treat for her.  Something about strawberry scones sounded especially good and feminine to me.  Perfect for Mother’s Day!

We thought some might like having some fresh fruit for brunch and since mom was served a dollop of whipped cream with her scones, we decided to combine the two in a trifle bowl to make another pretty dish.  We combined cut strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries with a little sugar and alternated with layers of fresh whipped cream.  It was perfect!

Here is the recipe.  I hope you enjoy these very much!

With love,

Donna

FRESH STRAWBERRY SCONES

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp unsalted butter (cold)

1 cup half and half

3/4 cup strawberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Cut the butter into 1/4 inch squares, and add it to the flour mixture.  Using your hands, break up the butter so it incorporates into the flour mixture.  When the butter is no bigger than small peas, and the mixture is crumbly, make a well in the center and add the half and half.  Using a spatula, fold the mixture until the half and half is fully incorporated into the flour mixture.  Carefully fold in the strawberries.  You can use a spatula or your hands.  If you use your hands you can be extra gentle with the mixture and make sure all strawberries are incorporated into the dough.  The strawberries will bleed a little, this is okay.

The recipe I followed recommends that you place the dough on a lightly floured surface and shape into a rectangle that is 1 1/4 inch thick and pressed out to about 10 x 5 inches.  Even after lightly dusting the dough with flour it was way too sticky to work with so I decided to use a scoop which made this much easier.  The dough may turn out very differently for you.  If so, after you make your rectangle, cut the rectangle vertically in half.  Cut the long pieces into 4 rectangles, to make 8 medium sized scones.

Place the scones onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silcone mat.  Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

This recipe was found at www.krissys-creations.com.

Tags: brunch, fresh fruit, fresh whipped cream, Mother's Day, strawberry scones

Smoked Salmon Crostinis

 

The recipes from our Mother’s Day brunch are still coming my friends.  This is another great recipe from my sister.  She seemed to put it together from the top of her head.  I knew they would be good, but didn’t imagine that they would be as delicious as they were.  These salmon crostinis are a perfect appetizer on any menu.

I hope you are enjoying our Mother’s Day brunch.  We are nearing the end of the menu…..I promise.

ENJOY!!!

 

SMOKED SALMON CROSTINIS

1 french baguette, sliced into rounds

3-4 tbsp melted butter

whipped cream cheese

10 oz smoked salmon

1 english cucumber, peeled and sliced

capers

chives

 

Brush both sides of baguette slices with melted butter.  Place on baking sheet and toast both sides.  Let cool. Top each slice of toasted bread with 1 tbsp cream cheese, 1 slice cucumber and salmon.  Sprinkle half of the crostinis with capers and the other half with the chives.

Tags: appetizers, brunch, cream cheese, crostinis, smoked salmon

Asparagus Swiss Quiche

This is going to be a rather short post.  As promised, here is another one of my sweet sister Sherry’s wonderful dishes that she made for us on Mother’s Day.  I wish I had a better picture of this lovely dish before it was cut into slices.  It was very artistic with the asparagus spears pointing outward across the top of the quiche.  It was very pretty.  This picture, not so much. 

Sherry decided to replace half of the swiss cheese with gruyere cheese.  It was SO scrumptious!  If you try this one you will be pleased that it is both a pretty dish to serve to guests and equally delicious. 

Here is the recipe my friends.  ENJOY!!!

 

ASPARAGUS SWISS QUICHE

10 bacon strips, diced

1/2 c chopped onion

1 lb fresh asparagus, trimmed

1 c shredded swiss cheese

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 (9 inch) unbaked pastry shell

3 eggs

1/2 c half-and-half cream

 

In a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the drippings.  In the drippings, saute onion until browned; drain.

Cut eight aparagus spears into 4-inch long spears for garnish.  Cut remaining aparagus into 1- inch pieces.  In a saucepan, cook all of the asparagus in a small amount of boiling water until crisp-tender; drain.

In a bowl, toss the bacon, onion, asparagus pieces, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.  Pour into pastry shell.  In a bowl, beat eggs and cream; pour over bacon mixture.  Top with asparagus spears.  Bake at 400F for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown.  Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

This recipe found at www.allrecipes.com.

