Croque Monsieur Sandwiches

I finally made a Croque Monsieur at home!!  So exciting.  The Croque Monsieur is a French sandwich containing ham and cheese, and also a Bechamel (white) sauce.  In the recipe I made, you spread a layer of Bechamel inside the sandwich and also a layer on top.  Then you top that with cheese and bake it in the oven until hot enough.  This recipe is in grams; I used my kitchen scale.  Also, I found I had enough Bechamel to make 3 sandwiches with this recipe. I used both sliced and grated cheese for this recipe- what I had on hand. On the original website there's a video showing you how to make these- I found this helpful before starting. 

Take some rustic bread, add a layer of Bechamel, top with cheese, add ham. Add a second slice of bread, then top that with Bechamel and more cheese.

Croque Monsieur Sandwiches
adapted from Recetas de Sbieta
Makes 2 sandwiches (increase bread, ham and cheese to make 3.  Don't have to increase Bechamel to make 3)

Sliced bread - 4 slices
grated cheese (Gruyere or Swiss) - 100 g
ham- 4 slices
mustard - to taste

BECHAMEL:
white flour - 20 g
butter - 20 g
milk - 250 ml
garlic - 1 clove
bay leaf - 1 leaf
nutmeg - 1 pinch
Dijon mustard - 1 tsp.
salt - to taste

1.  Turn on the oven at 225 ° C. 

2.  Peel 1 clove of garlic.  To make the béchamel put the pan over medium heat. Cut 20 g of butter and place it into a small skillet or saucepan. Once the butter is melted add the flour. Sauté the flour 1 - 2 minutes. Add 1 pinch of salt. While whisking, pour in 250 ml of cold milk. Whisk very well. Add 1 bay leaf and 1 clove of peeled garlic. Add 1 pinch of nutmeg. Add a 1 tsp. mustard. Cook the sauce until it thickens. Remove the bay leaf and garlic.

3.  Grate 100 g of cheese.  Place 4 slices of bread on a baking sheet.  Put it in the oven 2 minutes on each side. It is so that it dries a little on the outside and does not soften when we put the bechamel on top.

4.  Spread one slice of each sandwich with a little mustard, if desired. Spread the same slices with the béchamel. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Put the ham on top. Place a piece of bread on top; forming the sandwich. Top the sandwiches with bechamel and grated cheese.

5.  Place them in the oven. Bake them 10 minutes or until the cheese is a little browned. Serve right away.

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Château de Cheverny

This castle was another favorite from our Loire Valley trip.  I loved the charming grounds of this one.  They were peaceful and serene.  The staff working here were so friendly.  We actually didn't plan on spending much time here- we were seeing many castles in one day.  But after entering, we stayed here a few hours.  We really enjoyed the on-site cafe, L'Orangerie.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch here between wandering the grounds and touring the inside of the chateau.  I noticed (later) on Tripadvisor, L'Orangerie has really bad reviews from 2017 about rude staff.  Well, we didn't have any problems; our waiter was very attentive.  He did seem nervous because of the language difference, but he was very good and kind to us.  And, they offered us tap water!!

Pics above and below- I finally got a Croque Monsieur Sandwich!  I've wanted one ever since high school French class.  Even though I've been to France a few times, I've never been able to find one (except a Croque McDo, on one late evening after walking around Paris all day.  But that doesn't count).

At L'Orangerie, my son ordered chicken nuggets from the kid's menu, and I loved that they came artfully arranged on a plate surrounded by salad, and he also got fruit and a cookie with it.  (No good pics of that, though.)

 We finished with French hot chocolate.

Cheverny is still occupied today, and they have a large kennel on the property with a ton of hunting dogs.  This was the only part I didn't like about Cheverny.  There's a ton of dogs all kept together in a too-small space, and they fight, and they smell bad, and I just feel bad for them.  A lot have tumors or open sores on them.  There was a sign in French that said they were healthy and well taken care of, but still.  The pic below is just a small number of dogs that are actually there.

Pic below is a stained-glass pic of the dogs and people, getting ready for a hunt.

The inside had rooms decorated with a special Lego display.  I don't think it's there all the time, but it was cool for the kids.  There were all sorts of large animals and other stuff built all with Legos. 

