Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cozy Winter Lunch | Potato – Leek soup and Croques-Monsieur

Croques-Monsieur 01102010_07

I found this potato – leek soup on David Lebovitz’s blog. It was wonderful with the sandwich. This may be one of my favorite lunches.

 

Potato - Leek Soup 01102010_01

Butter, leeks, home-made chicken stock (the recipe calls for water, but I figured a couple of cups of stock substituted for some of the water wouldn’t hurt), bay leaves and thyme, russet potatoes (had some sitting around), white pepper and chili powder.

 

Potato - Leek Soup 01102010_02

Sweating the leeks in the butter.

 

Potato - Leek Soup 01102010_03

Simmering until the potatoes are tender.

 

Potato - Leek Soup 01102010_05

Buzzed with an immersion blender.

 

Croques-Monsieur 01102010_01

Gruyere (got it sliced into “sandwich slices” at the charcuterie counter), sourdough bread, honey-baked ham I had vacuum-sealed and frozen from Christmas.

 

Croques-Monsieur 01102010_04

Two layers of cheese and ham.

 

Croques-Monsieur 01102010_05

Microplaned a bit of cheese on top of the skim of butter.

 

Croques-Monsieur 01102010_06

Baked, then broiled a bit to brown the cheese. It’s wonderful that something so simple can be so good.

Scallop Gratin

Scallop Gratin 01102010_08

I’ve been wanting to add more seafood to my diet (and use my cute, garage-sale dishes) so I had to try this when I saw Ina Garten make it on Barefoot Contessa:  Back to Basics.

Scallop Gratin 01102010_01

Butter, garlic, shallots, lemon juice, parsley, prosciutto, Herbsaint (for the Pernod).

 

Scallop Gratin 01102010_04

Topping before adding the olive oil and panko. My goodness, it smelled so good;  it was hard not to eat it by the spoonful.

 

Scallop Gratin 01102010_02

On the show, Ina said you could use sea scallops and cut them in half.

 

Scallop Gratin 01102010_03

I didn’t have any dry, white wine open; so I used this.

 

Scallop Gratin 01102010_05

Scallops cut in half, nestled in the wine, ready for the topping.

 

Scallop Gratin 01102010_07

All set for the oven.

It was very good. I’ll certainly be making this again.