 

Tags: asparagus, asparagus swiss quiche, brunch, quiche

French Toast Bread Pudding

Hi everyone!  In my post yesterday, I promised that I would be sharing more of the delicious food that we had at our Mother’s Day brunch this weekend.  The recipe I am sharing with you today is one of the delicious recipes that my sister Sherry made for us.  It was very delicious and not overly sweet which my dad and my uncle liked because they are not big sweet eaters (I know, I know). 

Sherry will tell you she is not big on following recipes.  She tends to do her own thing.  I think that is great!  True to form she changed this one up a bit too.  She added cardamom to the list of ingredients and she also decided to make individual bread puddings rather than one big bread pudding…..so clever!  Oh how I wish I had some of this right now, with a big cup of coffee…mmmm…pure heaven!

I hope all of you will give a shout out to my sister and let her know how much you love this recipe and the others that I will be sharing with you during the week.  Stay tuned for some more yumminess.  ENJOY!!!

 

FRENCH TOAST BREAD PUDDING

1 (16 oz) Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl Bread, cut into cubes

3/4 c dried cranberries or raisins

6 eggs

3 cups half-and-half or milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

cinnamon sugar or confectioners’ sugar

whipped butter

maple syrup

Place the bread cubes and cranberries or raisins in a greased 3-qt shallow baking dish.  Beat the eggs, half-and-half and vanilla in a medium bowl with a fork or whisk.  Pour over the bread cubes.  Cover the dish and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight. 

Uncover the dish.  Bake at 350F  for 45 minutes or until golden brown and set in the center.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar or confectioners’ sugar.  Serve with butter and syrup.  8 servings.

This recipe found at www.allrecipes.com

 

Tags: bread pudding, brunch, french toast bread pudding, individual bread puddings, Mother's Day

White Sangria and Bubbly Strawberry Lemonade

This weekend the family got together to celebrate Mother’s Day.  We decided to do a Mother’s Day brunch which was so much fun because brunch food is always so yummy!  There were too many recipes to put into one post so I have decided to share the rest of the recipes throughout the week.

I am starting with the beverages that I decided to make.  I made a bubbly strawberry lemonade for the non-alcohol drinkers and white sangria for the rest of us.  They were both very tasty and refreshing and went well with the food that we were serving.  As much as I like my toddies, I could have done without the orange liqueur in the sangria but my sister loved it just the way it was.  So play with it and make it according to your own taste.

I have a super-talented sister who made a lot of the recipes that I will be sharing with you.  Her name is Sherry and I would love to see her start her own blog because she is such a foodie herself and so creative.  She would be so great at it and I think she would fall in love with it.  I will let you know when I am posting one of her recipes and I want all of you out there to encourage her and let her know how talented she is.  Tomorrow I will post one of her recipes but until then here is a picture to tease you with what is to come!  ENJOY!!!

WHITE SANGRIA

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice

1 cup vodka or lemon-lime pop

2 medium peaches or nectarines, thinly sliced

1 medium orange, thinly sliced

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1 lime, thinly sliced

 1 bottle (750 ml) dry white wine, nonalcoholic white wine or white grape juice, chilled (3 1/2 cups)

1 bottle (1 qt) club soda, chilled (4 cups)

 In a half-gallon pitcher, stir sugar, orange liqueur and vodka until sugar is dissolved.  Pour half of the mixture into another pitcher. Divide fruits and wine evenly between pitchers.  Refrigerate until serving.

Just before serving, pour half of the club soda into each pitcher;  stir gently to mix.  Serve immediately.  Serve over ice if desired.  12 servings.

This recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com .

BUBBLY STRAWBERRY LEMONADE

2 (12 oz) cans frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

4 (1 qt) bottles sparkling water, chilled

1 cup strawberry puree

lemon slices

strawberry slices

Combine all ingredients and serve immediately.  Add lemon and strawberry slices for added flavor and garnish.

This recipe adapted from www.tablespoon.com .

Tags: alcoholic beverages, beverages, brunch, bubbly strawberry lemonade, non-alcoholic beverages, white sangria, wine