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/**

The Loire Valley, France

Back in April, we took a week-long trip to the Loire Valley in France.  It was an awesome and amazing trip!!  We drove and it wasn't bad.  There was no traffic in France.  I absolutely loved the trip.  We spent one whole day seeing castles.  We also saw local sights (by the town we stayed in), and relaxed some.  One day, we took the train to Paris for the day.  I've already posted about that (our trip in 2017) so I won't share any new Paris pics.

The castle above is in Sully-sur-Loire, and it was only 10 minutes away from our Airbnb!  I loved this castle.  It wasn't crowded, was easy to find, and had lots of free parking.  We toured the inside of this one.  The pic of the red bed a few photos down is from inside this castle.

These two pics, above and below, are of the breakfast in our Airbnb. It wasn't included in the rate, but you could ask for it if you wanted and pay the owners when you checked out.  On most days we were out and about early, but we had one day right before we left where we slept in and got this breakfast.  It was SO good!

Below is the castle in Sully-sur-Loire again.  My favorite.

 Above is a fresh bread and baguette vending machine, in the middle of nowhere in a field by the side of the road.  Our whole family loved this.  We stopped a few times.  Lol.  We got baguettes and French butter (from the store, sadly, not a vending machine) to spread on them; so good.

Below, a random small castle in a town we visited.  Springtime meant all the blossoms were out.

Above, Château de Chambord.  We didn't go inside this one- we were content to look upon it from the outside.  We paid 6 Euros to park, walk around and take pics.  Very stunning in real life.  It's HUGE.  The pics don't do it justice.

 Above and below, Château de Chenonceau.  We did go inside this one- you can't see the outside or grounds at all unless you pay.  So we paid for that and for going inside.  A huge rainstorm struck as we were outside, walking the grounds to get to the castle (there are huge grounds).  All the tourists were soaking wet and vying for space in front of the fireplace when we got inside.  Lol.  My pics from inside are unremarkable, so I won't bother sharing them.  If you've watched the TV show Reign (lol), you'll recognize a lot of names from this castle, the one above, and others in the Loire Valley.

Small house on the grounds at Chenonceau, below.  There's also a maze that the kids enjoyed (on the grounds).

Another castle.... but I forgot which one.  Oops.  We saw so many.  Some were just from the road so I don't have good pics.  But it was a lot of fun going castle-hunting.  We also got some delicious pastries and went to a Michelin-starred restaurant.  Those pics were all taken on my phone and I can't find where I put them.  But later I'll share pics of my fave castle we visited, Château de Cheverny.  We spent so much time there it deserves its own post.

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Vichyssoise - Leek and Potato Soup

I've never had Vichyssoise before, but wanted to try it after our trip to France.  (I always thought this was a French soup, but after a few seconds of online research I guess that's questionable.)  This is a soup that is traditionally eaten cold, but the thought of eating cold potato soup grosses me out, so we had it warm.  It was good.  And the ingredients are super simple and easy to get.

Vichyssoise - Leek and Potato Soup
adapted from Azoresgal

3 leeks
3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion (if using)
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter

1.  Wash the leeks very carefully making sure to remove all soil.   Slice only the white part of the leeks into thin pieces.

2.  Dice the potatoes and slice onion.  Sauté leeks, in butter about 10 minutes, add in the potatoes. Add chicken stock and cook over medium heat until all vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

3.  When the vegetables are tender, purée the vegetables (using an immersion blender) and stock and add the cream.  Garnish with chopped parsley or chives.  Serve warm, or cold, if you want.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Paris Sights

Here are the rest of the pics from our Paris trip, almost a year ago. I shared the food pics already.  My husband I just went for a quick 2-day trip.  We did the hop-on, hop-off bus and it was great.  We were able to see so much.  The first day was sunny and beautiful.  It rained the second day, but we had already seen most of what we wanted.  We also took a Seine boat ride the first day and got some pics from that.  I didn't bring my big camera so these are just phone pics. 

 Notre Dame, above and below.

The Louvre pyramid, above.

 The Arc di Triomphe, above, and views from the top, next 2 pics.

 Musee D'Orsay, above, and paintings inside, next 2 pics.

 Under the Arc di Triomphe, above.  Laduree on the Champs Elysees, below.

Paris Opera house, above.  Inside pics, below.  (Amphitheatre/seating area was closed :( )

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