croque monsieur Toasted Cheese like never before (unless you are French, of course)

First make the brioche! I use this recipe and it is flawless, so wont't repeat it here. Allow the brioche to stale overnight before proceeding. That assumes you don't just eat it all - it is that good! Yes it does have more flour than you might expect for a classic bechamel. And it will have a lot less milk.

Panned up and ready to go

Ready to turn into sandwiches

Ingredients - For 6 sandwiches

The Bechamel sauce

2 Oz (half a stick) of unsalted butter
6 T all purpose flour
2 cups (1 US pint, 4/5 Imperial pint) WHOLE milk
1 shallot studded with 6 cloves
1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
salt
white pepper to taste

The Sandwich

12 x 1/4 inch slices of brioche

dijon or tarragon mustard

12 thin slices of Gruyere cheese

6 thin slices of a high quality unsmoked ham

13 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Method

The Bechamel sauce

Heat the milk gently with the shallot/clove for about 15 minutes to allow the flavors to infuse. Make a blond roux with the butter/flour. Make sure you cook the mixture for a couple of minutes to remove the raw flour taste. Add the infused milk gradually, whisking continually until all the milk is added. add about 1/4 t white pepper, 1/4 t salt (the cheese and ham are quite salty, so be sparing at this stage) and the nutmeg. Bring to the boil to allow it to thicken, then cool to room temp. It should be very thick and spreadable.

The Sandwiches

To assemble the sandwiches, you will be spreading the mustard and bechamel on the brioche slices, then filling with ham and cheese.

On one side of each sandwich, spread a little mustard. Then top that with a thin layer of the bechamel sauce. On the other side of the sandwich, just spread the bechamel sauce. Layer the sandwich with a slice of cheese, a slice of ham, and another slice of cheese. Close the sandwich. Spread bechamel sauce on to the top outside of the sandwich and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake on a lined  sheet pan (using parchment paper or a Silpat mat) in a pre-heated 425F oven for 10 minutes - or until the cheese is bubbly on top. I use a pizza stone under the pan - you may want to double up the sheet pan to ensure you don't get too much direct heat from the heating element.

Cut in half diagonally and serve piping hot with a simple salad for lunch......

 

A surplus of tomatoes

It is close to the end of tomato season, but I was able to snag 6lbs of seconds at the farmers' market last weekend. As usual they were all over the map in terms of shape, ripeness and quality. But no worry there, I had the trusty grill (which I had just spent all weekend cleaning), the Blendtech, a lot of Anaheim peppers, etc. So this dish is a variant of tomato soup, using ideas from other things along the way. The blackening of the tomato skin imparts a really smoky flavor to the soup. But do take care not to get mch of the blackened skin into the soup.

Ingredients
6lbs ripe tomatoes (beefsteak or other large size, divided use)
4 small new onions (about 1 1/2 lb in total)
3/4 cup toasted almond slivers
8 Anaheim chile peppers
2 cloves garlic (sliced thinly)
1T sherry vinegar
kosher salt
pepper

To Serve
Large crystals sea salt
1 small cucumber diced small (brunoise)
2 Anaheim peppers (diced small)
Sherry vinegar
Extra virgin Olive oil
6 fresh basil lives, chiffonade

Method
Heat the grill for about 15 minutes on the low setting (or use a small charcoal fire). My gas grill registered 550 on an oven thermometer suspended above the burners. Place 3/4 of the tomatoes on the grill and leave for about 45 minutes. The skin will blacken and become crunchy. At the same time place the onions unpeeled on the grill. Their skins will also blacken.
After the tomatoes have cooked through, they will be thick and concentrated inside. Extract the concentrated flesh into a bowl. Do the same for the onions. Meanwhile toast the almonds in a hot, dry pan - taking care not to burn them. Roughly chop the 8 Anaheim peppers, peel the remaining tomatoes. Place peeled tomatoes, concentrated tomatoes, onions, almonds, garlic, 1T vinegar into the blender and blend until very smooth. Add a little kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Chill the soup mixture for several hours in the refrigerator.

Serving
Serve the soup in a plain white bowl, garnished with the diced cucumber, Anaheim peppers and basil chiffonade. Sprinkle on some sherry vinegar, drizzle a little olive oil, sprinkle sea salt and basil. Serve with crusty bread.

Note this gets the "We can serve this to people" accolade, so it is definitely one of Madame's new favorites.

What is missing from most grilled cheese sandwiches

It's funny how grilled cheese sandwiches often don't involve a grill. The grill is the secret to a really tasty sandwich, and doing a couple of unusual things makes a big difference too.
In this version of the grilled cheese sandwich, the bread is grilled on both sides - with three cooking actions.
Madame did deliver the "we can serve this to people" accolade, so Iguess she liked it. Of course with ripe tomatoes, home made bread, fantastic olive oil brought home from an olive grove in France and decent cheese, it is hard to go wrong.
Ingredients
4 slices of bread - preferably rustic and home made, 1/3" thick
Good quality olive oil (unmeasured - the method will describe how to use it)
6 slices of cheese (I used thinly sliced Swiss cheese)
1 tomato thinly sliced
2 Scallions thinlly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Get the grill nice and hot. I used the gas grill on high for about 5 minutes. Then turn the heat to low. Paint each side of each piece of bread with a little olive oil. Essentially a small quantity evenly spread. Prepare the sandwich filling and head for the grill.
Place the bread slices on the hot part of the grill, and allow to cook until lightly browned and a little crunchy. This first browned side becomes the inside of the sandwiches.
As soon as the first side is browned, flip the bread over so the uncooked side is on the grill. Working very quickly, place a layer of cheese, a layer of onion, a layer of tomato and another layer of cheese on 2 of the slices. Top with the other 2 slices - ensuring that the first grilled side is on the inside - against the top layer of cheese.
Grill until the bottom of the sandwiches are nicely brown, then flip the sandwiches so the other ungrilled side is now against the grill bars. Cook until that side is nicely browned too.
Remove from grill, cut each sandwich in half, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve hot.