A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

It's Not That Complicated: Julia Child's Croques Monsieur/Croques Madame

 

While watching the movie "It's Complicated" on cable recently I found myself salivating at Meryl Streep's character's chocolate croissants, roasted chicken dinner, and something I'd never heard of before: Croques Monsieur.  In the movie she serves it to Steve Martin's character on a business-ish date while "hilarity ensues" from Alec Baldwin's character as he window peeps on them.  The dish, that they ate with knife and fork, appeared to have been baked and looked creamy and cheesy melty.  She makes reference to having learned to make this dish while in France studying pastry and the reference is repeated by Alec's character talking about how much he misses this dish and how special it was to him.

I thought to myself "Self, you need to investigate, create, and blog this wonderful cheesy thing they're spreading Dijon mustard on and eating with a knife and fork."  As myself often listens to me, I did, and I found that, like my polenta adventure, I was pretty familiar with the dish and remembered how much I liked it:  Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich.  That's the basic form and I've included that stripped down bare bones version as Julia Child made it.  There are gussied up versions that include baking in the oven rather than grilling in a pan, and added vegetables, eggs, and sauces, but the basic idea of the Croque Monsieur, or "Crispy Mister" is a Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich that was originally served in France in casual bistros around 1910 and has survived ever since. Why? Because it's yummy!  The key difference between a Croque and it's American cousin would be quality of ingredients.  It eschews Wonder Bread for a nice homemade loaf, Kraft American Slices for gruyere or Havarti or Swiss, and a nice ham slice. 

Crispy, hot, and cheesy, it's yummy comfort food with an exotic name.

BLTO's (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Vidalia Onion) for Long Hot Summer Days

 

Mmmm....BLT's or BLTO's, my favorite summer sandwich, the ONE sandwich where I actually crave good old Sara Lee Iron Kids soft white bread. For me, not even toasted. I love the crisp bacon paired with the soft squishy white bread, the fresh lettuce and juice tomatoes with the bite of onion and the tang of real mayo.  That's an all-American sandwich that defines summer!

I have a trick to cooking the bacon, one I learned in the hotel business in professional kitchens. It won't save you time overall but it will save having to stand over a pan for a half hour dodging oil splatters that seem to know how to target hands and forearms. The trick is baking sheets, parchment paper, and the oven to get perfectly straight pieces (no curly cue bacon for good BLT sammiches) of crisp bacon.

Night Shift Birthday Party: Jessica's Cucumber Sandwiches

 

One of the great side effects of work birthday parties is getting to taste new recipes like these pretty open-faced cucumber sandwiches our friend Jessica brought in.  Easy to make, they were delicious, so good Carrianne and I ate almost a container of them by ourselves (luckily, there were three containers so others could indulge too).

By the way, I'm going to start adding Cook's notes to recipes with "use this...or that..." and I've set up a new category to reflect recipes that take substitutions well.   So many times recipes can be equally good using several different ingredients and it can all depend on what you have in the pantry or what you need to use up from the garden.  Not all cooks are adept at making those substitutions the way I was taught growing up in my mother's kitchen.  Quite frankly, we were very poor and running to the grocery store for a $5.00 ingredient was rarely an option so my mother became extremely proficient at still trying new recipes while also still using her pantry items on hand.  For example, most recipes that call for asparagus taste just as great substituting broccoli when asparagus is out of season, zucchini for eggplant, or in this recipe Cavender's Greek Seasoning is a great substitute for fresh dill when you don't happen to have fresh from the garden on hand.

Summer Family Birthday Party: Bratwursts in the Crockpot

Not only did we have a fun summer family bday party, honoring (boy) Jordan, Sydney, and Kaylee (who wasn't able to come--we miss you, girlie!) we made up a new recipe.  Usually bratwursts and grills go together but for a variety of reasons it just wasn't an option this time so we fired up the crockpot instead.  I've made hot dogs in the crockpot (beef broth instead of water) for work things so I knew it would work but I didn't realize just how well. One of the yummy side effects of the crockpot was how tender the brats ended up coming out.  Deliciously tender.  Amazingly tender.  Plus, in the last few cooking hours, I added a sliced onion, red pepper, and banana pepper to the mix and they became one of our favorite toppings.

I worked right before the party so the Price Cutter bakery at Republic Road and National had to step up to the plate with cakes. These were adorable (and very reasonably priced) "Fancy Baby Doubles", an eight inch layer topped with a six inch layer. Plenty of cake to serve everyone plus small enough to be able to get individually designed boy and girl cakes, one in chocolate and one in vanilla. We all loved them. I've really been impressed with Price Cutter's bakery the last few years. They've got a great staff of talented and versatile decorators.  The kids happily shared their cakes and still had leftovers to take home.

Good AND Good for you: Creamy Cucumber Dip

 

So simple and yet so rewarding, this is a summer constant in my work lunchbox and snack around the house. Only three ingredients that pack an all-out taste power punch:  creamy for the tongue, crunch for the teeth, and salty herby for the psyche pleasure zone.

