Mini Croque-monsieur or Broiled Grilled Ham and Cheese Baguettes

A long title for this post! I think the French title for the sandwich was in a tea book I had from the library. It was an easy sandwich to make for my Spring Tea party. And everyone really liked these.

These sandwiches are at the back of the plate

MINI CROQUE-MONSIEUR

Baguette 1/4" sliced
Spread half with Dijon mustard & mayo the other half
Gruyere (a swiss) cheese
Ham (black forest)
Butter both outsides of sandwich
Can put more cheese on the top is you want
Broil till golden

I filled a large cookie sheet with these, using 1 1/2 baguettes - my homemade ones from my French Bread recipe in my cookbook, utilizing fresh ground whole white winter wheat.

Tea Party Sandwiches

SO many tea sandwich ideas to choose from! So what did I make for my Valentine Tea Party?
Cumin Roasted Carrot
Curried Chicken
Egg Salad
Black Forest Ham & Gruyere Cheese
Chicken & Apple

I was going to do a cucumber one, but didn't get to it. Thought a Stilton, pear, and watercress sounded good. Had sliced smoked salmon ready, which would have gone with cucumber too, but didn't do them either. Asparagus logs - rolling the bread around asparagus sounded good too. I read of a BLT too ...

The favorite was the carrot sandwich -

CUMIN ROASTED CARROT SANDWICH

Start with 3-4 thick carrots, peel, cut in thirds and slice 1/8" thick. Toss with 1 3/4 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp each of salt & pepper, and 2 Tb olive oil. Roast in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. You want them to start caramelizing a bit.
Assembling? One bread was spread with a tapenade, the other slice with a herbed cheese. Then the carrots and some baby spinach.

Tapenade

2 C mixed olives (I just used the Kalamata)
1 Tb each of tarragon, chives, rosemary, thyme, and chervil (I had fresh of each except chervil, so used less of it, dried)
1/4 C sour cream
1 1/2 tsp honey (I used Agave Nectar)
pinch each of salt and pepper
Puree smooth. Refrigerate - up to a week ahead okay.

Herbed Cheese Spread

8 oz chevre (I did use chevre, but we don't like most goat products, unless fresh, so I'd make this from now on with cream cheese - we tasted the goat [Monte, Travis and me] and didn't like it.)
2 Tb cream cheese
3/4 tsp each of tarragon, chervil, chives, and thyme (all fresh, but the chervil)
pinch of salt & pepper
Process till smooth and refrigerate - up to a week ahead okay.

Sliced chicken breast with sliced grannysmith apples are another sandwich using the above herbed cheese spread. I marinaded chicken breasts for at least 24 hours, grilled them with some hickory smoke going, and Monte sliced them VERY THIN, as well as the apples.

The chicken marinade?
1/2 C of brewed green tea
3/4 C soy sauce (I always used Braggs Liquid Aminos- healthy, natural, and hardly any sodium)
1/4 C + 2 Tb  Balsamic Vinegar (why not just say 1/3 C, isn't that close?)
1/4 C fresh orange juice
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
2 minced garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp ginger
4 tsp dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

I marinaded 4 large breasts. Two I used in the above sandwich with the apples. The other two I ground in my meat grinder, along with the onion and celery, which I made into chicken curry, which along with the roasted carrot, was another favorite -

Chicken Curry Sandwiches

2 large breasts
1/4 C chopped celery
1/4 C chopped onion
1/4 C apricot jam
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C mayo
1 Tb curry powder
pinch each of salt and pepper
Like I said above, I used the marinaded and grilled chicken. I used the meat grinder cuz it would grind everything fine without me have to do any chopping. Maybe a food processor would do the job. I picked this because of the apricot jam. I thought it sounded lovely!

Another favorite was my egg salad. I'll post that recipe separate another time. I love my egg salad alone, like as a salad, rather than in a sandwich ... I just love it any way.

I read somewhere that cilantro could replace watercress when in a crunch. I bought some, and was going to use it with cream cheese and cucumbers, but never got around to making them. As I posted earlier, I made the white whole wheat and a brown whole wheat bread for the sandwiches in square (pullman) loaf pans, and Monte sliced them 1/4" thin.

(I'm posting some of the same pictures for these posts because I didn't take any more.)

Everything was ready the day before, so all my early guests (it was a valentine crafting open house tea party) helped make the sandwiches. I didn't plan it to be another craft station, but it worked out that way, and I think everyone really enjoyed it!

Monte's Tortilla Egg Sandwich

It's hot outside, which is unusual for our neck-of-the-woods. Lots of people are leaving Denver (supposed to be 100 tomorrow - we're always 10 degrees cooler) for the mountains for the weekend! I've been sitting out on our back deck at the umbrella table reading, drinking iced tea I sweeten with a few drops of Agave Nectar, which has a low glycemic index in comparison to sugar!. Until supper, Monte and me usually eat separate. Sometimes he goes directly into his office upon waking ... since he works at home, he's coming and going around the house and eating at varying times than me. While I was resetting the sprinkler for the veggie garden, he brought his creation out for me to take a bite of ... and proceeded to email Travis and Sarah and me his recipe, with a picture of the seasoning he used taken with his iPhone. So I just made it for my lunch and took a picture.

From the guests we had the other night we've got leftover flour tortillas. I think we primarily stay Costco members for their uncooked flour tortillas. I know ... some of you will say, "but you grind your own flour and make everything from scratch with it!". If I'm going to make tortillas from scratch, I'll do corn tortillas. We use these for our many guest meals and Tostada Egg (in my cookbook and I'll post here someday). So many high school and college kids end up around here (I have posts from my old blog called "Velveteen House" [-click that phrase if you want to read it]), especially over school breaks, I never know who might have spent the night till mid morning. And I often do Tostada Eggs when they're around - they like them, cut in wedges, dipped in salsa. And an easy on-the-go meal to grab.

TORTILLA EGG SANDWICH
-Heat small skillet for cooking one egg.
-Fold cooked flour tortilla and toast in toaster (watch closely).
-As Monte said, "break egg yoke and shape to fit half of a tortilla."
-Sprinkle on Chef Prudhommes' Magic Italian Seasoning (I get this from Costco too).
-Flip egg till desired doneness
-Spread a bit of mayo inside toasted tortilla
-Slip egg inside.
-Enjoy!

I did. Along with an avacado half with fresh sqeezed lime juice.

You'll see in the picture a fork. I didn't need the fork - cuz of course we pick it up to eat. But it reminded me of the many times we've had Norwegians here for geology meetings. Unless they copy us, they'd eat it with a fork and knife as they also do with sandwiches, and everything. Monte and me have gotten used to keeping our fork in our left hand for eating along with a knife in the right hand, as do Europeans.