Ysabelle's Fried Sweet or Savoury Bread Recipes

Fast Comfort Food w/ Ham Cheese Filling or Cinnamon Sugar Sweetened

Jun 12, 2009

How to Cook Ysabelle's Croque Monsieur, Greca M Durant

Lessen food wastage. These no-fuss recipes transform stale white bread slices or leftover French bread or baguette into two of the fastest energy-packed comfort food ever

Bread has been a constant feature in the diet of many people around the world. According to the findings of A Window to Africa, a research team composed of students from the V Liceum Ogólnoksztalcace im. Roberta Schumana, Sosnowiec, Poland, "a man eats about half a loaf of bread a day," or the equivalent of 300 grammes of bread a day. If multiplied by 365, the total number of days in a year, it would amount to 110 kilogrammes, the amount of bread a man can consume in one year.

But there is also a lot of bread wastage. Taking into consideration the city's population of 226,034, the team deduced that if "every fourth man in Sosnowiec wastes 1/9 annual demand for bread," the amount of bread loss just in their area alone would total 6,165 kilogrammes a year, enough to "feed about 9,272 inhabitants of Nigeria every year."

If it is not possible to consume all the bread bought during the day, leftovers should be wrapped in aluminum foil or stuffed into Ziploc bags and kept in the refrigerator or freezer. The following two recipes make good use of stale white or wholewheat bread slices and leftover French bread or baguette and a few more ingredients.

Ysabelle's Croque Monsieur à la Maison (Butter Fried Ham and Cheese Sandwich)

Makes 4 sandwiches / Good for 2 persons

Ingredients:

8 slices of white (or wholewheat) bread, edges trimmed off
4 slices cooked ham, patted dry with absorbent kitchen paper, skin and fat sliced off
8 thin slices of Emmental or Gruyère or Gouda cheese
knobs of butter, enough to spread on bread slices and to fry four sandwiches

Needed: Non-stick pan

Directions:

Trim edges off bread slices. Spread butter on both sides of each bread slice.
Put one cheese slice on top of bread, followed by a piece of ham, then cheese again. Cover filings with a bread slice. Repeat process.
Melt some butter on medium-hot non-stick pan.
Fry one side of the sandwich until golden brown.
Use a spatula to turn sandwich over and fry the other side until it turns golden brown too and the cheese slices start to ooze along the sides. Transfer cooked sandwich to a plate.
Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5.
Sandwiches are best eaten warm.

Serving suggestion: Superb as a quick snack or as a dinner item served with salad of choice.

Sweet Cinnamon & Nutmeg Scented Moroccan Fried Bread

Good for 2 persons

Ingredients:

6 medium-thick slices of French bread or baguette
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
butter for frying

Needed: Non-stick pan, absorbent kitchen paper

Directions:

Add milk and vanilla to beaten egg. Mix well.
Combine sugar, ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
Melt butter in non-stick pan.
Dip each bread slice into the egg-milk mixture.
Fry in butter until crisp and golden on both sides.
Remove extra fat by placing the cooked bread slice on absorbent paper.
Dip cooked bread slice into the sugar and spice combination.
Repeat steps 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Serving suggestion: Delicious as breakfast fare served with coffee or as dessert.

Reference:

Step-By-Step Moroccan Cooking. NSW:Murdoch Books, 1992.

Bon appétit!

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