I am a bad human being, terrible in fact. I just never have time to update my blog - especially as at the moment I am juggling my full time day job, barmaiding a couple of evenings a week and helping my beloved best friend Charlotte plan her wedding.... life is busy busy busy and I kind of forgot my lovely little blog, which is a shame because I love to write, especially about food. And also opens me up to all kind of abuse from my favourite supplier Chris as we talk all the time about food but I never actually update!!
Trouble is at this moment of my life my time in the kitchen is limited to a couple of minutes here and there, usually to extract washing from the machine (my least favourite job in the world is unloading the washing machine, it fills me with dread). Cooking for me has been severely off the menu, which is sad, very sad, and I miss it and I miss how relaxed it makes me.... so my blog is going to change slightly, I will still be blogging my recipes but I'll also be blogging about the food I eat and where I'm eating it that way i wont be so constrained with what I can write on here......
So last night I finished work and went to see my gorgeous friend Kate and my little Godson Harrison and rather than making a huge dinner we went for the French classic Croque Monsieur, otherwise known as a posh cheese and ham toastie..... its so much more then a toastie though and when done properly they taste so amazing. Here we go:
Croque Monsieur (Posh Cheese & Ham Toastie)
I refuse to write out the list of ingredients for this, its simple stuff you can follow without trouble... so you take some bread and I hate to say it but it is the one occasion where brown bread is disallowed, it has to be white and you brush each side with melted butter and but under the grill so it can go golden brown. Whilst the bread is toasting you melt about a tablespoon of butter in a pan and add about a half a tablespoon of flour into it beating it until it forms a glossy paste. Gradually add some milk in (I warm the milk in the microwave first) until you have a nice smooth and thick bechemal sauce. Add in a small handful of grated cheese, I'm sure you should use the traditional Gruyere or Emmental but we just used some mature cheddar (MMmmmmm i LOVE cheese) and then your sauce is ready. Take your toasted bread put a thin layer of the bechemal on each piece of bread and layer some ham and then some grated cheese. Put the sandwich together and then spoon some of the sauce on top (if you like you can add a sprinkle of cheese as well but we didn't bother as we added a bit of cheese to the sauce) Then put back under the grill and let all the lovely cheese and sauce become gooey and warm. Then Voila! You have the bestest toasted sandwich ever.... .I can only apologise for the lack of a photo but its a half hearted sorry because these have to be eaten straight away washed down with some very un-French cold beers!
My love of cooking, being creative and other random musings
