Croque Madame

Croque Madame 

A French Classic 

 When Indrani from Ripappayan announced the Event on Sandwiches, I was quite happy because I have been wanting to make one of my favourite sandwiches since quite sometime and this was the perfect opportunity. Ideally this classic sandwich should be a Winter's sandwich because of all that butter and cheese but then again a good sandwich does keep you full for a long time indeed.

It is quite obvious that a sandwich would require some good sandwich bread and while you can always pick up a loaf from a bakery nothing beats the delightful taste of freshly baked bread at home. Here is a recipe for Sour Cream Sandwich Bread.

So my choice of sandwich is the classic Croque Madame . This is a grilled ham cheese sandwich which originated in France. Actually Croque Madam has a butter poached egg on top which many say represent a woman's hat hence the name Croque Madam. The other version of this sandwich without the egg is called a classic Croque Monsieur. Typically made with a lot of Gruyere cheese or Emmental cheese this sandwich with the bechamel sauce and butter and ham is a cheese lover's delight. Its a very heavy sandwich and so 1 sandwich keeps a person full for about 5 hours to 6 ours.



Serves 4

So this is what you need :-

8 slices of bread

For the Bechamel sauce

1 tbsp flour
1 cup of whole milk
2 tbsp butter
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt as per taste

For the assembling of the sandwich

300gm of Emmental or Gruyere cheese
8 slices of ham . I have used lean ham
4 eggs
70gm of butter

Bechamel sauce 

Start with preparing the bechamel sauce. Heat you r milk along with the nutmeg and cool it. Melt the butter and add the flour and quickly create a roux which is smooth and then add the milk bit by bit whisking it constantly to create a smooth bechamel sauce.

The skillet grilled sandwich with the goodies inside 

Generously butter the slices of bread and then add enough bechamel sauce to cover the side which faces you and add 2 slices of ham and then a fat slice of Emental cheese and then heat the skillet and use a slice of bread buttered side up on low heat and after a minute place this on the sandwich to finish creating it. The heat from the bread will melt the cheese and now place the entire sandwich on the skillet on low heat. and brown it well but take care to not burn it . Once done the cheese should have melted fully and then spread a bit of bechamel on the sandwich and top it with an egg fried sunny side up. Enjoy

Cheddar Bread

Cheddar Bread 

There are certain pleasures of life which makes you feel that life can be beautiful and my recent venture into the bread-making arena has left me feeling that life is sweet. Alright I have to confess that the perfect outcome of my first ever bread has left me a little more joyous than ever. You see first-time successes are nothing to feel great over because if you really do your research well and know what to do and what not to do then chances are you will not fail.

Now there are plenty of recipes out there in the virtual world but choosing the right one is your key trick. For me I like the lengthy ones which explain every bit of the process and after my immense first time success with Dan lepard's Dundee Cake I decided he was my man for my first White bread as well. Now even with a good recipe I was terrified and here is why. You see the first time I had followed Mary Berry's recipe my cake had a mildly zinc like taste which I later found out was due to the amount of baking powder. I learnt a valuable lesson that the strength and usage of baking powder can geographically vary. So a reduced amount of baking powder later I have since made perfect Victorian sponge cakes and so I was a bit scared about using yeast since I felt the geography could come between me and my perfect loaf but then I closed my eyes read his recipe and compared it with another well known one and finalized on his well explained one. This one is just how I liek my bread to be rustic in its look and feel and taste and soft and cheesy inside.

So bread-making is the easiest of all culinary projects. Here are a few tips I have gathered from Mr.Lepard :-

1. Take your time and work a bit , so he suggests letting the yeast salt, flour and wet ingredients work for 10 minutes and then giving it a light kneading with buttered or oiled hands leaving ti for 10 more minutes and repeating it twice more. 
2. He suggests using yogurt for half the amount of water specified in a recipe for softer bread without a milky taste. So if a recipe asks for 300ml water you use 150ml water and 150gm yogurt which has been whipped.
3. Always place a tray of water beneath your rack which is baking the bread since that helps in keeping it moist. 

So I bravely added cheddar to my first bread and its  success overwhelmed me and so here I present my very own Cheddar bread since Mr.Lepard's recipe was only for a white bread :P 

Serves 4 to 5 

400gm all purpose flour 

1 tsp instant yeast 

1 tsp salt 

150ml lukewarm water 

150gm yogurt which has been whisked 

100gm Cheddar cheese cubed into very tiny cubes 

Kitchen towel 

Butter for kneading 

Extra flour for kneading 

Mixing the ingredients with the wooden spatula 

Start by placing your flour in a bowl. Add the yeast on one side of the flour and the salt on the other side . If you mix the salt and yeast it apparently hampers the yeast in its work. Slowly add the curd and mix with a wooden spoon. Then add the water bit but bit and mix well with the wooden spoon. You shall have a sticky consistency and wrap it in your kitchen towel and leave it for 10 minutes. 

After the third kneading with butter 

Oil your palms very well and the work board you shall work upon and knead the bread gently and put it back in the bowl and repeat this process twice more with a 10 minute interval where you wrap the dough in the kitchen towel. After the last kneading in which you make sure every side is covered with butter leave the dough to rise for 45 minutes (that is exactly the time I required) to 50 minutes and in the meantime cube the cheddar , wash and pat dry your work-board and flour it well, use plenty of flour on your hands and then knead the dough and do it fast so that the dough does not stick to your hands. 

After the last kneading with butter and letting the dough rise for 45 minutes 

Cheddar being added 

Add the cheddar in the middle and cover it with the dough from all sides and pinch it to make sure nothing is sticking out. Leave it with the kitchen towel wrapped around it for another 45 minutes to 50 minutes and then preheat oven to 220 C. Make a pattern on your bread with a knife before baking if you want to. 

Before the patterns 

Final dough ready to be baked 

Bake your bread with the tray of water beneath the rack for 45 minutes to 50 minutes if using convection oven or 35 minutes to 40 minutes for regular ovens. 

Enjoy this hearty bread with some soup, all by itself or with some cold cuts or make a hearty sandwich the choice is all yours 

Gatto Di Patate (Potato Pie all the way from Italy)

So when there is a special lunch to be prepared you take your time on deciding the menu. You read so many articles that you become confused and then suddenly you hit the jackpot. A treasure of a blog all the way from Italy. A dish which is cheesy, creamy, fluffy and meaty and one you  know you shall serve it no matter what. Extremely easy this one is a keeper. It seems this is very popular in both Sicily  and Campania . of course I did use locally smoked ham instead of mortadella but the end result was that every crumb was licked clean off the plate.

You need:

500gm potatoes
Pinch of nutmeg
8 tablespoonful of Parmesan cheese
100gm of mozzarella cheese
Salt as per taste
1 large egg
200gm of smoked ham
3 to 4 tablespoonful of unsalted butter
250gm breadcrumbs

Boil and mash potatoes with the egg, salt, nutmeg , butter and Parmesan cheese. Butter the pan and fill it with breadcrumb which helps in de-moulding the pie else it will stick to the sides and you can never get it out. So be generous when sprinkling with the breadcrumbs. Now fill half the pan with the mashed potatoes and press down with wet hands and top it with breadcrumbs , add your meaty layer and on top of it goes the thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and then the rest of the mashed potatoes and top it with a good amount of breadcrumbs. Bake in preheated oven of 180 C for 45 minutes. This is a real treat.