{"id":11456,"date":"2016-06-14T04:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=11456"},"modified":"2016-08-06T11:56:39","modified_gmt":"2016-08-06T15:56:39","slug":"asparagus-croque-monsieur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=11456","title":{"rendered":"Asparagus Croque Monsieur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"grassweb\"<\/p>\n

Asparagus is still sticking up happy stalks at local farm stands, which makes me ecstatic. I try to eat it every day, if only in a salad. I know it will go away all too soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, I wanted to use it for my appearance last week on Mass Appeal<\/em><\/a>. I wasn\u2019t quite sure what to do with it\u2014and then suddenly I had a vision of asparagus in the middle of a Croque Monsieur.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have always adored this French version of a grilled-cheese-and-ham sandwich. It\u2019s my favorite thing to order in Parisian caf\u00e9s\u2014or it WAS in the days when I frequented those establishments. (Someday I hope to get back to Paris. It has been several decades, h\u00e9las.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how I made the sandwiches last week. To tell you the truth, I\u2019m not sure the sandwich needs the b\u00e9chamel (white) sauce. It would be pretty good with just a little extra cheese. But then, when does one ever NEED b\u00e9chamel? It does make the sandwich just a bit more decadent and French, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I said on the air, a Tinky could conceive of grilled cheese with asparagus. It takes a French person to think of throwing b\u00e9chamel on top. I have to admit that a French person might have been a bit more sparing than we were in the video below.<\/span><\/p>\n

My television appearance on Thursday coincided with National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day. Local strawberries are just coming in so I happily made a strawberry-rhubarb crumble. If you\u2019d like to make that, just use my friend Ginny’s rhubarb crumble recipe<\/a>. Substitute strawberry slices for half of the rhubarb and omit the cinnamon. (I also like to substitute oats for part of the flour.)<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S. You\u2019ll note from the crumble video that I have now adopted the soubriquet \u201cThe Diva of Deliciousness.\u201d This was suggested by Craig Hamilton, a delightful chef on the Jersey Shore. What do you think of the new name?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Asparagus

Asparagus does excite me!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Croque Monsieur aux Asperges<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

2 tablespoons sweet butter plus butter as needed for browning bread
\n2 tablespoons flour
\n1 cup warmed milk
\n1\/2 teaspoon paprika
\n1 pinch salt
\n4 slices of good bread (I used King Arthur Flour\u2019s pain de mie recipe<\/a>.)
\nDijon mustard to taste
\n2 slices of ham
\n4 thin slices Gruy\u00e8re
\n4 pieces of cooked asparagus, cut to fit the bread
\n1\/4 cup shredded Gruy\u00e8re<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

In a saucepan over low heat melt the 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the flour, and cook, whisking, for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the hot milk. Cook and whisk until the sauce thickens a bit, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat, and stir in the paprika and salt. Set aside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Begin assembling your sandwiches. Spread the slices of bread lightly with mustard. Top two of the slices with a slice of cheese, ham, asparagus, and another slice of cheese. Place the other slices of bread on top to make two full sandwiches.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a frying pan melt a small amount of butter. Pop the sandwiches into the pan and lightly brown them, adding a little more butter if needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Put the sandwiches on a baking sheet. Top them with some of the sauce (you don\u2019t have to use it all; I just like to make sure I\u2019ll have enough!) and the shredded cheese. Broil them until they turn golden brown and bubbly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Serves 2 decadently.<\/span><\/p>\n

[embedyt] http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RU9esxHVKME[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n

[embedyt] http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D1R-TRFqsio[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asparagus is still sticking up happy stalks at local farm stands, which makes me ecstatic. I try to eat it every day, if only in a salad. I know it will go away all too soon. Naturally, I wanted to use it for my appearance last week on Mass Appeal. I wasn\u2019t quite sure what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1606,548,35,605,579],"tags":[502,1798,1799,1800,1797,1801,1643],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11456"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11535,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11456\/revisions\/11535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}