Lesson 47: Gourmet Sandwich Shop

After these past two days, our class is more than qualified to work at any sandwich or salad shop ;)    We all took our final written exam and began prepping our stations for sandwich day.  Each team made a hot sandwich, an open-faced sandwich, a tea sandwich, and a cold sandwich.

I was really excited to see that a Croque Monsieur was assigned to our group.  I have always wanted to make one and have even recently looked up recipes to try at home.  However, when I glanced over the recipe we were given I wasn't very impressed.  It seemed like a basic ham and cheese sandwich with dijon.  I always thought a Croque Monsieur had a bechamel sauce with gruyere cheese mixed in that is spread on top of the sandwiches and then broiled.  Chef told me that I could make the sandwich like that if I wanted, so I figured I'd experiment.

I followed the directions on the recipe and then made my bechamel sauce with 4 oz of roux and 40 oz of milk.  This made more than enough sauce!  I added in some grated gruyere and seasoned the sauce with salt, white pepper, and fresh nutmeg.  After the sandwiches were assembled (with dijon, sliced ham, gruyere, and meunster) and grilled in a saute pan, I added some of the sauce on top.  I placed it under the broiler until the sauce was bubbly.

The croque monsieur was very tasty, but I think I would make some changes the next time I make it.  The sauce on top made the sandwich hard to handle, so I think I would eliminate the sliced cheese inside the sandwich and add the sauce on top of the ham on the inside of the sandwich.  Then, I would press the sandwich so that it is thin and crispy.  

All of the other sandwiches turned out fantastic!  We used fun cookie cutters to make shapes out of the bread slices.  Everybody loves sandwich day so we had a lot of visitors in our class tasting all of our sandwich creations!

The other sandwiches we made included a turkey club:

Egg salad & Deviled Ham Tea Sandwiches:

Tuna salad:

Reuben:

Grilled Chicken Sandwich:

Open-faced Shrimp Sandwich:

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwich & Curried Chicken Sandwich:

Also not pictured was a chicken burger and salmon blt.  

Tomorrow is the dreaded practical exam!  I'm trying really really hard not to get nervous.  I know if I am nervous and start doubting myself, I will make silly mistakes.  If I have confidence and have a mindset that I am just cooking for my family, not for a grade, then I know I'll do fine.  So yea, not nervous at all... well.. maybe a little..