Recreating: Moules Marinière

January 10, 2011

Moules Mariniere

One of my all-time favorite dishes is mussels with cream sauce, which I discovered when living in Kansas City. A favorite French restaurant of mine, Le Fou Frog, almost always had these on their menu, and I loved nothing better than sopping up the cream sauce with some crusty French bread.

After leaving Kansas City, not only did I have a hard time finding a French restaurant I love as much as the Frog, but I also hadn’t run across a good recreation of this recipe. So the other night, I was determined to recreate the recipe on my own. (more…)

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A Croque Madame…

August 31, 2010

Croque Madame - Courtney-style

Generally, I’m hungry around 10 am. This is because I’m not ready for food before that time, only coffee. By 10:30 am, I am susceptible to craving immensely whatever food is put in front of me. So this morning, when I read that the place my old college roomie works for was being featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, I was in prime-craving mode. I haven’t been in Kansas City in nearly 6 years, so I decided to pop over to the Happy Gillis website and see what they had to offer. Just in case I’m ever in the area again, ya know?

Croque Madame caught my eye — ham, swiss, and grainy mustard, with runny egg to boot! Some may find this odd, but despite my love for runny egg, I’ve never had a croque madame. I didn’t even know how to make one. But, alas, I have no ham.

Or so I thought! I went to rummage through my refrigerator, because at this point I wanted something. We had some friends visiting this weekend, and they had come bearing not only gifts, but their road trip leftovers, which included – HAM! Hot diggity, I am back in bidness! (more…)

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