recipes 152 and 153: "jeudi jambon" (and... also the polite way to eat March Madness crow)

Serves. Me. Right. I brag, brag, bragged about my March Madness abilities and specifically cited to Oklahoma. And then Oklahoma State lost. And I am now near the bottom of my pool because I made that pick with my heart instead of my head. This year, I am a March Madness bottom feeder. My bracket is so bad that I just tried to trick two of my friends into buying it from me for 60% off. No dice. Perhaps a bigger lesson was learned in all of this. That lesson is: "Use your brain." Oh, good idea! With that, I will probably gracefully silence myself and will stop yip-yapping away about March Madness. Crow = eaten.

So it is Thursday. Which means that it is time to refer back to the French days of the week song and post a couple of ham recipes in the spirit of "Jeudi Jambon." Ham reminds me of Easter. Easter is coming up. I need a distraction from March Madness, so here you go. The first recipe is slightly altered from Ina Garten's Food Network recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/croque-monsieur-recipe/index.html. I think I adapted the second recipe from Skinny Taste but I am not 100% sure if it came from here or somewhere else: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/03/chicken-cordon-bleu.html.

LE CROQUE MONSIEUR
Ingredients:
-2 T butter
-1 c hot milk
-1 c light cream (the original recipe says to use 2 cups of milk and no cream but I prefer the sauce a little bit thicker)
-1/2 c grated parmesan
-12 oz Gruyere cheese (in a block), grated
-salt, pepper, and the tiniest pinch of nutmeg
-Dijon mustard, to taste
-8 oz good ham
-3 T flour
-16 slices of good sourdough bread

Instructions:
1) preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2) melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring for about 2 minutes
3) slowly pour the milk and cream into the flour, whisking until the sauce is thickened
4) take the sauce off the heat and add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, parmesan, and half of the Gruyere (stir until melted)
5) place the slices of bread on baking sheets and toast in the oven for 5 minutes, flip over, and toast in the oven for 2 more minutes
6) brush each slice of bread with the desired amount of mustard, add ham, sprinkle with Gruyere
7) top with another piece of toasted bread, slather the tops with the cheese sauce, and divide the remaining Gruyere among the remaining sandwiches (sprinkling it on the top)

action shot!

8) bake the sandwiches for 5 more minutes, turn on the broiler and broil for 3-5 minutes until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned

serve with some salad... trust me, you'll feel better about yourself!

LE CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
Ingredients:
-4 chicken breast cutlets
-4 thin slices of ham or prosciutto
-1/2 lb Gruyere, grated
-1/4 c flour
-salt and freshly ground pepper
-1 c panko breadcrumbs
-4 sprigs of rosemary
-1 garlic clove, minced
-2 T butter, melted
-2 eggs
-olive oil (or, I suppose, cooking spray)

Instructions:
1) preheat the oven to 450 degrees
2) prep three bowls filled with the following: (a) flour, salt, and pepper (mixed together), (b) breadcrumbs, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and melted butter (mixed together), and (c) whisked eggs, salt, and pepper
3) layer on top of each cutlet: 1 slice of ham and 1/4 of the Gruyere
4) roll each cutlet combo and dip into bowls (a), (b), and (c)
5) lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil or cooking spray and transfer the chicken onto the baking sheet
6) bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and cooked through

Literally the worst picture ever! I think I took it with my old blackberry! But alas, I promised a picture with every recipe...

Back to the March Madness scores... deep breath, deep breath...