Disasters in French Cooking

Tonight for dinner I made some rather unappetizing sandwiches. Now I am sure you are sitting there thinking it is pretty hard to make a bad sandwich.  Well, let me just tell you it can be done. Last week I went to see the movie It’s Complicated, which was great by the way and I totally recommend it if you have not seen it. In the movie Meryl Streep makes these yummy looking sandwiches for Steve Martin. They looked really cheesy and just yummy. My Mom and I actually commented on it during the movie. So a few days later I set out  on a Google quest to determine exactly what these sandwiches were. Google did not fail me and it was determined that the yummy looking sandwiches were actually Croque Monsieur, a fancy grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Naturally when I found out that it was FRENCH and it looked EASY I thought I have to do it.  I am currently reading My Life in France by Julia Child (review of this book coming soon) and feeling very French inspired and literally invincible when it comes to cooking. Julia can have that effect. So Google yet again came to the rescue and I located a recipe that I felt I could accomplish

 

Croque Monsieur

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf

• 4 slices firm white sandwich bread
• 4 ounces thinly sliced Black Forest ham
• 4 ounces sliced Gruyère cheese
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Add nutmeg and bay leaf. Increase heat to medium-high and boil until sauce thickens, whisking constantly, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat broiler. Place 2 bread slices on work surface. Top each with half of ham and sliced Gruyère. Top with remaining bread. Heat heavy large skillet over low heat. Brush sandwiches with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Add to skillet and cook until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to small baking sheet. Spoon sauce, then grated cheese over sandwiches. Broil until cheese begins to brown, about 2 minutes.

 

Now I think my first crucial mistake was made when I selected a recipe that called for odd cheese, Gruyere. I learned from some research that Gruyere cheese is hard to find and expensive. So I substituted with Swiss, and I also did not have any nutmeg for the sauce so I substituted with cinnamon. This was all okay, right?WRONG!

The actual making of the sandwiches went okay, with the exception of the sauce that was meant to go on top before they went under the broiler. The sauce got a little too clumpy and kinda congealed before I could put it on the sandwiches. It really looks like turkey gravy when you let it sit out too long. Not a pretty picture.

Then there was the taste. At first everything seemed to be okay, Nick gave it a thumbs up, but then a few minutes later there was an after taste. NOT GOOD! Pardon the description but I believe the after taste consisted of swiss and cinnamon. Yum!!!

I am not sure what to blame this huge embarrassing failure on. Hopefully, this has satisfied my need to do experimental French cooking. I’ll leave that to Julia Child!

 

Now I am off to find an alternate dinner. Till next time my blog friends!!!