We eat this primarily as a dip on good fibrous tough stuff crackers or I love it as a sandwich on wheat or rye bread. Middle-of-the-night Afternoon Tea, anyone?

An added pleasure is anytime the cukes come from your own garden. Sigh.  The best part of summer is the garden!

I Like Cheeeeese

Why use boring old Kraft singles when there's lovely slices of Harvarti?  Dilled Havarti?  Pepper Jack?

This is regular havarti on regular white bread but it tastes so much more....more.

It reminds me of the commercial with the little girl who got great presents from Santa and says "I left him cheeeeeeeeese."

I like cheeeeeeese.

Just for Torture: Goodbye to Mr. BLT, We Loved You Well

I forgot to do a post on this back when we all still had those juicy red luscious tomatoes from the garden, or the neighbor's garden, in my case.  At the time I also had yummy soft croissants from the bakery, thick-cut hickory smoked bacon from Schwan's, extra spicy clear-your-sinuses mustard, crisp boston lettuce, and a red onion with a bite.  Sigh.

I love everything about fall: the colors, the coolness, the food, the harbinger of the holidays, but I'm a bit sorry to say goodbye to summer as the cold weather moves in. It always makes me both energetic in that fall feels like the REAL New Year but always whistful to put an end to another summer.  Each year, I'm a little psychologically off balance for the first few weeks of cool weather, as if I've misplaced something in my life, and then one day I suddenly realize once again that, oh yeah, it was summer that I lost and it will be back again next year.

I finally got my daffodil and crocus bulbs in the ground today and had wear a jacket to do it.  That makes it an official goodbye.

WOBAT Round-up #1

Welome to the first WOBAT: Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty Round-up. We had some excellent entries, all foods I've secretly wondered about but never had the guts to make, let alone, eat.  But that's the fun of WOBAT. NOW WE KNOW and the truth will set you free to create these dishes or others just as suspect in your own kitchen.  Come on, do it at least once for the novelty.

Elvis's Fried Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwiches from Sher at What Did You Eat?

Sher tells the story of channeling her inner Elvis for this event.  She says one of these little babies is surprisingly pretty tasty, rich and creamy, but she's not sure how The King scarfed down several of these--fatty, fatty straight to the hips-ness--delights at a time. 

(photo from University of Illinois Extension Service)

Campfire Candied Banana Boats from Janell in Marshfield, MO:

Janell and I have been friends since the second grade, I kid you not. We have very few secrets and we've seen each other do some pretty dumb, and just plain weird, things.  So when SHE LAUGHED AT ME for frying a Twinkie, I challenged her to come up with something I could hold over HER head for the next 20 years.  She, of course, denied ever eating anything strange or unhealthy...but it's not like I don't know her family so, for small bribes, the kids and hubby ratted her out like lightning with Campfire Candied Banana Boats.

Although, darn it, she gets extra credit points, like Sher, for at least starting with a fruit before she added the junk food.  In contrast, my Twinkies are only a pile of chemicals and sugar held together by a matrix of preservatives.  But, for the record I did fry the Twinkies in expeller pressed canola oil, so that makes them healthy, right?  Whatever you're saying in rebuttal right now, just know that my fingers are stuffed in my ears and I'm singing Don Henley at the top of my lungs. Can't hear ya.

Here are Janell's directions for campfire banana boats:

"Make a slit down an unpeeled  banana to make the boat.  Stuff them with anything from marshmallows, M&M's, caramel, Peanut butter chips, Reese's Pieces, Hershey's Kisses, miniature candy bars, etc...my favorite is anything chocolate and marshmallows.  Wrap them in heavy duty aluminum foil keeping them right side up.  Lay them on coals and cook for 5 minutes or so, depending on how hot the coals are.  You want everything really melted and the banana warmed.  Unwrap carefully and ENJOY.  The first time I made these, everyone thought YUCK, but they are so good, and the kids have fun making them."

And finally, my entries here at A Fridge Full of Food, White Trash Shepherd's Pie and Fried Twinkies.  White Trash Shepherd's Pie is a manly man version of "THE" green bean casserole with ground beef and topped by tater tots, comfort food for the whole family. 

If you really want to go all out, Fried Twinkies for dessert gets you in the mood for fair food this month.  Next thing you know, you'll be craving funnel cakes, corn dogs, cotton candy, and homemade root beer. 

So thanks for joining Sher, Janell, and I on our first WOBAT extravaganza.  We hope you enjoyed looking at our pics as much as we enjoyed yelling "NO WAY! You've got to taste this!" to our spouses and Janell's kids.

Now I must ask you to please excuse me. The oil in the Fry Daddy is hot and Gene just walked in the door yelling that he has an armful of Little Debbie.  He better be talking about snack cakes.