Upgrade: Croque Madame

Bonne fête! It's Bastille Day again, and this time, its one of my all-time favorites, the croque madame. Over nine years ago, I wrote about the croque monsieur, the classic French ham and cheese sandwich. I go back to that recipe from time to time, and I think it's one of my best from the very earliest period of No Free Lunch. A croque madame is simply a croque monsieur with a fried egg on top, an upgrade in and of itself. My other reason for revisiting the recipe is to improve on the crunchiness by toasting the bread ahead of time. It's definitely worth the effort!

This is my first post to feature our new convection oven. This enabled me to toast the bread, bake the sandwiches, then broil them all in one device. I'm still experimenting with it, and I expect it will pop up here from time to time. Of course, the whole recipe can certainly be done in a toaster and/or regular oven.

At their core, both a croque monsieur and croque madame are ham and cheese sandwiches, so using good quality ham, cheese, and bread is important. I used Gruyère here, which packs a ton of flavor, but is expensive. It's great as an occasional treat, but feel free to substitute. I shaved the ham off a half boneless ham from Costco and the bread was a peasant loaf from Vermillion's own Mr. Smith's. As with so many things, a fried egg makes everything better. Just make sure to have a knife and fork for this one.

Grilled Octopus

As the main summer holiday in the United States, the Fourth of July is strongly associated with grilling, usually burgers and other such classics. Here at No Free Lunch, we would never be so boring, so of course we're doing a whole octopus. Besides, I have plenty of burger recipes already. This particular specimen had been in our freezer for a while, ever since Ariel brought it home from the Asian market. I admit I was a little intimidated. I've grilled and pan fried cooked octopus tentacles many times, but had never done a whole raw one until now. I read many articles and generally followed Mark Bittman's technique here. The general idea is to simmer in water until tender, and then grill to brown the outside.

The startling thing about octopus, if you've never worked with it, is how much it shrinks as it cooks. Mine came frozen in a block of ice, weighing in at 4 1/4 lb. Once thawed, it was down to about 3 1/2. It tightened up a lot while cooking, and by the time it was done it fit on the small plate in the picture. I didn't weigh it, but I'm guessing it was maybe a pound at the end. After initial cooking, the octopus curled up. While it is probably possible to grill like this, I cut it up to get better contact with the grill. Once done, I season with olive oil, lemon, and herbs. There's room for variation, but lots of lemon for acidity is essential.

When grilling a main dish like this, I like to prepare a side on the grill, too, so I can keep an eye on both. Asparagus is one of my favorites. I toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. The asparagus should take about the same amount of time as the octopus. Keep them moving to avoid burning. On a hot day like this, don't forget to mix up a daiquiri before you head to the grill!