Les Recettes pour A.W.E.D France

I took French classes for almost 5 years long long long time ago and don't remember a whole lot now, except for a few words here and there. My only aim was to get a passing grade and get over with it. I struggled to understand why the French had to have genders for every "thing". But now that I think about it, may be I should have paid attention in the class; knowing a second language is such a plus nowadays.

So for this month's A.W.E.D DK @ Culinary Bazaar chose French. My entries are Crunchy Croque Provencal and "French" fries.


Crunchy Croque Provencal:

This recipe is from vegetarian times magazine. Traditionally a Croque sandwich is a hot grilled sandwich made with ham and cheese. This vegetarian version is baked and has tomatoes & onions along with cheese. I made some changes to the recipe since I didn't have some of the ingredients on hand. Click here for the original recipe.

Adapted from Vegetarian Times magazine.
Ingredients:
Rosemary & Olive bread (or French bread) - 4 slices
Coarse-grain mustard - 1 tbsp
Reduced fat Cheddar cheese - 4 slices
Red onion - 2 thin slices, rings separated
Tomatoes - 4 thin slics
Egg - 1, beaten
1% Milk - 1/4 cup
Method:

• Preheat oven to 450F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Spread mustard over 2 bread slices. Top each slice with cheese, 1 onion ring, 2 tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper. Top with remaining bread slices.
• Whisk together milk and egg in shallow dish. Season with salt and pepper. Soak both sides of the sandwiches in the milk mixture until liquid is absorbed.
• Transfer sandwiches to prepared baking sheet, and bake 10 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

These turned out to be one of the tastiest sandwiches I ever had and with my Sweet Potato "French" fries made it a complete meal.

Sweet Potato "French" Fries:

These fries have become my absolute favorite. These are baked instead of fried; they are sweet and savory at the same time which makes them irrestitable. My sweet potato hating husband also likes them. They can be flavored in many different ways, for the french themed fries, I added 'herb de provence'.

Ingredients:
Sweet Potato - 1 medium
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Herb de provence - 1 tsp
Salt & pepper - to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450F.
  
• Cut sweet potato into thin slices.
  
• Add oil, herbs, salt and pepper into a bowl. Add the potato slices, toss around to coat.
• Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet (covered with foil for easy clean up) and bake for 15-20 minutes.

These are not as crunchy as regular potato fries, but they are much more nutritious and delicious.