Spring in Paris and a Croque Monsieur at a terrace

Today, suddenly, winter was over and we enjoyed sun and warmth. My boys were in T shirts playing and rollerskating in the park close to our apartment. You just felt like not going back inside. Therefore, we made a big decision: let's have lunch at the Café around the corner and let's have a Croque Monsieur ! My boys loved it!

Actually, it's very simple, if you don't have a Café around the corner to make it for you : you just need for a simple Croque Monsieur, hard cheese, cooked ham, butter and sliced sandwich bread.

Take a slice of bread and spread a bit of butter on one side, then put a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, another slice of bread with butter again; the butter should be outside the sandwich. Then cook it in the oven (350F) or in pan for 10 min until nicely brown.

For a change, put a fried egg on top and it's a Croque Madame... my son thinks it's nicer, so it must be a "Madame" ; you can also add grated parmesan on top, and even bechamel (see my post of April 2010 on asparagus) and grated parmesan on top.

Just enjoy with a green salad and an apple as a dessert for a balanced meal.

A great dinner with eggs in 10 min?

Oeufs cocotte: this is a very French one, indeed!

A very simple idea: pour an egg in a ramekin, add 2 tablespoon of heavy cream, salt and pepper and whatever additional ingredient you have left in your fridge: I love to add 2 tbsp of cooked mushrooms, or 1 tbsp of parmiggiano or 1 tbsp of spinach or 5 pitted olives and slices of dried tomatoes or slices of ham. Cook them in the oven for 8 min with the ramekins put in a pan filled with warm water (you have to preheat the oven for 15min at 400F with the pan filled with 2 inches of water so that the water is really warm when you put the ramekin in it).

You know it is cooked when the white is white and not transparent any more but be carefull not to overcook them. Enjoy them with green salad and thin slices of French baguette.

My Mom used to do that when she was running short of ideas for dinner and we loved it. I used to prefer them plain with a lot of bread but, please don't tell my kids. Yummy!

Your comments are welcome...