A Simple Meal

I recently saw the movie "It's Complicated." This is not a movie review blog so I won't go in depth about it, but food-wise, it made two big impressions on me: 1) One day I'd like to have a vegetable garden as amazingly awesome as that of the heroine; and 2) I needed to find out what croque monsieur was, and then I needed to make it and eat it.



It turns out that croque monsieur is a very simple, no-fuss affair, easy to prepare and even better to eat. It's what the French consider fast food. You really can't go wrong with a croque monsieur, unless you don't like bread. Or cheese. Or ham. But how could that possibly be?

Putting it together is simple. There's some debate about whether the croque monsieur is made with two slices of bread (similar to a grilled cheese sandwich, sometimes with additional cheese melted on top) or one. In the movie, from which I derived my inspiration, it was served as an open-faced sandwich, so that's how I made it. I used part of a baguette from the best bakery I know (West Seattle's Bakery Nouveau), slicing that in half to make two croque monsieurs, but any thick, hearty bread would work. I placed a slice of ham on each half, and topped with Beecher's Reserve (a very sharp white cheddar). Traditional croque monsieur is made with gruyere or emmenthal, but I wanted to use what I had on hand. The two halves were then baked until the cheese was melted and starting to brown. Next time I'll have to use the broiler instead; I think that would have browned the cheese much faster and with better results.

You can play with ingredients. Rub a garlic clove on the bread before adding the other ingredients. Place a fried egg on top and you have a croque madame. Include some tomato slices and you've got yourself a croque provencal. The sky is the limit! Though I think simplicity is really the key.

Finally, I had to have something to accompany the heavy bread/cheese/ham meal. A Caesar salad sounded just right. The recipe I used made a dressing that was tangy and light and flavorful -- and very unlike most restaurants' Caesar dressing. Paired together with the Croque Monsieur, it was a simple meal, but packed with delightful flavor explosions that made me look forward to the next time I could have it again.

Croque Monsieur (open faced)

Ingredients

• 2 slices of thick, hearty bread (such as a portion of baguette sliced on the horizontal then in half on the vertical)
• 2 slices of ham
• 2 slices of cheese (gruyere, emmenthal, or cheddar)

Method

1. Preheat broiler, or oven to as high as it will go, with a rack placed on the top shelf.
2. Layer ham on top of the bread, followed by the cheese. Place on a baking sheet, preferably lined with foil, to catch cheese drips.
3. Broil or bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and has started to brown.

Caesar Salad (adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)

Ingredients

• 1/2 garlic clove
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbsp minced anchovies
• 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper
• 1/2-1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 heart of romaine lettuce, washed, cut, and dried*
• croutons, if desired
• additional protein, if desired (chicken, steak, shrimp, etc.)

Method

1. Rub the inside of your salad bowl with the garlic (discard when done). Seems like a waste of perfectly good garlic to me; next time maybe I'll just crush it into the dressing.
   
2. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Pierce the broad side of the eggs with a pin/needle. I don't know why that's necessary but I did it ... and let me tell you, piercing an egg shell with a pin/needle without breaking the whole thing open is more time consuming than it should be!
   
3. Boil the eggs for 60-90 seconds. Crack the eggs into the salad bowl -- they'll have only just started to firm up. Scoop out the white clinging to the shell. Beat well with a fork.
   
4. Gradually add the lemon juice, then the olive oil, whisking with the fork the whole time.
   
5. Add the anchovies and combine. You could also skip them entirely ... apparently the original Caesar salad didn't have anchovy in it; it only had that slight flavor from the Worcestershire sauce. I didn't have any W. sauce on hand and I do like anchovies, so I used them and skipped the W.
   
6. Add W. sauce, then add salt and pepper to taste (be pretty generous with the pepper).
   
7. Put the romaine lettuce into the bowl and toss well. Add the parmesan cheese over the top. I like mine totally incorporated so I tossed it again once I added the cheese.
   
8. Top with croutons, chicken, steak, shrimp, etc., if you're making this into a substantial meal.

* I found that there was actually way more dressing than needed, so next time I'll either double the amount of lettuce or cut the recipe in half. I prefer my salads to be lightly dressed.

Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts

Another winner from Orangette.

Over the last few weeks, I've seen some recipes for Brussels sprouts pop up here and there. They all looked pretty good and I was intrigued, but not quite enough to make them. Why? Well ... I've never had them before.


Though I wish I could take credit for this photo, it's actually one I found at ProducePedia

No, I take that back. I might have had them once before, maybe at a buffet or something, because then I'd never had them before and wanted to know what they were like, since I'd grown up hearing all the horror stories of children being made to eat them against their will (I was obviously not one of them). They were completely forgettable. I mean, literally, after that one encounter I could not recall their taste or texture whatsoever. Obviously, I hadn't eaten the best example of what they could be, and didn't want to hold that against them, so I went about my business as if Brussels sprouts were still unknown to me.

What's odd is how impressions can stay with you, regardless of your personal experiences. Even though I love vegetables, and come from a family of vegetable lovers (though Brussels sprouts were apparently shunned), all the stuff I'd heard all my life about the terribleness of Brussels sprouts stayed with me, and I had no real desire to try them. I didn't hate them, but I didn't know them, and didn't really care if I knew them or not.



But then everyone started posting their pictures and recipes, and I became intrigued. What was this vegetable that I had never really tried? What if I loved it? What if I'd been missing out all these years, and never knew it, just because I let the Brussels sprout's reputation precede it?

So I decided to give it a try. And which recipe would I use? The one on Orangette, of course. I had loved her boiled kale with fried egg and toast so much that I felt fairly confident she would not lead me astray. Plus it involved heavy cream, and I don't think there's any recipe involving heavy cream that I don't like. :P



I tried it tonight as a side dish to some chili I was making (an odd combination, but then, I'm that way), and it was, indeed, a good, filling, flavorful dish. I don't think Brussels sprouts could ever replace broccoli as my favorite vegetable, but they were also nowhere near the awfulness I had secretly feared. I even like how they look -- like mini cabbages, and I love cabbage. I'm not sure if this will be the ultimate way for me to prepare Brussels sprouts I'll enjoy, but it sure was a good start. What I like best about it -- and what I enjoy about Orangette's recipes in general -- is its simplicity. Other than the sprouts and heavy cream, the recipe calls for salt and lemon juice. That's it.

I've also had my eye on an alfredo sauce that I was planning to use the heavy cream for -- but maybe now it'll just be tinged with a bit of beautiful green color! And instead of chicken or shrimp, it'll be topped with healthy Brussels sprouts. That's sure one way to rationalize eating fettucini alfredo!



Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts - as found originally on Orangette

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ lb. Brussels sprouts, stemmed and quartered
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp coarse sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or more to taste

Method

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the Brussels sprouts and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sprouts are nicely browned in spots, about 5 minutes.
2. Pour in the cream, stir to mix, then cover the pot. Reduce the heat to low or medium low: you want to keep the pan at a slow simmer. Braise until the sprouts are tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a paring knife, about 30-35 minutes. The cream will have reduced some and will have taken on a creamy tan color.
3. Remove the lid and stir in the lemon juice. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary.
4. Let the pan simmer, uncovered, for a minute or two to thicken the cream to a glaze that loosely coats the sprouts. Serve immediately.