Panini Sandwich Recipe (Grilled Cheese and Spinach Panini)

If not made properly, paninis can turn soggy and unappealing. The key is to choose a dense sandwich bread and apply a thin layer of butter to seal the outside and create a nice crust. The filling is up to you. In general, I like to use layers of different colors. I used a parsley-caper flavored cream cheese, roasted bell peppers, sliced mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, spinach and sweet basil.

The girls have been wanting to have a picnic for quite some time, but the weather here in Northern California has not been very accommodating. They’ve also had a craving for paninis, and luckily the weather this Memorial Day weekend has been spectacular, so it was time to scratch their itch. It was also a great opportunity to teach the girls about the art of making sandwiches. I made a pitcher of saffron lemonade to go with the sandwiches, and we all sat out in our vegetable garden and marveled at how much the fruit trees have grown. It’s been a wet spring, and the trees look unbelievably healthy. It looks like we’re going to have a lot of mulberries and donut peaches in our future!

Croque Madame Sandwich Recipe

My little munchkin loved the croque-monsieur and she asked for the same lunch the next day. I decided to make another version of the same sandwich: the famous croque-madame. The croque-madame is essentially a croque-monsieur topped with a sunny side up egg.  If you ever get confused about which sandwich is which, just remember that the "female" version is just like the "male" version, but with extra flavor .

I added ketchup and flat-leaf parsley to create the face of an angry clown to make the sandwich kid-friendly and more playful. In case you were curious, she loved it!

For those of you who are wondering if the croque-mademoiselle exists, it does! It's supposed to be more delicate like a diet version, with whole wheat bread.

* I want to give a special shout out to Cookie and OysterCulture, who mentioned that they also make croque-madame at home.

New West KnifeWorks Super Bread Review

Croque-Monsieur: A Perfect Back To School Lunch Recipe

In France, the croque-monsieur sandwich is as much a staple of school children's lunches as the PB&J is in America. I grew up with them, and they are still the ultimate comfort food for me. 

The girls are going back to school today and I wanted to share with them one of the fondest culinary memories of my childhood. When I was in middle school, I would come home early on Wednesdays. Since I didn't eat lunch at school, I would always make myself a croque-monsieur.

Croque-monsieur is super easy to make. All you need is a few ingredients such as sliced white bread, emmental cheese and ham (I used smoked turkey). To make it fancier, I bind all the ingredients together with a Mornay sauce, which is basically a béchamel with cheese. I use béchamel a lot; it's really just a white sauce made of flour, butter and milk.

Spinach and Artichoke Croquette

A croquette is a moist filling that is breaded and then fried.  Potatoes, seafood and vegetables are popular varieties.  I wanted to make a healthy version today, so I stuffed mine with artichokes and spinach. I added some mozzarella as well because I love it when the croquettes are hot and stringy on the inside.

The name "croquette" is from the French verb croquer which means "to bite with a crisp crunch". You can serve it as an appetizer (they are kid-friendly) but you can also stuff a sandwich with several croquettes for added texture and consistency. I used an herb ciabatta bread. I'll post the recipes of the spreads I used and the rest of the elements for the sandwich tomorrow.